Meet the Filmmakers Behind this Year's Sundance Film Festival Indigenous Film Tour

By Stephanie Ornelas

Indigenous joy is what makes us wake up in the morning. What's the purpose of living if you can't experience joy? - Kymon Greyhorse, writer-director of I AM HOME

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival Indigenous Film Tour is underway, and two 2023 Sundance Film Festival artists have the opportunity to share their work with wider audiences. Taking place June 9-30 across five different states, the free tour showcases a 78-minute program comprising Fox Maxy's feature Gush and Kymon Greyhorse's short film I AM HOME.

Launched in 2021, the Indigenous Film Tour returns this year as an in-person exhibition and a celebration of Native life and art. Greyhorse's project is a three-minute poetic memoir - a colorful love letter to his ancestors and his roots. Meanwhile, Maxy's experimental film acts as a visual diary about survival and self-expression featuring personal archives. As well as embodying powerful Indigenous storytelling, the two films have one important thing in common: They're both projects the respective filmmakers made for themselves. And now the artists' personal experiences are resonating with audiences and communities across the country.

Ahead of the tour, we were able to talk to Greyhorse and Maxy over Zoom about the inspiration behind their projects and what they hope audiences will get out of watching their films. We're thrilled to share what they had to say.

It was during the pandemic that Kymon Greyhorse came up with the idea for his short film, which he filmed in a single day in Window Rock, Arizona.

I AM HOME started with the feelings of isolation and solitude. At the end of 2021, I think a lot of us were away from family. I was a turtle hiding in my shell, says Greyhorse. When you stare at the same walls over and over again, you can't help but use your imagination to bring new meaning to your surroundings. I started to think about my purpose in the world, and I started to think, Is this feeling, this situation, going to last forever?' Because this is a time when the world was still for once.

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/meet-the-filmmakers-behind-this-years-s...
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