A film by Anne Zeiser & Natasha Davison
TOUCHING THE SUN
A MULTI-PLATFORM PBS PROJECT ON THE SCIENCE & SYMBOLISM OF THE SUN
Look up to our source of life on Earth — the Sun — it is more powerful and impactful than you can possibly imagine. The Sun influences all of life and humanity – from our agriculture, climate, and technology to our health, culture, and spirituality. Because of the Sun’s profound effect on the rhythms of human life, many cultures throughout time have sought to touch the Sun.
The Sun is the only star that counts for humanity. This is where there is a species surviving under the Sun. There is nothing else that compares to the Sun.
— Dr. Madhulika Guhathakurta, NASA's Heliophysics Science Division
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Touching the Sun is a groundbreaking multi-platform PBS project exploring the science and symbolism of the Sun and its vital and dynamic relationship with humanity and life on Earth. The project utilizes the traditional concept of Etuaptmumk, the Mi'kmaw word for “Two-Eyed Seeing” – the gift of dual perspectives – by weaving cutting-edge scientific exploration with Traditional Knowledge about our closest star. Touching the Sun is anchored by a 1-hour documentary and includes a digital series, website, lesson plans, community outreach campaign, and social impact initiative.
Touching the Sun probes our closest star – its mysterious origins, fierce power, and lifeforce energy – and follows the people who uncover its scientific secrets and celebrate its symbolic meaning. It captures the visually stunning and transformative 2024 total solar eclipse, dives into the science of the Sun’s influence on the Earth and solar system, and examines the cultural context of the Sun's meaning, symbolism, and traditions across time and cultures. We meet researchers chasing the elusive corona in the Moon's shadow, NASA heliophysicists shedding light on the solar winds, Indigenous leaders sharing the Sun's spiritual symbolism, and conservationists entreating us to steward our planet. Touch the Sun – and experience the awe and wonder of its fiery secrets and life-sustaining force.
MULTI-PLATFORM PROJECT:
The multi-platform PBS project is helmed by a woman-owned duo of award-winning documentary filmmakers and journalists, Anne Zeiser and Natasha Davison in collaboration with two veteran Native American producers, Charles “Boots” Kennedye (Kiowa) and Pamela Belgarde (Turtle Mountain Band of Anishinaabe).
Our goal is to channel the universal connection to the Sun’s life force and desire to uncover its secrets to engage more audiences in an understanding and appreciation of science, nature, and culture, particularly Indigenous peoples and communities with barriers to access to STEM content and careers. By highlighting both the scientific and cultural aspects of solar phenomena, we seek to foster a deeper appreciation for our closest star and its influence on our world.
Touching the Sun is anchored by a feature-length documentary that complements the
multi-platform project’s elements:
● Documentary film (1-hour) airing nationally on PBS.
● Digital series for PBS Digital Studios with a deeper dive into the science of the Sun and its place in ancient, Indigenous, and modern cultures.
● Website serving as a hub for film and media information, solar science content, cultural Sun-watching content, outreach activities, impact calls-to-action, and resources.
● Educational lesson plans for K-12 students in math, science, and social studies using documentary clips for PBS LearningMedia, the top U.S. provider of online curricula.
● Outreach campaign in schools, universities, museums, and Indigenous communities, offering solar science education, cultural exchange, and community engagement.
● Social impact initiative with key partners focused on stewardship of the Earth (climate, sustainability, outdoors, dark skies) and humanity (tolerance, altruism, compassion).
DOCUMENTARY FILM:
Touching the Sun is an enthralling documentary that explores the profound influence
of our nearest star.
Travel through time and across cultures to touch the Sun and discover its profound influence. Uncover how our closest star has powered life on Earth – the food we eat, the explosion of species, the weather and climate, our circadian rhythms, and our health.
Join the intricate dance of solar cycles – sunrises, sunsets, solstices, equinoxes – and understand their cultural and environmental significance. Witness the awe and wonder of transformative total solar eclipses, tracing their unique science, environmental and psychological effects, and critical role in solar research. Touching the Sun affirms the Sun’s essential role in the web of life on Earth.
