2012 Producer Profiles

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December 2012 Producer Profile: Jack Kohler and Anecita Agustinez
Anecita Agustines (Dine) and Jack Kohler (Hoopa/Yurok/Karuk) are changing the landscape in northern California for Native youth interested in television production. They are the executive producers for On Native Ground Youth Reports, a monthly entertainment broadcast on the FNX First Nations Experience Channel (www.fnx.org).

The monthly series is hosted by Daniel Herrera (Miwok Nation) and Bela Longee (Assiniboine Sioux and Mandan Nation). Each episode features an in-depth interview of a Native American role model. Special interest stories will be featured each month concentrating on cultural, political and educational events, including traditional storytelling and animation. On Native Ground Field Reporters cover news, entertainment, film festivals, sports, the rodeo and the powwow trail, as well as Native American celebrities and role models.
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November 2012 Producer Profile: Gina Abatemarco
A narrative feature filmmaker and third generation Italian American, Gina Abatemarco has a passion for compelling storytelling and advancing women in the film industry.

After graduating with a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts' Film & TV Program, Abatemarco was moved by a sensational article in the LA Times reporting on the island of Kivalina, Alaska. The fast eroding village is in danger of being engulfed by the sea. Abatemarco, unfamiliar with this community, was alarmed by the possible loss of generations of traditions. Five months later, she flew to the island.
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October 2012 Producer Profile: Sophie Rousmaniere and Jay Minton
Yellow Fever, the new documentary by producers Sophie Rousmaniere and Jay Minton, follows Tina Garnanez as she uncovers the legacy of uranium mining on the Navajo Reservation.

“She goes from being a curious family member looking at her family’s tragic past with uranium, and then becomes more active in the fight for environmental justice for her people,” Rousmaniere said, talking about Garnanez.
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September 2012 Producer Profile: Eli Cane
Since America's inception, dynastic families have significantly influenced American history. Names like Kennedy, Hearst, and Rockefeller are forever tied to American politics, media and business; their legacies well documented, their names widely known. But filmmaker Eli Cane believes there is room for one more dynastic American family, a Lakota-Northern Cheyenne family: The Dull Knifes.
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August 2012 Producer Profile: Maya Stark and Adi Lavy
Maya Stark and Adi Lavy are producers and directors of the new documentary Sun Kissed. The film follows the family of Dorey and Yolanda Nez, who reside on the Navajo Reservation. Their children suffer from XP, a rare genetic disorder that causes a person to rapidly develop skin cancer and other ailments from any exposure to sunlight. In the film, Dorey and Yolanda find other children on the Navajo Reservation also suffering from XP. This comes as a surprise as XP is normally found in just one out of every 1-million people. Realizing the prevalence of XP on the Reservation, Dorey and Yolanda begin to uncover a connection between a tragic event in Navajo history that is still affecting and taking the lives ofNavajos today.
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July 2012 Producer Profile: Doug Hawes-Davis
Facing the Storm: Story of the American Bison, the recent documentary by Doug Hawes-Davis, tells the dramatic history of the tumultuous relationship--past and present--between humans and bison. Since the near extinction of bison at the hands of white Americans in the late 1800s, this relationship has grown increasingly complex with controversies including genetic hybridization, habitat availability, hunting and rancher prejudice. The survival of bison--an original inhabitant of the Great Plains--is in the hands of humans, and Facing the Storm asks, "can we allow bison to be bison?"
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June 2012 Producer Profile: Lukas Korver
Lukas Korver's new documentary, The Medicine Game, tells the story of Onondaga brothers Jeremy and Jerome Thompson, two of America's best lacrosse players. Living in the sovereign Onondaga Nation located in New York state, the brothers grew up absorbing a unique blend of Onondaga and American culture. The Medicine Game follows the bicultural brothers as they finish high school and chase their dreams of playing collegiate lacrosse for the legendary Syracuse University.
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May 2012 Producer Profile: Cathleen O'Connell
Marching bands may not be synonymous with Native American music, but in Sousa on the Rez: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum, filmmaker Cathleen O'Connell uncovers the tradition of Native American marching bands that dates back over a hundred years. In the film, O'Connell explores the history of Native American marching bands that began in the 1880s, peaked in the early 1900s, and has since declined. She profiles two of the four remaining bands that still perform today, the Iroquois Indian Band and Fort Mojave Tribal Band.
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April 2012 Producer Profile: Monique Verdin and Sharon Linezo Hong
My Louisiana Love, the new documentary by Monique Verdin (Houma) and Sharon Linezo Hong, tells a story of love, loss and life in the wetlands of southeastern Louisiana. Told from Verdin's perspective, My Louisiana Love follows her journey to document the untold story of the Houma people, whose existence and culture have been eroded by years of U.S. government and oil industry intrusion, plus environmental devastation from recent events including Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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March 2012 Producer Profile: Brian Truglio
Brian Truglio's new documentary, Racing the Rez, was born from his love for running and his deep connection to the culture and people of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. "I knew that running had a powerful effect on me and I was looking to see if it also that effect on other young people," Truglio said. Racing the Rez tells the story of contemporary life on the Navajo Nation through the eyes and legs of boys running high school cross-country for the fiercely competitive rival teams of Tuba City and Chinle. Running provides these boys with an escape from the pressures and challenges of teenage life on the Reservation.
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February 2012 Producer Profile: Billy Luther
GRAB, the new documentary by award-winning Native filmmaker Billy Luther, takes viewers to a place where outsider cameras are normally prohibited. For the first time in its 300-year-old history, the Laguna Pueblo villages of New Mexico have let video cameras into the community to tell the story of Grab Day, a feast day celebration in honor of their patron saints. The celebration culminates in the Throw—when families flock to the flat, traditional pueblo style roofs of their homes to shower high spirited crowds of community members below with bread, water, toys, food and other gifts. "I wanted to shift people into another very colorful world," Luther said. "Almost make it fairy tale like."
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January 2012 Producer Profile: Randy Vasquez and Jonathan Skurnik
The Thick Dark Fog, the new documentary by Director/Producer Randy Vasquez and Co-Producer Jonathan Skurnik, tells the story of Walter Littlemoon, Lakota, as he confronts the memories and lingering trauma surrounding his experience as a child in a Native American boarding school. Littlemoon's traumatic experience at the boarding school became deeply rooted into his being, causing him great mental and emotional pain well into his adult years. Prior to seeking psychological help, he had a name for his state of mind: "The thick dark fog."
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