Filmmaker touts Navajo movies

Director calls Kirtland showing of Navajo movie Turquoise Rose' a successInspired by John Woo, director of the 2002 film "Windtalkers," Hamilton held auditions exclusively on the Navajo Nation, and 90 percent of his cast and crew was Navajo.

"There's a quote by John Woo," Hamilton said Friday. "He said he auditioned over 400 Navajos and never found any of them with any experience. But I found that you've got to get Navajos from the Nation and you've got to be given an opportunity to gain experience. I believe in you guys."

Hamilton said the production, which took five years and a crew of 500 to create, was a dream come true. With only a handful of Navajo-made films on the market, the time is ripe to accurately portray the Navajo people, he said.

The best way to do that, Hamilton said, is to film Navajo talent on the reservation. He is already at work on his second feature-length film—another Navajo movie to be shot on the Nation.