Sandra Osawa
Sandra Sunrising Osawa is a Makah filmmaker and poet. She is best known for her films Lighting the Seventh Fire (1995) 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. After she graduated, she worked on the Makah Reservation as Community Action Director and created her tribe's first Head Start Program. In 1971, she edited The Talking Leaf for the Los Angeles Indian Center as a part of their public information department. She attended film school at University of California, Los Angeles. And just prior to film school she worked on UCLA's high potential program as an English instructor. TV work Osawa directed, wrote, and produced the Native American Series for NBC in 1974. The series focused on Native American issues