Lake of Betrayal (Distributed to PBS stations nationwide through National Educational Telecommunications Association)

Released: October 28, 2017

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Kinzua Dam, on the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania, was a flashpoint in history for the Seneca Nation of Indians. Completed in 1965, the dam was originally proposed to help mitigate flooding in Pittsburgh, almost 200 miles downriver, but the 27-mile reservoir that formed behind Kinzua Dam inundated vast tracts of the Seneca Indians’ ancestral lands, forcing their removal in breach of the United States’ oldest treaty then in effect.  Set against a backdrop of a federal Indian termination policy, pork-barrel politics, and undisclosed plans for private hydropower during the post WWII boom, Lake of Betrayal reveals an untold story from American history—a one-sided battle pitting an impoverished Native American nation against some of the strongest political, social and commercial forces in the country as they fought to protect their sovereignty. And although the imposed changes resulting from the dam cost the Seneca irreplaceable cultural losses, the Kinzua crisis became a turning point to more aggressively protect and exercise their sovereignty and build a stronger Seneca Nation. Production for Lake of Betrayal began in 2014. The film was released to PBS stations nationwide in November, 2017.

This program is produced by Toward Castle Films and Skipping Stone Pictures and is a presentation of Vision Maker Media with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Producers                              Scott Sackett & Paul Lamont

Director                                  Paul Lamont

Writer                                     Paul Lamont & Scott Sackett

Director of Photography         Stephen McCarthy

Editor                                      Chris Bové

Narrator                                  Gary Farmer

Music                                      Brent Michael Davids

Additional Music                     Richard Treetall Bargel

Associate Producer                Caleb Abrams

Additional Cinematography    Jack L. Cummings

Story Consultant                    Chana Gazit

Sound                                    John V. Davis

Audio Post-Production           Propellerhead Media

Sound Design                        Shaun Mullins

Aerial Cinematography          NLAPV

William Aumer, Technical Director

Mark Preyer, Aerial Technician

Jeff Scruggs, Aerial Director

Advisors

Martin Doyle, PhD

Michael Frisch, PhD

Donald Grinde, Jr., PhD

Randy John, PhD

The producers also gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the following individual donors:

Dorrance Amorine

Anonymous

Lee Bennett

Donna Bentkowski

Sally Brozell

Becky Burns

Bradley Kemick

Justin Laing

Deborah Lanni

Christopher Leonard

Donielle Lovell – In Memory of David G. Heron

Rebecca Lyon

Joseph Mangione

Carol Nephew

Ralph Panaro

Regina Parot

Linda Rabineau

Keith Reed

Tanya Reuscher

Dereka Rushbrook