2026 (USA) 50 minutes
Directed by: Scott Young
Donner Summit is more than the site of an infamous tragedy – it is a place where Indigenous history, westward migration, the railroad, highways, and generations of travelers converged to help shape California and connect America.
DONNER SUMMIT: GATEWAY TO A NATION tells the sweeping story of one of the most consequential mountain passes in American history. Long before emigrant wagons crossed the Sierra, the region was part of the ancestral homeland of the Washoe people.
Later came westward migration, the Donner Party, the Gold Rush, the transcontinental railroad and the Chinese workers who carved a route through the granite, followed by automobiles, highways, skiing, and the modern interstate.
Incline Village Cinema – December 4 – 4:45pm