{"id":107595,"date":"2015-12-17T16:42:12","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T23:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-students-film-wins-award-in-los-angeles\/"},"modified":"2015-12-17T16:42:12","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T23:42:12","slug":"ute-students-film-wins-award-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-students-film-wins-award-in-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"Ute students\u2019 film wins award in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ute
Ute Mountain Ute council member DeAnne House, actresses Tayanita Hatch, Destiny Whiteman, Kamea Clark and Leslie Lang and director Alex Munoz on the red carpet at the 2015 LA Skins Fest.<\/span>Beverly Santicola\/Courtesy photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An authentic story that aims to change the negative stereotypes of Native youths, the fictional film premiered at the Sunflower Theater in October. Subsequently selected to screen at the 2015 LA Skins Fest in Los Angeles \u2013 the biggest Native American film festival in the country \u2013 \u201cEscape\u201d was also tapped as Best Student Film.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never imagined something like this happening,\u201d said 14-year-old Kamea Clark. \u201cOur film has touched people in ways I never thought it would. It\u2019s making people think twice about what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEscape\u201d centers on the lives of two main characters, Rachel, a bullied teen played by Clark, and Adam, a teen struggling with his sexual orientation, portrayed by 17-year-old Wendell Mills, Jr. The duo form a suicide pact to escape their perceived hopelessness.<\/p>\n

A difficult role to portray, Clark said filming the suicide scene was intense, but she gained a greater appreciation for the social anxieties that many of her peers endure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be grateful for the things we have,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

The film also addresses other social ills associated with poverty on tribal reservations, including substance abuse, absent parents, hunger and domestic violence.<\/p>\n

At its premiere in Cortez, award-winning filmmaker Alex Munoz, founder and creative director of Films by Youth Inside, explained that the 23-minute narrative film was written, directed, produced and performed entirely by Ute Mountain Ute teenagers in just nine days. In reaction to winning Best Student Film, Munoz said it was \u201cmind-bending\u201d what the inexperienced filmmakers were able to accomplish.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn our first day of class, most of our students were distant and split off,\u201d Munoz recalled.<\/p>\n

Munoz said the teens ultimately gained the ability to critically assess their own lives and existence.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the young girls who was present to accept the award told me, \u201cI will never forget this experience. I am a more open person now, and I have more hope about my self and for everyone in my community,\u2019\u201d Munoz said.<\/p>\n

In April, tribal officials set out to re-connect its youth with their cultural roots, strengths and passions. A five-year agreement with Films by Youth Inside, an arts organization that teaches tribal youth how to tell their stories by making their own films, ensued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be back next summer to do it again,\u201d said Munoz.<\/p>\n

tbaker@the-journal.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\u2018Escape\u2019 cast and crew<\/h4>\n

Wendell Mills Jr.
\n Kamea Clark
\n Destiny Whiteman
\n Kylie Lang
\n Leslie Lang
\n Maraya Killsmall
\n Penelope Taylor
\n Amy Tayanita Hatch
\n Shirley May
\n Tyla Casey
\n Raylene House
\n Leslie Lang
\n Austin Robledo
\n Trezdon Bissonette
\n Alex Mu\u00f1oz
\n Babie Laner
\n Charity Casey
\n Demetryse Pikyavit
\n Monique Blackhawk
\n Parker Lang
\n Tayanita Hatch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountain Ute council member DeAnne House, actresses Tayanita Hatch, Destiny Whiteman, Kamea Clark and Leslie Lang and director Alex Munoz on the red carpet at the 2015 LA Skins Fest.Beverly Santicola\/Courtesy photo An authentic story that aims to change the negative stereotypes of Native youths, the fictional film premiered at the Sunflower Theater in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5961,5843],"tags":[640,21,2661,13,1928,144],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-107595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-entertainment","category-living","tag-award-and-prize","tag-cortez","tag-film-festival","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-teenagers","tag-towaoc"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107595"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=107595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}