March 08, 2012

Women skateboarders in Apache Chronicle

Young, Gifted, Native and Female: The Warrior Women of Apache Chronicle

By Jessica R. MetcalfeWhen documentary filmmaker Nanna Dalunde contacted Douglas Miles (San Carlos Apache/Akimel O’odham) of Apache Skateboards, he was skeptical. Dalunde wanted to make a film about the female skateboarders associated with Miles’s skate crew—to investigate why they skate and why they create. The problem? Dalunde is from Sweden. Like many Natives who’ve seen skewed visions of their people on screen, Miles was wary of yet another non-Native filmmaker (even a well-intentioned one) who might depict American Indians from an outsider’s perspective. He wanted to ensure that the skaters would retain rights to how they were represented, and that they would hold partial rights to the documentary as well.

The solution was both unconventional and simple: Miles stepped up to assist and facilitate the project as a co-director.

The result is Apache Chronicle, a 41-minute look at the lives and artwork of five young Native American female artists and skateboarders. It’s a remarkable perspective that we rarely see in documentary film: the young Native female perspective.
Comment:  For more on Native skateboarding, see Skateparks in Native Oklahoma and Birch Bark and Skateboards in Mni Sota.

Below:  "From Apache Chronicle, Lynnette Haozous as Lozen, the famed Chircahua Apache woman warrior who rode and fought with Geronimo's band of renegades."

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