OPB Producer Wins Prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award

Updated: July 01, 2009

Oregon Public Broadcasting is pleased to announce that Oregon Field Guide: "Celilo Revealed" produced by Vince Patton with videographer Todd Sonflieth has won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award. The CINE Golden Eagle Awards, distinguishing excellence in professional, independent and student works, are recognized internationally as symbols of the highest production standards in film and television production.

In "Celilo Revealed," OPB's Oregon Field Guide broke the news that new images existed which proved Celilo Falls was still intact. The images, which came from the bottom of the Columbia River, put to rest long-held beliefs that the government did not just drown the falls; it blew them up first. Fifty-one years of broken promises by the U.S. government had created strong distrust among the tribes who had depended on Celilo Falls as their most-important fishing site for the last 10,000 years. The images Field Guide revealed showed that reports of dynamiting the falls were not true. But the Field Guide report did uncover evidence of explosives being used just 600 feet from the "Niagara Falls of the West" which did damage the nearby Celilo Village. "Celilo Revealed" can be viewed at the Oregon Field Guide Web site.

Since its founding in 1957, CINE has been dedicated to discovering, rewarding, educating and supporting established and emerging talent in film and video. Among great talents whose first major awards included the CINE Golden Eagle are Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Ken Burns, Charles Guggenheim, Stanley Nelson, Albert Maysles and Frederick Wiseman.