Jordan movie includes Indians

Shiprock teen co-stars in independent filmAs the film industry shows increasing interest in New Mexico, one Shiprock man is reaping the benefits.

Meet 18-year-old Shelby Lincoln Mark, who last year was voted "best dressed" by his peers at Shiprock High School and this year is appearing in his first feature-length film.

The independently produced film "Jordan" hits theaters this year and has prompted Mark, a freshman at the University of New Mexico studying political science, to make a lofty New Year's resolution.

"I want to do two more movies this year," he said. "Maybe a horror movie or something with zombies."More on Jordan: Filming in New Mexico was a first for Workman and partner Patrick Rousseau, who make up the New York-based Iris Media Works, but the two said the state's tax incentives for filmmakers clinched their decision to shoot here.

"Plus, the landscapes there were incredible and something you can't find anywhere else in the world," Rousseau said.

Of the 20 cast members, four are American Indian and three, including Mark, are native New Mexico residents, Rousseau said. Writer Karin Williams also is from New Mexico.

"Jordan," a film Rousseau describes as a suspenseful nail-biter, follows a 5-year-old girl seeking help for her injured mother after a car accident on a remote mountain highway. The girl, Jordan, stumbles into the sheriff's office after walking all night, but convincing the sheriff that her mother is in the forest proves daunting when another woman arrives claiming to be her mother.Comment:  So without the tax incentives and landscapes, Rousseau wouldn't have filmed Jordan in New Mexico? In other words, the Indians are added on rather than integral to the story? That doesn't sound promising. It sounds as though the Indians will be generic Natives who are there to provide local color.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

Below:  "Eighteen-year-old actor Shelby Lincoln Mark, of Shiprock, shares an on-screen meal with Gregory Zaragoza, who plays the sheriff of a small New Mexico town in the independent film Jordan."