Eighteen-year-old Nick Clark and his friends Cody Cayou and Travis Tom were in trouble. The three La Conner High School students, who grew up together on the Swinomish reservation 35 miles from Bellingham, were struggling with drug and alcohol issues and had been in and out of treatment programs for years.

But in 2007, Clark and his friends were given the opportunity to make a film with Native Lens—a program that introduces young people to filmmaking as a way of preserving Native American culture and bringing about social change.

Two years later, their hour-long film, “March Point,” which documents the friends’ journey as they learn about the environmental issues threatening the Swinomish reservation, has received widespread acclaim at national and international film festivals. The documentary had approximately one million viewers when it aired nationally on PBS November 2008.

Clark, now 20, came to Western Nov. 18 with members of Native Lens to participate in a panel discussion at Through a Native Lens—a Western event where “March Point,” and another Native Lens film, “Canoe Pulling: A Lummi Way of Life,” were shown.

Clark said his experience with Native Lens helped him discover a passion he never knew he had.

“I learned that I love filmmaking,” he said. “Now I want to continue and work on even bigger projects.”

More than 100 students packed the Academic Instructional Center West lecture hall to attend the event, which was co-sponsored by Western’s Native American Student Union and Western’s Social Issues Resource Center and Environmental Center.

Western sophomore Ahmed Abdirizak, an intern at the Social Issues Resource Center, said he was not surprised the event drew so many Western students.

“Western students are really self-driven to attend outreach events like this,” he said. “This [crowd] is the result of our outreach efforts combined with student motivation to come out and see these films.”

“March Point” follows Clark, Cayou and Tom as they investigate the impact of two oil refineries located on March Point, which was once a part of the Swinomish reservation. The refineries now threaten the health of the waters that the Swinomish Indian tribe use for crabbing, clamming and fishing—the basis of the tribe’s livelihood.

“This project changed my view on my culture,” Clark said. “Before making this film, I didn’t know anything about March Point. When I learned that it was part of our tribal land at one point, that was a big issue for me.”

Clark said he credits his experience with Native Lens for helping him realize his priorities in life.

“My life was going down the drain,” he says at the end of “March Point.” “If I [hadn't gotten] involved with Native Lens, I don't know where I'd be at right now. Probably on the street somewhere or locked up.”

The Social Issues Resource Center has multiple copies of the film available for students to check out for free, Abdirizak said. It can also be purhcased from iTunes for $9.99.

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