Filmmaker Statement

Stories are powerful, and the diverse human experiences of our collective universe must be told through film. My professional goals are to write and direct films that shed light on previously unheard and unknown human voices and stories. My father is an enrolled member of the Assiniboine Nation, and my mother is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. I am enrolled in the Navajo Nation.  As a Native American filmmaker based in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, my work champions strong and complicated female protagonists, and focuses on imagining different futures. The idea for "Pretendian" originated after reading an article about a well-known actor who claimed Native American heritage when they were non-Native. A pretendian (a blend of pretend & Indian) deceitfully asserts an Indigenous identity by proclaiming to be a member of a Native American, or Indigenous tribal nation, or a descendant of Native ancestors.