Sahkanaga (2011)

In 2002, over 300 bodies were discovered on the property of the Tri-State Crematory in the Appalachian foothills of northwest Georgia, thrusting an unassuming, tight-knit community into the international spotlight. SAHKANAGA (meaning “Great Blue Hills of God” in Cherokee, pronounced “sock-uh-nogga”) imagines this event from the perspective of Paul, a teenager who stumbles upon the first body. Matters are further complicated by his father’s ownership of the local funeral home and the arrival of Lyla, a beautiful stranger whose recently deceased grandfather is the first corpse that Paul finds.

John Henry SummerourDirector