"Missing Everglades of the West" is a short documentary film and exhibition exploring Indigenous perspectives on water, including the world’s largest dam removal on the Klamath River. Directed by Adrianna Jasso, a member of the Klamath Tribes, one of the five tribes along the river, the documentary and exhibition share the voices of leaders who have fought for decades, and continue to fight, to protect our life sources, our water, and our First Foods.
What makes this project rare is not only its focus but its approach: the entire team behind the camera is Indigenous. The film creates space for tribal leaders to frame their own stories, on their own terms, through their own lens. In this historic fight for dam removal, such representation is uncommon in both media and history.
The crew, made up entirely of women from the tribes who have lived in the Klamath Basin since time immemorial, brings this story forward with deep respect and responsibility. Their work honors Indigenous perspectives, centers Indigenous audiences, and ensures that this is not just a story about Native people, but a story truly told by Native people, for Native people.
Adrianna Jasso was the 2024 winner of the Andries Deinum Prize for Visionaries and Provocateurs, awarded by the College of the Arts.
Jasso holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film ('24) from Portland State University. She currently works with her Tribes languages, focusing on Indigenous voices and perspectives, honoring their worldview and working to decolonize both their stories and the ways they are told. Through both film and community-based work, she seeks to honor her ancestors, support her community, and contribute to the preservation and protection of Tribal life ways by maintaining traditions while building a bridge to the future.
The exhibition will be on display from September 9, 2025, through December 14, 2025, in the Broadway Gallery in Lincoln Hall, with a reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the gallery, followed by a screening of the film starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Hall Studio Theater, Room 115.
The Broadway Gallery is open to those with an active PSU ID card.
Pictured: A still from the film "Missing Everglades of the West"
Learn more about the Andries Deinum Prize for Visionaries and Provocateurs.