Common Ground: Story of Bears Ears

Over the past two-and-a-half years, we have been documenting the story of Bears Ears National Monument.

What began as a small project, born out of an interest in chronicling what was unfolding, has become an endeavor much larger than ourselves. The gravity and complexity of Bears Ears compelled us to investigate what is at stake for the people and the land of this place.

The film has become a critical and timely portrait of perhaps one of the most important decisions around public land conservation in our lifetimes. As of December 2017, the recently established 1.3 million acre National Monument, enacted by Former President Barack Obama and proposed by the local Tribal Coalition, was shrunk to 220,000 acres by executive order. While legality of this public land reduction is being played out in the courts, the struggle between the local residents and the land continues.

This story’s roots are tied to the land and the original stewards. For this reason we started this film in partnership with PANDOS (Peaceful Advocates for Native Dialogue and Organizational Support), a Salt Lake City based 501c3 non-profit organization that works to create dialogue and organize for Native American issues in Utah and beyond.

Our aim is share authentic stories and messages from the local communities affected, while telling an accurate story of the National Monument. Our ideal outcome is creating a productive dialogue on a local and national level through the stories shared in this film. This in part is why we have continued to independently fund this film and why crowd funding is our best hope in finishing this project with the goal of being a non-biassed story teller.

To this point, the film has been funded through contributions from the crew’s time and money, as well as donations through PANDOS. We have already contributed over $8,000 to production, and are looking to budget $8,000 more to complete final editing and licencing costs. Donate a minimum of $20 now and be the first to receive an invite to the special premier screening in Salt Lake City upon completion. By helping us reach this goal, you will have not only helped us get this film out to the world but also have played a crucial part in supporting local independent media, aimed at facilitating dialogue and finding common ground. 

Thank you so much for supporting us. We couldn't have even begun this project without all the talent, interest, and efforts of our amazing team and community. We can't wait to share this work with you and the world.

Yours, 

The Common Ground crew and PANDOS


Our core film crew is group of local filmmakers and creators living in Utah and New Mexico.

- Paige Sparks - Director and Editor

- Carmon Taylor - Producer

- Amy Ollerton- Producer

- Nick Vincent - Videographer

- Alex Simon - Audio Technician