(upbeat music) - PBS Utah, in partnership with the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, invites you to a conversation about the importance of indigenous rights within American Samoa.

Laura Durham is here to tell us more.

Hi Laura, thanks for being here.

It's so great PBS Utah does these things to highlight everyone in our community.

- Yea, our content really does span from, you know, kids programs to dramas, to documentaries like this one that really address important issues.

- [Mary] Yeah and you're bringing in a local celeb.

- Right, we're so excited that Big Budah is coming to tape a live podcast in front of the attendees for this event.

So it's gonna be really fun.

It's at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.

We're gonna have food, hopefully music still working on that one, but I'm confident I can make it happen.

But I think the pillar of this really is that conversation.

Now, this is surrounding a film called "How American Is American Samoa?".

- Oh, interesting, okay.

Okay, and I think you kind of said it's gonna talk about, or the film does about some of the downsides of becoming an American citizen.

- Right, there are a lot of people in American Samoa that aren't interested in becoming a US citizen because it does compromise their heritage.

In this short film, it's a 15 minute film and will be able to explore those perspectives of the people that the filmmakers follow.

Now the filmmakers, Gabby and Niko are from American Samoa.

And we're flying in Gabby to interview.

And so it'll be a really robust conversation.

And Big Budah is the perfect moderator for this.

- Oh yeah.

He'll be great, he'll be great.

And so you're hoping you get everyone from the community, but especially, you know, the Samoan community here.

- That's right.

I mean our goal at PBS Utah really is to reflect the communities that we have there.

And I say communities plural because we have so many.

And so we're really excited to represent the Samoan community.

- Alright, well it's great you're doing it.

Thank you for being here.

- Thank you.

- And if you'd like to know more about that upcoming event, "How American is American Samoa?"

It's January 28th from 6 to 8:30 PM at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.

Go to PBSutah.org/events.

PBSutah.org/events.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact".

(upbeat music) - Local events, arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

Here on Contact, we introduce you to local events and organizations that serve your neighborhood.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to appear on our show, please visit pbsutah.org/contact.