Turquoise Rose hits Gallup

‘Turquoise Rose’ opens tonight at El Morro[A] film about a young urban Navajo woman who returns to the reservation to care for her ailing grandmother.Some background:“Turquoise Rose” was filmed on the Navajo Nation and in Gallup in 2006. It features a number of Navajo people, most without professional acting experience, in the lead parts. The title role is played by Natasha Kaye Johnson of Twin Lakes. Johnson, who has done some part-time modeling, works as a reporter for The Independent. Gallup resident Rhonda Ray, of the Southwest Indian Foundation, portrays Turquoise Rose’s mother. The film also features Native actors and entertainers Deshava Apachee, Vincent Craig, and Ernest Tsosie III.

Hamilton plans to show the film in Native communities across the United States and Canada. He hopes the Navajo characters of “Turquoise Rose” will become as endearing to Native audiences as the characters of Thomas and Victor in the ever-popular “Smoke Signals.”