Circle Homepage - The Eternal Song

Join Us to View In the Circle of Life

“We've been here many times before and we'll be here many times after. Not always in human form, so everything is an ancestor.”

— Paul Gordon

Watch the trailer for In the Circle of Life and enter your email to view the FULL film. You’ll be invited to make a donation of any amount (even $0), with the option to upgrade to the 12-film journey and talk series.

Available in the following languages: English, Czech, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian.

PREMIERE DATE

JANUARY 20, 2026

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The Vision

Our vision for the 12-film documentary series is to honor Indigenous resilience, illuminate sacred wisdom held for humanity and Earth, and invite healing across communities facing trauma and colonial erasure.

About the film

Across the continent now called Australia, ancient songlines remain alive with ancestral memory. This film walks with First Nations Elders, healers and artists as they navigate the history of colonization through the enduring strength of their culture.

The Guardians

Guest Speakers & Indigenous Wisdom Keepers

In The Circle of Life Global Online Journey Schedule

A journey of story, poetry, healing and reimagining

DAY 1

Opening the Circle

w/ Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo

FILM COMMUNAL SCREENING

In Conversation

w/ Joe Williams

Time: A Poem

w/ Dr (Uncle) Paul Gordon

DAY 2

We Al-li: Culturally Informed Trauma Integrated Healing

w/ Judy Atkinson, Caroline Atkinson

Trauma is held in bodies, lands, and lineages
Healing grounded in culture, Country and community
On Loss and Grief

Healing the Bloodlines Within

w/ Kylie Marjambi, Jarmbi Miles

Honoring intergenerational pain and resilience carried through lineage
Making space for what was silenced, withheld, or forgotten
Inviting cultural and ancestral reconnection as a form of repair

When Breath Meets Fire

w/ Jarmbi Miles

DAY 3

A Sound That Knows Its Way Home

w/ Dhinawan Baker

Short Film: BAMA

w/ Jahvis Loveday

Through years and years of memories I have captured with my family, I bring to you BAMA, an indigenous film starring my little brother Elijah Loveday.

Culture, Identity, and Intergenerational Story

w/ Dhinawan Baker, Jahvis Loveday

Identity is shaped through living connection to culture and Country
Practicing culture keeps memory, law, and belonging alive
Cultural knowledge lives on when it’s shared across generations

Short Film: Bangay (Spear) Lore

w/ Jahvis Loveday

Baŋgay Lore (Dyirbal for “spear”) is a deeply personal short film that follows a young Aboriginal dancer navigating the painful divide between celebrating culture on stage and being denied the right to live it in everyday life, revealing how cultural expression, hunting rights, and identity must coexist if our families and jarjums are to remain strong.

DAY 4

Being Sung Back into Place: Lore, Country, and Relational Healing

w/ Dr (Uncle) Paul Gordon

Lore is not taught — it’s lived, remembered, and sung into being
Country holds the memory of who we are and where we belong
Healing begins by restoring right relationship with land, story, and self

On the Stolen Generations and Mental Health

w/ Matt Scott, Shirley Scott

Naming the deep impacts of removal, silence, and survival
Honoring stories of grief, strength, and cultural continuity
Centering community-led pathways to healing and mental wellbeing

Dinawan's Connection Dance

DAY 5

In the Circle of Life Communal screening

The Dreaming Path

w/ Prof. Paul Callaghan

Walking with ancestral wisdom in everyday life
The Dreaming as a living guide for balance, belonging, and purpose
Remembering who we are through story, land, and inner listening

Closing Song: Dhunggarr

w/ Uncle Paul Callaghan

WISDOM OF THE ANCESTORS 12–FILM SERIES

The Eternal Song

Over the next two years, we will release a total of 12 full-length films featuring different indigenous traditions. Each film opens a portal into the ancestral wisdom of these cultures, calling us to remember, grieve, heal, and act.

