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Global Television Network

Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World

Network: Global Television Network

Broadcast Run: 1994

Broadcast Medium: Television

Two years in the making, Millennium examined how our contact with other civilizations can lead to a new understanding of ourselves and our modern world. “It’s as much about psychology as it is about anthropology,” said co-producer Richard Meech. The series discussed everything from relationships and life and death to the importance of wealth and law and order in society. The crew that worked on Millennium were the first ones ever to receive permission to record and participate in the annual pilgrimage of the Huichol Indians of Mexico to their sacred land of Wirikuta. On the last night in the desert, the leader of the pilgrimage, a 70-year-old known simply as Pancho, called upon Grandmother Growth to ensure the survival of the peyote, an hallucinogenic cactus, for the next pilgrims. Within 30 seconds, a sudden rain poured down for two minutes, the only rain the crew had seen in three weeks of filming.

Broadcast: 1994
Time slot: Saturday 8:00 pm
Running time: 40 minutes

Production Company: Biniman Productions Limited (Toronto), in association with the Global Television Network, BBC, PBS, and Telefilm Canada
Executive Producer: Adrian Malone
Producers: Richard Meech, Michael Grant
Supervising Producer: Nancy Button
Associate Producers: Toni Stevens, Mark Johnston
Directors of Photography: Vic Sarin, Mike Boland, Doug Keifer, Thomas Burstyn

Written by Joanne Ingrassia – June, 2002