ATTLA

a new PBS documentary on legendary Alaska Native dogsled champion George Attla, as he trains his grandnephew to race his dogs one last time

A co-production of ITVS & Vision Maker Media, ATTLA tells the gripping but little-known story of George Attla, a charismatic Alaska Native dogsled racer who, with one good leg and fierce determination, became a legendary sports hero in Northern communities around the world. Part dog whisperer, part canny businessman and part heartthrob, Attla rose to international fame during a unique period of history when Western education, economies, and culture penetrated the Alaskan village lifestyle and forever changed the state with the discovery of oil in the late 1960s. Spanning his fifty-year long career, the film tells Attla’s story from his childhood as a tuberculosis survivor in the Alaskan interior, through his rise as ten-time world champion and mythical state hero, to a village elder resolutely training his grandnephew to race his team one last time.

"A visually compelling, beautifully-told story of courage, charisma, and intergenerational apprenticeship, Attla explores the bonds that tie together multiple generations, humans and their animals, and the power of indigenous culture work across Alaska."

-Philip J. Deloria, Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies, Harvard University