Many people may not know about Native American culture or the conditions of Native American reservations, but several NIU organizations want to change that.

The student organization NATIONS is helping fund the showing of “Return of the Navajo Boy” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Cole Hall 101.

“Return of Navajo Boy” is an acclaimed documentary chronicling the reunion of a Native American family, the Clys, whose daily life on a reservation in Monument Valley, Utah, was photographed and filmed by white filmmakers in the mid-1900s.

Producer/director Jeff Spitz, a Chicago native, will visit NIU for the film’s showing, along with Cly family members John Wayne Cly and Elsie Mae Cly Begay.

“I wanted to bring the film to NIU because I want people to know what it is like to live on a reservation,” said Rita Reynolds, NIU graduate school business manager and coordinator of the event.

“Most people do not understand that reservation conditions are just as bad as those of third-world countries,” she said. “There is no central water system. People on the reservations must use outhouses and drink from contaminated wells. There are also no supermarkets, so they must grind corn just like they did 500 years ago. They are in the middle of nowhere, so people don’t care about them.”

In 1997, a white man visited the Navajo reservation in Monument Valley, searching for the unidentified Native Americans seen in a vintage film produced by his father 40 years earlier.

The rarely seen film featured the Cly family, including infant John Wayne Cly, who was taken away by missionaries in the 1960s and never returned. His appearance in the film led remaining family members to question his whereabouts. Fortunately, John Wayne Cly heard about the film and located his long-lost family for a reunion, which is chronicled in “Return of Navajo Boy.”

Monument Valley has dangerously high levels of radioactivity, which is because of massive uranium deposits. Radioactivity levels are 80 times the acceptable limit, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Many workers and residents in the area, including numerous Cly family members, have been stricken with radiation-related ailments such as lung cancer and emphysema.

Congress recently passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which gives $150,000 to those affected by the radiation. Begay and Spitz hope “The Return of Navajo Boy” will further aid compensation and cleanup in the reservation. Reynolds said the fees paid to rent the movie would help fund clean-up efforts.

“This is what college is all about; finding out all the things you need to know,” Reynolds said. “I want to help educate others about Native American culture.”

Reynolds said she would not have been able to bring the film to NIU without support from the administration.

NATIONS stands for Native Americans Together Insuring Our Nation’s Sovereignty. The Campus Activities Board, Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources Center and Student Association also helped fund the event .