The Craft of Filmmaking
Ancestor Eyes~
After getting sick, a young Native American woman, Willa, returns to her mother’s home, where they both must come to terms with her illness. Willa’s mother, who had been a long time ‘shut-in,’ begins venturing outside with her camcorder, taping the sunrise and mountains, bringing the outside world into the bedridden Willa. Pain turns into a source of inspiration, igniting her mother’s gift for storytelling and ultimately paving a path of magical transformations.
Filmmaking is such an intense craft. All of my experiences have been me, writing, directing, and producing each project. My first project, Ancestor Eyes, is nearest and dearest to my heart. Here’s how it all happened…
I won the SCIC Creative Spirit Contest and was awarded $10,000 to produce and direct my short film. I wrote Ancestor Eyes with two lead actresses in mind, one of them, Rulan Tangen, a fellow collaborator that I had worked with many times before. She was my inspiration for the story. The other artist was Tantoo Cardinal, who had always been my favorite Native actress of all time. Tantoo is a LEGEND. But the issue was that I had never met her before that time. So, with the assistance of Raoul Trujillo, who put me in contact with her, I was able to send her the script. She loved it and agreed to let me fly her down to Los Angeles to KILL IT in this beautiful short film!
Ancestor Eyes went on to play at nearly 40 festivals and won 14 awards, including the Rhode Island International Film Festival’s Directorial Discovery Award. More recently, I have independently produced, written, and directed two new short films, Whispered Fall and Power Point. I am currently developing an episodic comedy, When You Miss Aloha, as well as a feature-length drama, Stored and Safe, both showcasing my birthplace and culture as the backdrop in these character-driven projects.
