GRANITE FALLS, Minn. — The premieres of two new Pioneer PBS documentaries will be broadcast on Pioneer PBS on Thursday, May 12, 2022. In Saksanica, award-winning filmmaker Leya Hale traces the traditions underlying the dress making culture of Lakota and Dakota communities. This program will air at 7 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., viewers can watch Made in Sweden, by award-winning producer Dana Conroy. This program is about traditional Swedish textile arts, sewing, blacksmithing and woodworking as taught and practiced at Sätergläntan Institute of Crafts in Dalarna, Sweden. Both documentaries will be available for online viewing starting at noon on May 12 through the station’s website, www.pioneer.org/postcards, and Postcard’s YouTube Channel.
Saksanica features interviews with Gaby Strong, Pejuta Haka Red Eagle, Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan, Leah Thomas, Marcy Fiddler and Lonna Stevens as they discuss the materials, hand craft, adornments and cultural heritage contained within traditional Dakota and Lakota women’s dresses.
Made in Sweden was filmed on location by the Postcards team in 2021 and features interviews with students and instructors at the Sätergläntan Institute of Crafts which will celebrate 100 years of course offerings in 2023. What began as a weaving and boarding school has now become a contemporary meeting place where handcraft knowledge is shared with students from around the world. Minnesota has a special relationship with Sätergläntan through the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis and the North House Folk School in Grand Marias.
Both films were made possible with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies and Saksanica also received support from contributions from the voters of Minnesota through a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. For more information about the films, contact Patrick Moore, Pioneer PBS’s communications director, at pmoore@pioneer.org or by calling 320-841-1487.
About Pioneer PBS
Established in 1966, Pioneer PBS is an award-winning, viewer-supported television station dedicated to sharing local stories of the region with the world. For more information visit: www.pioneer.org.