A Gallup Homecoming
Navajo Times | Nicholas House
From left to right, Kellyn Morris, Goldie Tom, Brandon Barber and Natalie Benally answer a q and a after the Navajo Cinema Showcase at the El Morro Theatre in Gallup on Jan. 25.
2024 was an amazing year of seeing our hard work be appreciated in various capacities. Our short films, Adziil and Mother’s Day, both have been well received by film festival audiences. Adziil earned Official Selection in the Academy Award-qualifying, Santa Fe International Film Festival. Mother’s Day premiered at the largest Native American film festival in the country, LA Skinsfest as both films continue to make their way through the festival circuit.
Still from ‘Adziil’
With the start of a new year, we are entering even bigger spaces and opportunities. Just this past January, Adziil and Mother’s Day were featured as part of the Navajo Cinema Showcase hosted at the El Morro Theater in Gallup, NM. It was an incredible evening of Navajo filmmakers all sharing their unique and diverse works. It was especially meaningful to me as I routinely went to El Morro to watch movies and live performances as a young girl growing up in G-town. In fact, I saw my very first musical performed on the stage, Around the World in 80 Days. Anytime I would pass the theater, I would say “One day, I’m going to screen my movies there.” Nearly 20 years later, that became a reality.
Still from ‘Mother’s Day’
The audience was largely made of local Gallup citizens and all of them were impacted by our films in different ways. One audience member, an older Navajo woman, came up to me and shared how “seen” they felt with the story of Ashleigh in Mother's Day. Another audience member, an older male, expressed that he related to the film as he is a single father as well. For Adziil, an audience member during the Q&A appreciated seeing Native women be fully happy and confident. She said “you don’t see us being allowed to be happy sometimes.” The entire evening made me emotional because for many of the audience, they felt visible in ways they didn’t have growing up. And I remember myself as a chizhii little rez kid dreaming of ways to make a difference for my community. Who knew it would be in the form of making movies?
The El Morro Theater
Taken by Julien Jarry for Tse’Nato’
I know this will not be the last time our films will screen at the El Morro. My dream is to one day hold a premiere for my feature film that I write and direct. And though that dream seemed so unattainable all those years ago, this event made me realize it can and will come true one day.
