Representing the variety of life on
the reservation is the aim of director Sydney Freeland’s debut
feature film “Drunktown’s Finest.”
OUT Twin Cities Film Festival along
with the Minnesota Two Spirit Society sponsored the film to be
presented because it represents various aspects of life on the Navajo
Nation. For Freeland (Navajo), the reason for making the film was
rooted in portrayals of Native Americans in film. “On a basic
level, I didn’t feel like I saw the people and the places I knew
portrayed on film before. You have Native Americans in film but more
period based stuff. There’s ‘Dances With Wolves’ and ‘Last Of The
Mohicans’ and aside from ‘Smoke Signals,’ there isn’t a lot of
contemporary stuff. On a very basic level, I just wanted to tell a
story and show how diverse it was, life on the reservation.”
Part of that diversity includes a Two
Spirit character, Felixia.
“It goes back to the idea of showing
how diverse the reservation is, Felicia is trans and she represents
the LGBT community. There’s a traditional aspect to the character
that is relevant to the film,” Freeland said. “I left the rez, I
grew up there, but I left when I was 18 and went to film school in
San Francisco and met a trans woman there. She said how loving and
accepting of trans people the reservation is. I said what do you
mean, and she said, ‘well it’s part of the culture.’”
“I was writing a script that I had
to do the research on my own culture. That’s when I learned the
concept of the third and fourth gender. It’s a little ironic that I
had to leave the rez to learn about my culture,” Freeland said.
In her research, the first-time
feature film director drew from both her friends and family who
identify as Two Spirit as well as textual resources. “Primary there
was this book called the Navajo Story. This Jesuit priest in the
early 1900s went to the people and got the traditional creation
stories and put them down on paper. That was an amazing resource for
me. I heard it growing up, too but it was amazing to see it on
paper.”
Finding the right actor to play the
role of the Two Spirit character Felixia was serendipitous for
Freeland. “We have the character of Felicia, played by Carmen
Moore, she is trans, that was very important to me, she brings a
depth of character to her and this was her first feature film,”
Freeland said. “I was writing an early draft and went on YouTube
and suggested video that had Navajo in the title, ‘Navajo Transsexual
Carmen Moore.’ They were interviewing Carmen in Las Vegas and I said
oh my gosh, that’s her. I tracked her down and found her, she grew up
on the same rez, 45 minutes from me. I pitched her the story and she
was on board.”
Developing Felixia was an important
part of Freeland’s early work at the 2010 Sundance Director’s Lab
where she shot four scenes from the script. “We brought her out and
got to work with her. First of all, Carmen is stunning and gorgeous
and she looks the part. That’s the important thing about filmmaking,
they also have to be able to act. That was the first time I got to
work with her and I said she can do this, she has the acting chops.
The basic approach was that I wanted people who could play
themselves.”
While simply having Native Americans
appear in film and TV roles may a one-time opportunity, Freeland
looked for an almost exclusively-Native cast. “It was really
intense because there are 36 speaking roles, 32 are Native American
and of those, 18 are Navajo. The casting process was looking high and
low for anybody and everybody. We a sort of wide variety of
experience levels. Jeremiah Bitsui who was in “Breaking Bad”
and “Into the West” and Kiowa Gordon in the “Twilight” films.
Then you have people like Dion Vandever and Lynisha Dishta, they had
never acted before. There was an open call we did in the mall in
Gallup. We plucked them from the audition and put them in front of a
camera. It was everything else in between those two.”
Film shooting took place last July and
August in Gallup, Espanol and Santa Fe, New Mexico from where
Freeland hails.
As for the title of the film,
“Drunktown’s Finest,” it is her response to a news story that
characterized her hometown of Gallup, as “Drunktown, USA.” “I
didn’t put a lot of my own personal experience, but I tried to create
characters who were amalgamations pf people I actually know. They’re
their own people.”
The film features the characters of
Nizhoni, who was adopted and raised as a Christian by a white family,
Two Spirit Felixia aspires to become a model and Sickboy is a
character headed to basic training so he can take care of his
soon-to-be-born child. In press material, the film observes the
Navajo Nation from the inside out through the eyes of these three
unlikely characters. “At first our preconceptions are reinforced,
but slowly, as each of their lives unfolds, we confront the reality
of living in this community and we see these three aspiring to leave
their town behind.”
The reception so far to Freeland’s
offering has been positive and inquisitive overall, but she has
noticed a difference between Native and non-Native moviegoers. “I
think the one thing I’ve noticed with Natives is that they seem to be
on board a lot sooner than non-Native audience. In Non-Native
audiences, there’s a little bit of hesitation like, ‘is it OK to
laugh at that.’ I feel like with Native audiences, they’re on board a
lot quicker.”
The ultimate test for Freeland is
coming in August. “We haven’t screened the film on the reservation.
We’ve been to Sundance and London, but we’re slowly working our way
back to the reservation. This could be one of our largest Native
audiences.”
Finding an audience for the film is
also a challenge that the director is ready to overcome. “We had a
screening in Albuquerque. I wasn’t able to attend but from what I
heard, it was our largest venue to date, 600 seats and it sold out.
We’re stoked about it because that says there’s an audience for this
film. That’s one of the things we’re saying to distributors is that
there is an audience for this film. The feedback I’ve gotten so far,
it’s gone over very well.”
As a first-time feature director, the
process has been edifying. “It’s been a learning experience, this
is my first feature. I’ve also done 25 short films as well. I work in
the industry. If I’m not directing, I’m doing. I feel like I sort of
have a degree of familiarity but the new part for me – as far as
production, I don’t feel like there were too many surprises – the
festivals and trying to sell the film, it’s been interesting to see
how this side of the industry works.”
