Shiprock Experience
TFI Suppport
Tribeca All Access® 2015
Logline
In the town of Shiprock, New Mexico, a young group of Navajo men and women are taking back their community in a real quest to make a difference for their community and their people.
Ramona Emerson
Director/Writer
Ramona Emerson (Navajo) is a writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She received her degree in Media Arts in 1997 from the University of New Mexico and has worked as a professional videographer, writer and editor for over sixteen years as a part of Reel Indian Pictures. Ramona is a Sundance Native Filmmakers Lab Fellow and a Time/Warner Storyteller Fellow. Her last documentary Hidden Talents was awarded the Best Film honor by Tribal College Journal. Ramona is a graduate of the 2013 CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH Boston, and is currently in production on her newest documentary The Mayor of Shiprock – funded by CPB/PBS/Visionmaker Media. Emerson is currently working on her MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) at the Institute of American Indian Arts and is part of the 2015 inaugural graduating class.
Patricia Antelles
Designer
As Creative Technologist and creator of emerging media, Patricia designs experiential story-based projects. Collaborating with design teams she produces compelling experiences across film, immersive and interactive media. Her passion is amplifying the potential of interactive, augmented, virtual and mixed realities to digital storytelling.
Kelly Byars
Producer
Kelly Byars was born in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1962 – a member of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations of Oklahoma. He moved to New Mexico in 1983 and attended the Institute of American Indian Arts where he graduated in 1985 with a degree in Three-Dimensional Art. He has worked as a stone sculptor for over twenty-five years with exhibitions at local and national venues. Byars then attended the University of New Mexico where he received his B.A. in Media Arts in 2004 and his M.A. in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies in 2009. He has produced several films as part of Reel Indian Pictures in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is a contributing faculty member at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.