Newe Segobia Is Not For Sale

Newe Segobia is Not for Sale, by independent filmmaker Jesse Drew, looks at the battle between Western Shoshone land activists May and Carrie Dann and U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials. The Danns claim that the land was never officially signed over to the U.S., and demands proof-of-purchase. The BLM says that the Dann's livestock are over grazing and harming the Northeast Nevada land (although the BLM allows nuclear testing, open-pit gold mining, etc.). Most of the video is comprised of two videotaped encounters between members of the Dann family and local and governmental authorities. During the first, the Dann's livestock are rounded up and then released. In the second, Clifford Dann douses himself with gasoline and lights it (he appears to suffer minor burns). On the plus side, this is raw and real unpackaged video. On the minus side, there are long stretches of the combatants just standing around which contribute nothing, and the video ends abruptly in the middle of the second struggle with no summation. Winner of a Best Documentary award at the Cincinnati Film and Video Festival, this is more of a news report than a detailed exploration of an issue. An optional purchase. (Available from: Mission Creek Video, P.O. Box 411271, San Francisco, CA 94141-1271; (415) 695-0931.)