"A New Island" Between 1946 and 1958 the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands. Claims between the United States and the Marshall Islands are ongoing, and the health effects have created a legacy that still lingers from these tests. A New Island is a documentary about the displaced people of this region who have immigrated to Springdale, Arkansas. They come for better jobs, education, and health care. And they come legally. A New Island introduces us to some of the people who have made this journey, as they try to preserve their island culture while adapting to life in the middle of America.

Produced by Dale Carpenter of the University of Arkansas, the film examines the Marshallese population that settled primarily in Springdale during the 1970s and mid-90s. The Marshallese came looking for jobs, better health care, a safer environment and better schools. They brought with them their family traditions, culture and values. "Anyone who has had to face and overcome hardship in their lives will find this story both heartwarming and inspiring," AETN Executive Producer Carole Adornetto said. The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a cluster of 29 atolls and five small islands on the eastern side of the south Pacific Ocean with a population of about 60,000. The United States acted as administrator for the islands after World War II, when they were made part of the United Nations Trust Territory.

The U.S. military also used some of the islands to test nuclear weapons from 1947 to 1962. The islands gained their independence in 1986, and under a Compact of Free Association between the two countries any Marshallese with a valid passport can come to the United States legally, find a job and stay as long as he or she likes. Carpenter spent a year producing the film, conducting dozens of interviews in the process. He took the film's title from something a Marshallese woman told him. "She was saying that the Marshallese are great navigators, that they had to travel from island to island in the Pacific," Carpenter said. "Now she said they had found their way to Springdale, and that this was a new island for them. I thought that really summed things up."