The Elk
2026•30m•Released
Documentary
The Elk sculpture is a beloved icon in Portland, Oregon, but it was sidelined during the 2020 protests. Six years later, it returns, this time to a city and a nation divided over who or what belongs on a pedestal. As protest consumed Portland, Ore. in 2020, the city removed a beloved elk sculpture for safekeeping. Six years later, the elk is the first of the city's damaged monuments to return, and the only sculpture without controversy. But in a city that never really stopped protesting, people remain divided over why the elk went away—and what it means for the dinged-up but refurbished symbol to finally return. Set in an American city reckoning with its symbols of westward expansion, the unfolding fate of the elk and the other sculptures tells the story of a nation divided over who and what belongs on a pedestal.
Director
Erika Bolstad
Budget
$0M
Studio
Making Monumental
Cast
Sarah Gilbert
Themselves
Maya Foty
Themselves
Darion Jones
Themselves
Henry Kunowski
Themselves
Stephen Kafoury
Themselves
Brian Libby
Themselves
Kathleen Mahoney
Themselves
Teressa Raiford
Themselves
Zane Sparling
Themselves
Production
Company
Making Monumental
Producer
Erika Bolstad
Producer
Zach Putnam
Producer
Jen Tate
Producer
Jackie Weissman
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