The Eternal Song

LAND: EARTH

92 Minutes • WATCH NOW

Mauri

LAND: AOTEAROA (NEW ZEALAND)

70 Minutes • WATCH NOW

If an Owl Calls
Your Name

LAND: Esk’etemc, Gitxsan, and Wet’suwet’en (CANADA)

92 MINUTES • WATCH NOW

In the Circle of
Life

LAND: BUNDJALUNG & WIRADJURI (AUSTRALIA)

75 Minutes • WATCH NOW

Little Singer

LAND: DINÉ BIKÉYAH (ARIZONA)

81 MINUTES • COMING APRIL 2026

Sila

LAND: KALAALLIT NUNAAT (GREENLAND)

COMING 2026

‘Āina

LAND: MOKUPUNI HAWAI’I

COMING 2026

Guarani-Kaiowá

LAND: MATO GROSSO DO SUL (BRAZIL)

COMING 2026

Katô: Dreams of Dark Earth

LAND: DAJE KAPAP EYPI (BRAZIL)

COMING 2026

Maasai

LAND: OLOSHO LE MAA (KENYA)

COMING 2027

Haida

LAND: HAIDA GWAII (CANADA)

COMING 2027

Ifá

LAND: TSENACOMOCO (VIRGINIA)

COMING 2027

The Eternal Song

LAND: EARTH

Mauri

LAND: AOTEAROA (NEW ZEALAND)

If an Owl Calls
Your Name

LAND: UNIST’OT’EN YIN’TAH (CANADA)

In the
Circle of Life

LAND: BUNDJALUNG & WIRADJURI (AUSTRALIA)

Sila

LAND: KALAALLIT NUNAAT (GREENLAND)

Little Singer

LAND: DINÉ BIKÉYAH (ARIZONA)

‘Āina

LAND: MOKUPUNI HAWAI’I

Guarani-Kaiowá

LAND: MATO GROSSO DO SUL (BRAZIL)

Mundurukú

LAND: DAJE KAPAP EYPI (BRAZIL)

Maasai

LAND: OLOSHO LE MAA (KENYA)

Haida

LAND: HAIDA GWAII (CANADA)

Ifá

LAND: TSENACOMOCO (VIRGINIA)

Enter your email to view the FULL film. You’ll be invited to make a donation of any amount (even$0), with the option to upgrade to the 12-film journey and talk series.

If you know your songs, then you know your country and if you know your country, you're never lost.

Dhinawan Baker, Artist, Cultural Custodian, Kamilaroi, Bigambul

Brother, it's not your mind that's sick. It's your spirit. And when you heal your spirit, you'll get well.

Joe Williams, Associate Professor, Professional Athlete Wiradjuri, Wolgalu

In more than 200,000 years, no army was ever built. We built relationships. No fort was ever built, no castle was ever built, not because we never had the technology, because we built this family kinship connection with one another right across the country.

Paul Gordon, Cultural Custodian Ngemba, Barkindji, Muruwarri

It's time to stand up before all is dead. For you see, our mother will survive, but us humans will be memories of bygone days.

Paul Gordon, Cultural Custodian Ngemba, Barkindji, Muruwarri

The Indigenous healing practices stand in their own integrity. The land hold stories, the land holds memories, the land holds the stories of the colonizations, the slaughters, the massacres and we, from that land heal when we claim those stories back.

Judy Atkinson, Author We Al-li Founder Jiman, Bundjalung

I will unconditionally love humanity and I will light fire and I will sit with them until they feel.

Kylie Miles, Fire Tender Githabul, Ngarakwal

Take away our connection to the earth, that takes away our safety.

Jarmbi Miles, Cultural Facilitator Githabul, Ngarakwal

Within three generations of first contact in any part of Australia, 90% of the Aboriginal population were dead from massacres and starvation and disease.

Paul Callaghan, Author Worimi

We've been here many times before and we'll be here many times after. Not always in human form, so everything is an ancestor.

Paul Gordon, Cultural Custodian Ngemba, Barkindji, Muruwarri

Ceremony is not actually about you. It's about everything ahead of us, honoring everything that was before us and everything that is now.

Kyliego Kazoviyo

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

SAND is a nonprofit organization under section 501.c.3 of the US tax code. Its headquarters are on the unceded ancestral territories of Coastal Miwok and Southern Pomo Land in Sebastopol, CA. We thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH