Debuting at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, THIS LAND cracks open the untold 
story of Ganienkeh, a Mohawk community 
fighting to regain its traditional culture. In 1974 a group of Mohawk Indians occupied a defunct girls camp in New York’s Adirondack mountains and established a community they called Ganienkeh. Aiming to practice a more traditional lifestyle, and asserting aboriginal title to the land, they stayed for three years, having occasional 
violent clashes with the local residents. In 1977 they negotiated a (somewhat complicated) land swap with the State, and agreed to move to a permanent home near Plattsburgh, New York, where they remain 
today. Ganienkeh is one of the only examples of an indigenous people successfully reclaiming land from the United States, but it may not be the last. Director Mike Bradley stops by to talk about This Land’s premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, his initial surprise, as a life long New Yorker, at having never heard of this remarkable story, and how lucky he was to find the people who helped him tell the story of Ganienkeh, the Mohawks and THIS LAND.
For more go to: thislandfilm.mov
About the director – Mike Bradley is a Rochester, New York-based director and cinematographer specializing in nonfiction film, including documentary and branded content. He began his career as an independent documentary photographer for clients like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal covering issues including mental health, politics, and the American healthcare system. He is the founder of the production company Big Slide Creative, which was established in 2018. Through its 1% for the Planet membership, Big Slide donates at least one percent of its annual revenue to environmental organizations.
“A fly-on-the-wall minimalist style with archival news stories and news pictures, personal interviews and photogenic, bucolic settings result in seductive irresistible story telling. The Land belongs in that filmmaking genre with films – short or long – that can inspire audiences literally or figuratively to rise up from their seats and …” – Gregg W. Morris, The Word
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