Twin Cities Film Fest features an intertribal love story set in Minneapolis winter

INTERVIEWER: Twin Cities Film Festival kicks off today with in-person showings, panels, virtual screenings, and a whole lot more. It includes filmmakers big and small, even Minnesota-made movies. One of those is A Winter Love by filmmaker Rhiana Yazzie. It's an intertribal love story about a Navajo singer songwriter that looks to capture Minnesota's vibrant Indigenous community. Here's a listen.

[AUDIO PLAYBACK]

- Hey, kiddo.

- Hey.

- So what's your next gig?

- I think I'm taking a break after this one.

- A break?

- Yeah. I think Minnesota's got me played out. Hey, Reuben. Are you going to mail, or are you going to hand out--

- I have it. I have it. You know I always have work for you. Always.

- Thanks.

- Hey, whatever happened to the idea of you opening your own place?

- Money.

- Maybe you and I could work out some kind of deal. I haven't sold that little brick building yet. [INAUDIBLE] You know how talented you are?

- I think I'm a little too old to do anything else.

- Kid, what are you, 30?

- A little bit older than that. I just got to get away. I got to recharge, put myself back together.

- You got to stop throwing your pearls to swine.

[END PLAYBACK]

INTERVIEWER: Right now, joining us is Rhiana Yazzie, the filmmaker behind A Winter Love. Nice to have you with us, Rhiana. How are you?

RHIANA YAZZIE: Hi. I'm great. Thanks so much for having me on today.

INTERVIEWER: Say, congratulations. This is your first feature film.

RHIANA YAZZIE: Yes, it is. Thank you so much.

INTERVIEWER: Oh my gosh. Isn't it like giving birth? I mean, I don't know-- do you have kids? Maybe you don't. But I've found making a movie is like giving birth. Oh my goodness.

RHIANA YAZZIE: Well, no. I've never given birth myself. But I can imagine it's probably just as tough.

INTERVIEWER: It is a lot of work. I mean, can you give folks an idea of what you've had to gone-- what you've had to deal with to get this film to the large screen?

RHIANA YAZZIE: Oh, well-- well, the film, I started making it in 2017. And I made it over the course of a few winters. And yeah, I mean, I financed the film. I had a little help from Sundance and the Tiwahe Foundation, which is a local Native philanthropic organization here. But pretty much, the majority of that. And then I wrote, directed, and produced it. And it-- yeah. It was fun. I learned every single piece you could possibly know about putting a film together. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Did you have a film background going into the project?

RHIANA YAZZIE: No. I actually just decided that I wanted to start doing film in about 2015. And I have a long history in theater. I'm a playwright and I'm also the founder and artistic director of New Native Theater, which is a 14-year-old Native American theater company here in the Twin Cities.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, good for you for, though, leaping in with both feet on this. Because again, filmmaking is not an easy thing. People, I think, look at this and say, eh, it's-- you just get a bunch of people together, and hire some videographers, and editors, and-- no. But that's not it, obviously. So where did the idea for A Winter Love come from?

RHIANA YAZZIE: Well, it came from my experience of living in the Twin Cities. So I am originally from New Mexico. I'm Navajo Dene. And when I moved to the Twin Cities, I came out here in 2006 on a Playwrights' Center Jerome Fellowship for being an emerging playwright. And the most striking thing to me was how vibrant the American Indian community is here. I mean, this is where American Indian Movement started, a lot of legislation that affects Indian country today came out of this area.

And being Navajo and meeting Ojibwe folks, Lakota, and Dakota, there's so many differences in the way that we are as people. Our cultures are completely different. But I think that sort of mainstream America sort of lumps all Native people in together. And I really wanted to show, what is that unique experience of living in an inner tribal community? And that's what I set out to do and threw in a love story while I was at it.

INTERVIEWER: Say, can you explain more for folks about the Intertribal experience that you wanted to capture?

RHIANA YAZZIE: Oh yeah. I mean, like I said, most of America thinks that every single Native American has the exact same experience, that we all ride horses, and that we have headdresses. But our cultures and languages are so different. I mean, if you look at countries across Europe, being German, or French, or English are completely different experiences. So coming together as a Navajo person, meeting Ojibwe folks, I'm a desert person. Ojibwe folks are very, very good at surviving in the winter.

