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Alaska Far Away

Alaska Far Away

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Mar 6, 2008

Runtime

1h 31m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

Alaska Far Away

Production Companies

Juster Hill Productions

Director

Joan Juster

Description

'Alaska Far Away' tells the story of the Matanuska Colonization Project of 1935, a creative and controversial New Deal program that relocated 202 families devastated by the Great Depression, taking them from the upper Midwest to the Matanuska Valley in Alaska to start an experimental farming colony. It generated a whirlwind of publicity and controversy at the time, not only as a federally-funded social experiment, but also as one of the last pioneer movements in America. The Matanuska Colony isn't just a fascinating footnote to the history of Alaska. It encompasses the despair of the Depression, the creative energy of the New Deal, the adventure of pioneering in Alaska, and the best and worst of our government and ordinary citizens in facing those extraordinary challenges.