Only
an "insider"
could record and explain the personal meaning,
communal intricacy, and mystical significance
of the kinaaldá ceremony. Producer/director
Lena Carr was denied her kinaaldá ceremony
because of her parent's relocation and their
desire to integrate her into mainstream culture.
By documenting her niece's rite of passage,
Carr journeyed back to her childhood and found
"that piece of my life that I felt was
missing." Carr follows 13-year-old Tanya
Sheperd's initiation into womanhood during
the
rite of passage that connects her to the Navajo
community and culture.
| |
| Tanya
Sheperd with her mother Etla, as Tanya
undergoes her kinaaldá |
Viewers
step inside Navajo homes and watch women
preparing ceremonial foods and
sharing personal treasures; they also learn
about the physically demanding all-night
vigil
and running at dawn which lifts Tanya from
child to woman. Members of the Sheperd family
and
the Navajo community explain their prescribed
roles during the four-day kinaaldá ceremony,
which will ensure that Tanya will be healthy
and strong, and have a happy life.The
two stories-of youthful Tanya Sheperd and
professional filmmaker Lena
Carr-intertwine and provide a contrast between
the Native American view of womanhood and
the
demands of today's mainstream culture. Carr,
who also narrates the documentary, said, "I
wanted to know if I had any connection to my
Navajo world that I had left many years ago."
She also wanted to investigate the power and
spirituality of a sacred ceremony she had only
heard about from other Navajo women. "Through
this film, I became part of my past." Kinaalda is distributed by
Women
Make Movies.