Jump into the cutting-edge heliophysics research that unravels the Sun’s greatest secrets. We explore the Sun’s dynamic and ever-changing sunspots, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, solar winds, and geomagnetic solar storms. We learn about the technologies and methodologies scientists use to study the Sun’s surface, corona, and atmosphere, as well as the mysteries of its temperature, dynamic properties, and magnetic fields. We understand why the Sun’s behavior and solar cycles are crucial for predicting space weather and protecting Earth’s technology and infrastructure from these solar events. We follow the groundbreaking research of a group of scientists studying the elusive corona only during total solar eclipses and reveal stunning images from their research. We journey inside innovative space missions and observatories, such as NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, SDO, SOHO, STEREO, PUNCH, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter, and the ground-based Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. We imagine how the Sun can fuel our research, transportation, and sources of energy
with NASA’s newly launched Solar Sails.
Delve into the diverse ways humanity has celebrated and mythologized the Sun, examining how ancient civilizations worshiped it as a deity and celebrated it through rituals and festivals – from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica and beyond. We see how many cultures built monuments to the Sun, like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and Chaco Canyon’s bonitos and kivas, to align with solar events and developed calendars based on the Sun’s cycles. We follow a modern-day Native American Sun Dancer or Sun Watcher sharing their Traditional Knowledge about the Sun and its cultural symbolism — who also bridges their worldview with modern science. We explore how the intersection of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and state-of-the-art solar science illuminates critical modern challenges such as environmental stewardship, solar power, sustainable agriculture, and the transformative potential of renewable energy technologies. We explore how contemporary cultures continue to celebrate and draw inspiration from the Sun and appreciate the Sun’s power as our source of life.
Touching the Sun is a captivating exploration of the Sun, blending scientific discovery with cultural and spiritual knowledge-sharing.
THE VOICES OF TOUCHING THE SUN:
NASA heliophysicists work on key missions such as the Parker Solar Probe (the closest man-made mission to the Sun, hailed as almost touching the Sun), PUNCH, SDO, and STEREO to reveal the Sun’s secrets and clues to its origins.
Solar corona and solar wind researchers use NASA’s WB-57 jets, launched from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, to gather data on the corona during a total solar eclipse.
Science researchers and educators highlight NASA-supported 2024 eclipse citizen science research on the Sun including CATE, SunSketcher, and Mega Movie 2024.
NOAA scientists track the Sun’s solar cycles, emergence of sunspots, and coronal mass ejections to predict geostorms that impact Earth’s satellites and power grid.
NSF solar researchers image the Sun from the world's largest ground-based solar telescope, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope as it becomes fully operational.
Anthropologists trace ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, Persians, Mayans, and Incas’ relationship with the Sun and the temples to celebrate it, and explain the many North American Indigenous Sun traditions.
Native American Sun Dancers from Pueblo, Hopi, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Crow, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Plans Cree, Shoshone, Ute, Anishinaabe, or Zuni tribes share their traditional Sun knowledge, traditions, and links to Western science.
Pueblo, Mayan, Toltec, Kānaka Maoli tribal leaders explain their cultures’ Sun-centric belief systems, share their ceremonies and rituals, and bridge them to science.
Psychologists document the six stages of emotion experienced when witnessing a total solar eclipse and explain the role the Sun plays in physical and mental health.
Astronauts chronicle their efforts to better the world – inspired by their new understanding of our special place in the universe from their time in outer space.
STEM educators, eclipse chasers, families, artists, musicians, and futurists marvel at the inspiration of the Sun and how it fulfills a universal human need.
Touching the Sun is more than just a scientific or cultural exploration, it is a call to action – to reconnect with the natural world, to steward our planet, to embrace the wisdom of diverse cultures, and to rekindle our sense of awe for our closest star.
CONTACT US: TouchingTheSunContact@gmail.com