Ballet film says Indians can do anything

'Water Flowing Together'

Navajo ballet star takes a new documentary to Dinetah and the worldSoto, who is gay, told Indian Country Today that he asked Cates to make the film as an homage to his parents as well as to encourage closeted gays to come out. For Cates, whose 2001 book, "Indian Country," is a major work of photojournalism, the project was "a tribute to Jock, his family and the Navajo people, to whom I am grateful for a lifelong education." The two have shown the documentary at prestigious film festivals and on the Navajo Nation.

"Reactions at Window Rock were so heartfelt," Soto said. "It meant a lot to me. The message? We can do anything." Showings of the award-winning movie, which is named after Soto's Navajo clan, include the National Museum of the American Indian on Nov. 27, Santa Fe Film Festival on Nov. 29 and PBS' "Independent Lens" on April 8, 2008. (For more, see www.waterflowingtogether.com.)