Premieres Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
Researchers have found that parts of Alaska are warming at up to four times the rate of most of the rest of the world. That trend has left some Alaska Native villages fighting for their survival — and even facing relocation, as a new short documentary from FRONTLINE and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University explores.
“Our ancestors said one day we will come upon this day,” Agatha Napoleon, climate change coordinator for the Native Village of Paimiut — a tribe that is proposing to relocate its people to higher ground — says in the documentary. “I didn’t think it would happen in my lifetime.”
Premiering on PBS and online this Earth Day, on Tuesday, April 22, "Alaska’s Vanishing Native Villages" examines how these remote coastal communities are navigating flooding, erosion, warming temperatures, and bureaucratic challenges. The documentary is written, produced and directed by Patty Talahongva, an award-winning journalist who is from the Hopi tribe, and produced by Lauren Mucciolo, the executive producer of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU.
The film follows Talahongva, who also serves as correspondent, as she makes multiple trips into the far western part of Alaska, near the Bering Sea and the Arctic Circle. She speaks to residents and local leaders about the challenges they face, tough decisions around preserving their way of life — which relies on harvesting foods from the sea and the land that aren’t sold in stores — and the prospect of relocating.
“As long as we're able to continue to practice our traditions, tell our stories, we will always have the basic building blocks to maintain the culture and to continue to grow it,” says Estelle Thomson, president of one of the 229 federally recognized tribes in Alaska.
FRONTLINE’s two-part broadcast hour will also feature an updated presentation of "Crime Scene: Bucha." This 2022 documentary from FRONTLINE, The Associated Press and SITU Research investigated the atrocities committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during Russia’s month-long occupation in March of that year. "Crime Scene: Bucha" is available to stream anytime.
Watch On Your Schedule: "Alaska’s Vanishing Native Villages" will be available to watch at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS app starting April 22, 2025, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c.
Credits: A FRONTLINE production with Five O’Clock Films. The correspondent, writer, producer and director is Patty Talahongva. The producer is Lauren Mucciolo. The co-producer is Belén Tavares. The senior producer is Frank Koughan. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
