{"id":25337,"date":"2022-05-09T09:23:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T16:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=25337"},"modified":"2023-02-27T20:44:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T20:44:17","slug":"at-remote-high-school-indigenous-teens-dream-of-a-glittering-future","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/at-remote-high-school-indigenous-teens-dream-of-a-glittering-future\/","title":{"rendered":"At Remote High School, Indigenous Teens Dream of a Glittering Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

South African-born, Utah-based documentarian Jared Jakins<\/strong>, currently the film curator at Granary Arts Center in Ephraim, Utah, is interested in stories of cultural intersection, and documenting communities and identities emerging from that intersection. <\/span>Scenes from the Glittering World<\/i><\/b><\/a>, his feature documentary debut, is set in and around Navajo Mountain High School in the extremely remote part of the Navajo Nation Reservation. The school is considered one of the most remote high schools in the United States\u2014possibly<\/span> the<\/span><\/i> most, outside of Alaska. Jakins was originally interested in documenting the earnest travails of the school\u2019s fledgling robotics team but the film evolved from there as he got to know more stories and people, including the kids featured in the film who are caught between a desire for modern, technological life and the old ways. The title is a reference to Din\u00e9 creation stories that reference the existence of four worlds before this one, the modern-day or glittering world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jakins focused the film on three students trying to find themselves and come of age, despite the isolation and their own unique difficult situations: Granite, a 14-year-old struggling to find purpose at school and at home after the death of his younger brother; Ilii, new to the school after moving from Las Vegas, who doesn\u2019t know if her family and community will accept her if she openly embraces her queerness; and Noah, a senior who struggles to find academic motivation but has found freedom, power, and connection playing Fortnite.<\/span><\/p>\n

The filmmaker talked to us about his time with the Din\u00e9 community in Navajo Mountain, including why he basically had to move his family there during filming, and gives us an update on how the kids are doing today. Jakins tells us here that he wanted “to prove I wasn\u2019t there to simply strip mine the community and leave.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Noah

Noah and his brother, from Scenes from the Glittering World<\/p><\/div>\n

How did you first come across this community and what led you to want to make a film, to tell their story?<\/b><\/p>\n

Like most people in the American West, I am a transplant. I arrived as a child from South Africa when my family immigrated to a small Mormon community in Utah. At an early age, I learned of the West\u2019s mythic place in the wider fabric of the United States and found myself fascinated by its checkered history. At the same time, I felt culturally and emotionally displaced as an outsider in my new home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of these formative experiences I have been drawn to documenting the stories of others who, for whatever reason, have been displaced culturally, economically, geographically, or even through settler-colonial oppression.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first learned of the Navajo Mountain Community, I immediately felt there was an opportunity to explore some of these themes. In engaging with our three main participants, I found that despite physical distance and the history of oppression that still reverberates throughout the region, there is a universality and familiarity in their coming-of-age in America. I was inspired by the ways the [kids] navigated aspirations and daily responsibilities, trauma and the weight of adulthood. I was inspired by the humor, closeness of the families, and their collective resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Roni

Jared Jakins at right, with producer\/cultural advisor Roni Jo Draper at left<\/p><\/div>\n

Who do you hope is especially impacted by seeing <\/b>Scenes From the Glittering World<\/i><\/b>?<\/b><\/p>\n

Din\u00e9 youth generally, and our three participant-collaborators in particular. I hope they can be incredibly proud of the strength, wit, and courage they demonstrate in the film for other youth to experience. I hope audiences are moved by their survival, the love of their families, and the healing of their sacred lands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you talk about the meaning of the title, and what a “glittering world” is in the Dine community?<\/b><\/p>\n

Our title came from the Navajo Language and Culture teacher at Navajo Mountain High School, Leroy Bedoni. He encouraged me to sit in on his culture classes from time to time and would spend the occasional evening sitting outside his home teaching me about the Din\u00e9 Bahane’, or as I understand it, the story of the Navajo People. He emphasized the importance of the creation story and its four worlds, each represented by a sacred color (Black, Blue, Yellow, White). He expressed that the Din\u00e9 now live in the fourth world, also known as the Glittering World, or the modern world. Mr. Bedoni served as one of the film’s generous cultural advisors.<\/span><\/p>\n

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in making this film?<\/b><\/p>\n

Distance\u2014both geographic and cultural. Geographically speaking, the Navajo Mountain community is extremely remote. It straddles the Utah and Arizona border, nestled at the base of Navajo Mountain. It\u2019s a hundred miles to the nearest city. It\u2019s so remote that the San Juan School district built housing for teachers at the school. Since lodging at a hotel or Airbnb was simply unavailable, I was fortunate enough to be able to move my family into one of the unused teacher housing units while we did production.<\/span><\/p>\n

This proximity to the school and students helped immensely to earn the trust with our subjects and their families. The familial element is crucial to the film and <\/span>I needed to prove I wasn\u2019t there to simply strip mine the community and leave. Navigating the challenges of respectfully encountering and documenting a culture that was unfamiliar required the dedicated and generous help of many cultural advisors. Roni Jo Draper, our producer and lead cultural advisor, nurtured a passion in the whole team to get the nuances right.<\/span><\/p>\n