Sandra Osawa

Sandra Sunrising Osawa is a Makah filmmaker and poet. She is best known for her films Lighting the Seventh Fire and On and Off the Res with Charlie Hill (1999).

Early life and education Osawa is a member of the Makah nation of Washington state. She grew up in a family of six on the Makah Reservation in summers and Port Angeles, Wa., during the school years. Her father was a commercial fisherman. She studied at Lewis & Clark College where she got her B.A. in both Political Science and English in 1964. She studied with the poets William Stafford and Vern Rutsala while at Lewis & Clark. and featured both Native guests, like Buffy Sainte-Marie, and non-Native guests who were concerned with Native issues, like Marlon Brando. By 1975, series became popular and aired before the Today Show. Osawa also worked with her husband for the Seattle-based KSTW-11 public affairs program, Native Vision. Under a grant from the Washington State Commission for the Humanities, she created the documentary, Eagles Caged. Eagles Caged focused on the female Native American inmates incarcerated in the women's prison in Purdy, Washington.

Film career In 1980, she formed Upstream productions with her husband, Yasu Osawa. The film's title refers to the Chippewa Seven fires prophecy. In 1995, she released Pepper's Pow Wow, a documentary that focused on the life of Kaw-Muscogee jazz saxophonist Jim Pepper. The first part of her film Usual and Accustomed Places aired at Sundance in 1997. In 1999, she made the documentary On and Off the Res with Charlie Hill about Oneida comedian Charlie Hill. Her 2007 film, Maria Tallchief, examined the life of the first Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief.

Awards Osawa has received many awards for her work including best documentary in 1994 for Lighting the Seventh Fire at the American Indian Film Festival and the Taos American Indian Filmmaker of the Year in 1996.

Selected filmography Goin' Back (1975, released in 1995 ) In the Heart of Big Mountain (1988) Lighting the Seventh Fire (1995) Pepper's Pow Wow (1996) On and Off the Res with Charlie Hill (1999) Usual and Accustomed Places (Part 1 1997, 2000) Maria Tallchief (2007) Princess Angeline (2010)