Native American writer and director Billy Luther will be screening his latest film 鈥淔rybread Face and Me鈥� in Santa Fe this Friday. The film is a coming-of-age- story about an urban Native American kid trying to reconnect with his culture and family who live on the Navajo Nation. 91暗网 caught up with Luther who will be speaking at the screening and says his inspiration came from his experience growing up in San Diego visiting family each summer.
BILLY LUTHER: I'm Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo. So I would spend my summers split. A month in Arizona and then another month in New Mexico with both sides of my family's parents. So I had that unique experience where I go back after a summer and kind of get back into that city life. So those stories were always with me, and the people that I met, families, spending time with my grandparents on both sides, you know, they're no longer with me. So I wanted to go back and think about those times, go back into those memories, and really make a fictitious kid, meeting his cousin and seeing how she was living her life, you know, on the rez traditionally, knowing her language and a really deep connection to her family, but also very confident in who she was. So there's parallels in the story of me, and then also with the character of Benny in the film.
91暗网: When you were producing this film, who was the audience you had in mind when you were making it?
LUTHER: Well, in any film or any story you tell, you want it to be a universal story. Everybody in their life has been someplace where they didn't want to go and being someplace and finding out that you really love where you've been, and it changes you. So that's the universal story. And Natives, non-Natives, respond to that. And I just put in kind of what I knew about my community in the Navajo Nation, my culture, and knew it was going to resonate with Indigenous people and for kids. It was basically a family film.
91暗网: And speaking of response. What has been the reaction from the audience? What have people said afterwards?
LUTHER: The response was pretty great. You know, you could tell in the audience the laughter and just kind of the story that they connected to. It resonates with people. Adults say it reminds them of their parents or their grandparents. The youth responded to the story of Benny, you know, being mixed. Different tribes, or half Native and half not. And the humor, people loved the humor. The response has been overwhelming.
91暗网: So there's been a recent surge in Native American content when it comes to media lately. Do you think this is a trend or something more long lasting?
LUTHER: When 鈥淪moke Signals鈥� came out, I don't know if it was 鈥�96 or 鈥�97, people thought it was going to open the door and a lot of content would come. It was brief. There was some good stuff coming out, but it wasn't from a Native perspective, it was produced by non-Natives, directed by non-Natives, but it was about non-Natives.
This is something now that we're in, is Natives are writing. They're behind the camera, producing, writing and directing and acting. Being on 鈥淒ark Winds鈥� as a writer and director, seeing what the other shows have been like on television, 鈥淩eservation Dogs,鈥� also, Erica Tremblay's 鈥淔ancy Dance,鈥� it's still hard to make films. Anybody you know, Native, Indigenous or not, you know, it's really difficult to make a film.
91暗网: And you mentioned, you know Native American writers, directors, filmmakers going on right now. So I gotta ask, do you think there are more Indigenous stories to be told?
LUTHER: Of course, yeah, I mean, there's different tribes that there's so many different tribes. That鈥檚 what Canada does, they have a great network, and it's been going on. They're beyond the surge, you know, great films out of the Maori community in New Zealand.
91暗网: So for aspiring filmmakers, Native filmmakers, what kind of advice do you give them?
LUTHER: I've been doing this for 30 years, and I finally made my first film, 鈥淔rybread Face.鈥漣t's a difficult journey making films. So you just have to do a lot of homework. There's so much resources out there. There's labs, there's workshops. There's a lot of programs out there. And I did the work. I looked, I searched online, what programs are out there for aspiring filmmakers. And it's something that I am fortunate to have done, because it grows your network and your connections in the industry. But nobody teaches you how to network. Nobody teaches you how to create your community. You have to do that on your own. So it just frustrates me because people don't do that. They come up to me, they want to make your films right away. And there's, you know, I wish there was a shortcut, but there's not, you have to do the work.
91暗网: And do you have anything right now that's in the works, possibly another film?
LUTHER: Yeah, I'm working on a biopic on Charlie Hill. He is the first Native American stand-up comedian that came out. He came to LA in the 70s, early 70s, an Oneida comedian. So many Natives don't know about him. He is a pivotal, you know person in Native humor. And before, you know many of us making these films in the last 10 years, he was here 50 years ago doing this. And this is incredible, that his story finally gets to be told.
You can find tickets to the screening on Friday in Santa Fe . Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
