Billy Luther
Born
Winslow, Arizona, U.S.
OccupationDirector
Years active2002–present

Billy Luther is a Native American independent film producer and director. He has made several documentaries and short films. He belongs to the Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo tribes.[1] He is best known for his documentary Miss Navajo which tells the story of a young Navajo woman competing in the beauty pageant of Miss Navajo.[2] Luther identifies as gay.[3]

Early life

He descends from the Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo peoples. Luther began studying film work at Columbia College Chicago before moving east where he went to Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.[2]

Career

Billy Luther began directing and making short films as a student at Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts. One of these films included Face Value, which was a short documentary on racial profiling.[2]

Miss Navajo was Billy Luther's first documentary film he directed. It was produced and distributed by Independent Lens, a series of the PBS channel. It premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and traveled around the world at over 300 festivals. It continues to be taught in schools, colleges, and universities around the world.

Grab was Luther's second major documentary film which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story about the Laguna ceremonial practice of giving. Grab gives the audience views into the lives of the families who have pledged to gift and help the community. These families toss food, cultural items, and other goodies from the roof of their house to the participants below to "grab".[4] Grab was narrated by actress Parker Posey.

Luther co-directed the Native American episode of MTV World's Rebel Music. The episode was launched online – through Facebook – and became MTV's highest-viewed online content in its history. Rebel Music, the series, was executive produced by acclaimed artist and activist Shepard Fairey, who also created the visual identity. Rebel Music examines the lives of young people using art and music to spark change around the world.

Luther directed and produced a short documentary film about a high school shooting on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. The film follows three survivors as they reunite 10 years after the tragic event. The 30-minute film premiered at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Festival and was nominated for Best Short Film at the 2016 International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards.

The web series produced by ITVS, PBS, and World of Wonder followed Native fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail on her journey to create a line inspired by women on the front lines of political activism. The second season, also known as alter-Native: Kitchen followed three Native and Hawaiian chefs who return to their traditional foods from their communities to modernize them for the next generation.

Frybread Face and Me, Luther's narrative feature debut, premiered at the 2023 SXSW film festival.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Independent Lens . MISS NAVAJO . The Filmmaker | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  2. 1 2 3 "Billy Luther". Tribeca Film Institute. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  3. ↑ Koziol, Leo (2023-09-08). "Navajo Nicknames: Frybread Face and Me filmmaker Billy Luther on cooking up his debut feature • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine". letterboxd.com. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  4. ↑ "Billy Luther – Native Arts and Cultures Foundation". Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. 7 November 2013. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  5. ↑ Dominic Patten, "'Frybread Face & Me' Director Billy Luther & EP Taika Waititi On SXSW Debut, Original Stories, 'Star Wars,' Savvy Audiences, & Expanding Horizons". Deadline Hollywood, March 11, 2023.
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