The Sedona International Film Festival present the Northern Arizona premiere of “Standing on Sacred Ground,” a four-part documentary series that will be presented in its entirety in two shows on Thursday, Dec. 3, at 4 and 7 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre.

Following both screenings of the film, there will be a discussion facilitated by The Inspiration of Sedona community-building group. Anthropologist and photographer Martin Gray, author of “Sacred Earth,” and Roberto Nutlouis, Green Economy coordinator and co-founder of the Black Mesa Water Coalition of the Navajo Nation, will be present for Q-and-A.

This event is part of 15 days of local Climate Care Awareness events, being held from Saturday, Nov. 28, through Saturday, Dec. 12. These will take place in conjunction with the global actions surrounding the next month’s UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris. Visit the Climate Care Awareness website for more information.

Indigenous communities around the world and in the U.S. resist threats to their sacred places — the original protected lands — in a growing movement to defend human rights and restore the environment.

In “Standing on Sacred Ground,” native people share ecological wisdom and spiritual reverence while battling a utilitarian view of land in the form of government mega-projects, consumer culture and resource extraction as well as competing religions and climate change.

Narrated by Graham Greene, with the voices of Tantoo Cardinal and Q’orianka Kilcher, the series exposes threats to native peoples’ health, livelihood and cultural survival in eight communities around the world. Rare verité scenes of tribal life allow indigenous people to tell their own stories — and confront us with the ethical consequences of our culture of consumption.

Four Parts of the Series

• “Pilgrims and Tourists”

In the Russian Republic of Altai, traditional native people create their own mountain parks to rein in tourism and resist a gas pipeline that would cut through a World Heritage Site. In northern California, Winnemem Wintu girls grind herbs on a sacred medicine rock, as elders protest U.S. government plans to enlarge one of the West’s biggest dams and forever submerge this touchstone of a tribe.

• “Profit and Loss”

From Papua New Guinea rainforests to Canada’s tar sands, “Profit and Loss” exposes industrial threats to native peoples’ health, livelihood and cultural survival.

In Papua, a Chinese government-owned nickel mine has violently relocated villagers to a taboo sacred mountain, built a new pipeline and refinery on contested clan land, and is dumping mining waste into the sea.

In Alberta, First Nations people suffer from rare cancers as their traditional hunting grounds are strip-mined to unearth the world’s third-largest oil reserve.

• “Fire and Ice”

From Ethiopia to Peru, indigenous customs protect biodiversity on sacred lands under pressure from religious conflicts and climate change.

In the Gamo Highlands of Ethiopia, scientists confirm the benefits of traditional stewardship even as elders witness the decline of spiritual practices that have long protected trees, meadows and mountains. Tensions with evangelical Christians over a sacred meadow erupt into a riot.

In the Peruvian Andes, the Q’eros, on a pilgrimage to a revered glacier, are driven from their ritual site by intolerant Catholics. Q’eros potato farmers face a more ominous foe: Global warming is melting glaciers, their water source. Andes farmers, scientists and visiting Ethiopians struggle to adapt indigenous agriculture to the changing climate.

• “Islands of Sanctuary”

Native Hawaiians and Aboriginal Australians resist threats to their sacred places in a growing international movement to defend human rights and protect the environment.

In Australia’s Northern Territory, Aboriginal clans maintain Indigenous Protected Areas and resist the destructive effects of a mining boom.

In Hawai’i, indigenous ecological and spiritual practices are used to restore the sacred island of Kaho’olawe after 50 years of military use as a bombing range.

Post-Screening Discussion

The Inspiration of Sedona is an open, egalitarian, community-building group, where people with enthusiasm for positive world change can collectively come together to create a new level of community based on connection, partnership and sustainability.

Gray has spent 30 years studying and photographing hundreds of sacred sites in over 125 countries. One of his motivations for doing so has been to gather evidence showing that pre-industrial cultures throughout the world recognized the Earth to be a sacred being worthy of deep respect and gentle treatment.

Studying the development of sanctity at sacred sites, it become clear to him that many ancient peoples had a reverential relationship with the living earth. He believes that if such a relationship can be reawakened and encouraged in our own culture, we will be better able to address the crisis of worldwide ecological degradation.

Gray is interested in assisting the widespread socio-cultural phenomena he sees occurring, which is the awakening and vitalization of a global eco-spiritual consciousness that he believes can address our climate crises.

Nutlouis is Diné [Navajo] from the Arizona community of Pinon. He is of the Todichinii [Bitter Water] clan, born for To’ Tsoni [Big Water] clan.

Nutlouis has been active for many years on environmental justice, food security, energy efficient housing and indigenous youth leadership development through his involvement with Native Movement, Indigenous Youth Coalition of Pinon, Black Mesa Water Coalition and Indigenous Community Enterprises.

He received his bachelor’s degree in applied indigenous studies from Northern Arizona University in 2005, and he is currently pursuing a master’s in sustainable communities from NAU. In his spare time, he likes to work on food security issues and traditional knowledge in agriculture with local Native youth.

The current evolution of the group is a growing focus on addressing the deeper ideological issues that underpin “climate justice,” and asking what actions and changes we can and need to make in our lives. Email inspirationofsedona@gmaill.com for more information.

Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members for each session. Call 282-1177 for tickets and more information. Both the theatre and Film Festival office are located at 2030 W. SR 89A in West Sedona. Visit the Sedona Film Festival website for more information.