And in fact, my first winter here, I would not have survived without my Ojibwe friends that I made. But I really wanted to show that difference. And then the really fun thing that happens is when you're in an intertribal environment, there's always the sort of little rivalries, or the fun in-jokes. And I suppose that-- somebody at a film festival sort of likened it to maybe the Norwegian and the Swedish community, how they're sort of a little bit of a rivalry and differences there.

But I really just wanted to show how different we all are from each other and our experiences, but at the same time, things that we have in common, and really getting to the heart of what does it mean to be a person who can make a meaningful life, and somebody who has a heart, and somebody who falls in love?

INTERVIEWER: This is not the first time folks have seen the film. I know it won best feature at the Minnesota Film Festival in Duluth.

RHIANA YAZZIE: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Being a filmmaker, when you put your films out there, it can be the most nerve wracking experience. At least that's what I've experienced. What has been the response from folks, both who are Native and who are not?

RHIANA YAZZIE: I really set out to tell the story about an individual person, her feelings, her experiences, her ups and downs. And I found that trying to be very specific about that, it has reached a whole range of folks. I know that Native women often come up to me and say they've never seen a Native woman's story like this, a woman who is not portrayed as a victim, a woman who has agency, but also a woman who's vulnerable, a Native woman who's telling her own story.

And then also, when the film played in Rochester, actually had this older Baby Boomer, white male, come up to me and he said, I totally forgot what it was like to be that age. Thank you so much for reminding me of that. And so I was so, so happy and delighted that the film, because it's really following, what is it to be like young and dumb, or learning your lessons, or falling in love, those things are universal. So it's been a really gratifying experience.

INTERVIEWER: Nice to hear what Native women think about the film because, as you know, there aren't really many accurate Indigenous representations in movies. And now, you are the person creating that for your community. That's got to be pretty special.

RHIANA YAZZIE: Yeah, and I know that's the reason I set out to be a storyteller. That's the reason I set out to be a playwright and to run a theater company. And yeah. I mean, I grew up never getting to see myself portrayed in an--

[AUDIO OUT]

INTERVIEWER: Oh no. Did we--

RHIANA YAZZIE: I hope to be able to give back to Native community.

INTERVIEWER: I'm really pleased to hear you say that, Rhiana. And I'm so sorry. We lost you there for just a brief moment. Our technology wasn't working very well. But you're back on, which is great.

RHIANA YAZZIE: Oh good.

INTERVIEWER: Say, you mentioned this. You founded the New Native Theater in the Twin Cities here. Congratulations. I understand you recently got a big honor.

RHIANA YAZZIE: Yes. Yes. Yesterday, it was announced we won the Bush Prize along with two other organizations. And I am just-- it's such an honor. It's just such an honor to be recognized. We work so hard to make theater in a way that is healthful and is able to tell these relevant stories of Native folks in a way that is different from conventional American theater that often embodies a lot of harm in its practice. So it's just really an honor to be recognized.

INTERVIEWER: The Bush Prize is a big deal. What will you do with the honoraria?

RHIANA YAZZIE: Oh, well, we are stabilizing just some basic structures of the company because I think as a company, a theater company, an Indigenous BIPOC theater company, it's really hard to move out of that just trying to survive stage to getting into a thriving stage. And so I really feel like we're really going to be able to step confidently into thriving where we have full-time staff, and we have a full just expanding our programming.

And on top of that, we're building on some appropriation we got from the legislature this summer to begin pre-design on a brand new theater space, a 200-seat theater that we'll be working on building in phase two of the Minneapolis American Indian Center's redesign. So it's all very, very exciting as we get to see the theater grow.

INTERVIEWER: Oh my gosh. That's a lot on your plate. That's a lot that you've got--

RHIANA YAZZIE: Oh, and I have this movie.

INTERVIEWER: Yes, exactly. Rhiana, it is terrific talking to you. Thank you so much. Best of luck on all of your projects, and especially the movie of course.

RHIANA YAZZIE: Oh, I really appreciate you having me on. Thank you so much.

INTERVIEWER: Rhiana Yazzie is with us. She's the filmmaker behind A Winter Love. You can see it this weekend, by the way, as part of the Twin Cities Film Fest. We'll have ticket information on our website, which is mprnews.org.