One Woman’s Fight Against ‘100 Years’ of Injustice Against Native Americans

FEATURING MELINDA JANKO – Elouise Cobell is often compared to Rosa Parks, the pioneering civil rights activist who refused to sit at the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. But unlike Parks, Cobell’s name is not household name – yet. Filmmaker Melinda Janko wants to change that with her new documentary, 100 Years: One Woman’s Fight For Justice.

The story she tells is how the US government systematically defrauded hundreds of thousands of Native Americans out of the sales of oil, gas, and other resource extraction on lands that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had managed through a trust. Years ago, Cobell filed the largest ever class action lawsuit against the US government over the monies owed to some of the country’s most impoverished residents.

The film opens for a limited engagement in Los Angeles on Friday, September 23 at the Laemmle Santa Monica Film Center. Find more about the it at www.100yearsthemovie.com.

Melinda Janko, Director of 100 Years, and President of Fire in the Belly Productions.