FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Jamie Selestewa was an artist, Brianna Frisbey ran film sets. When they met, there was an instant connection, which led to the creation of the Flagstaff International Film Festival.
The first festival took place the weekend of Aug. 26 and 27 at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Flagstaff, after a year of prep for Executive Director Frisbey, Chief Operating Officer Selestewa and Financial Officer Bridget Bogle.
“I think it went really well, we got lots of compliments,” Frisbey said. “Even though it was our first year, we prioritized films with exceptional stories, high-caliber production value and great performances and cinematography.”
There were about 200 attendees and over 50 films that showed, an acting workshop, Q & A sessions, an awards ceremony and more.
Film genres ranged from comedy, drama, romance, documentary, animation, science fiction, horror and foreign language, with Arizona and Indigenous stories especially highlighted.
Frisbey said it is part of the group’s mission as an international film festival to help elevate diverse voices and perspectives.
“Hollywood doesn’t champion women, people of color, Latinx, Indigenous or Native American voices. Oftentimes, they don’t get to see themselves represented in the cinema,” said Frisbey, who has worked in Hollywood as an assistant director for years, as well as dabbled in screenwriting and directing. “We believe film festivals are an opportunity to celebrate diversity and share stories about different cultures. Being in Arizona, we especially wanted to showcase Indigenous and Native American filmmakers and their stories.”
Selestewa is half Hopi and raised in Tuba City, Ariz. though currently lives in her birth place of Flagstaff with Frisbey.
“You don’t hear a lot about Indigenous films or filmmakers and their stories and we just wanted to include that,” Selestewa said. “It’s a big part of Flagstaff.”
The two reached out to Indigenous Facebook groups all over the country for film submissions, offering half off the submission fee. Four Indigenous narratives and two documentaries made the cut.
“Who She Is” won Best Documentary. Directed and produced by Caldera Productions’ Sophie Barksdale and Jordan Dresser, of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, the 20-minute documentary highlights the lives of four women from Wind River caught in the Missing, Murdered and Indigenous Women epidemic.
The other documentary was the 3-minute “I am Home,” by Dine and Tongan filmmaker Kymon Greyhorse, who lives in Albuquerque, N.M. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and focuses on time, adaption, and Mother Earth.
The narratives were Keanu Jones’ short “Liberty of Jewels,” about a Navajo working at a trading post in Gallup, N.M.; “Burros,” where a young Indigenous girl discovers a Latina migrant her age who has been separated from her father in the Sonoran desert; “I am the Warrior,” an animated film dedicated to Indigenous people across Canada showcasing a fox whose mother is a residential school survivor; and “The Red Orchid,” a 25-minute film by Montana Cypress about an Indian tribe in the Everglade swamps that must attain a sacred plant to stave off an insidious creature.
Even though the subject matter of many of the films were difficult, Selestewa believes the overall feel of airing these at the festival felt like a positive one.
“Curating and bringing these films together… it has a certain flow to it and the theme has heart,” Selestewa said. “It brings up specific issues that are related to Arizona and Native Americans and also the world. It’s got a positive theme to it even if the subject matter is hard to deal with.”
Selestewa is a project manager for the Flagstaff School District, but has always created art, whether it be paintings or graphic design. Her father is Hopi oil and acrylic painter Melvin Selestewa, and Jamie says she was greatly influenced by his style.
Frisbey introduced Selestewa to the art of film after they met via a Flagstaff meet-up group when Frisbey moved back to town five years ago.
“We just clicked, we understood each other,” Frisbey said, attributing their bond to their compatible Taurus and Cancer Zodiac signs.
The two started a Youtube channel together during the height of Covid which showcases Arizona attractions and travel videos in a mini documentary style. From the Japanese Friendship Gardens in Phoenix to the Painted Desert Project in Gray Mountain, the two documented and narrated sights in what they refer to as a “love letter to Arizona.”
The duo started going to film festivals around the state and had a lightbulb idea to make a traditional film festival in Flagstaff.
Though a first for both of them, they used their backgrounds in film and art to make a Flagstaff film festival a reality.
Frisbey says it felt very natural to transition into the world of running a film festival after managing film sets. Though a different kind of art than Selestewa is used to, she says selecting the films that would be played at the festival took on its own art form.
“The curation of the films we chose, I see just the curation of it as a work of art,” Selestewa said. “We look for story, we look at production value, the cinematography, audio, acting, content…and decide off of that.”
Though the 2023 film festival has barely ended, set up for next year’s festival has already started.
“It’s our first year so it’s an experience, we’re learning from it,” Frisbey said. “There are a few tweaks here and there that we’d like to fix but for the most part the vision is the same.”
It was important for them to make the festival hybrid, with showings available in person as well as online through filmocracy.com, as an international festival means a global audience.
“We want to keep growing as a film festival,” Frisbey said. “We hope both the filmmakers and audiences can expect to learn about different cultures and different issues that affect communities and the world in which we live in. By doing that, we hope it can inspire positive change and action.”
For more information visit flagstaffinternationalfilmfestival.com
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Jamie Selestewa was an artist, Brianna Frisbey ran film sets. When they met, there was an instant connection, which led to the creation of the Flagstaff International Film Festival.
The first festival took place the weekend of Aug. 26 and 27 at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Flagstaff, after a year of prep for Executive Director Frisbey, Chief Operating Officer Selestewa and Financial Officer Bridget Bogle.
“I think it went really well, we got lots of compliments,” Frisbey said. “Even though it was our first year, we prioritized films with exceptional stories, high-caliber production value and great performances and cinematography.”
There were about 200 attendees and over 50 films that showed, an acting workshop, Q & A sessions, an awards ceremony and more.
Film genres ranged from comedy, drama, romance, documentary, animation, science fiction, horror and foreign language, with Arizona and Indigenous stories especially highlighted.
Frisbey said it is part of the group’s mission as an international film festival to help elevate diverse voices and perspectives.
“Hollywood doesn’t champion women, people of color, Latinx, Indigenous or Native American voices. Oftentimes, they don’t get to see themselves represented in the cinema,” said Frisbey, who has worked in Hollywood as an assistant director for years, as well as dabbled in screenwriting and directing. “We believe film festivals are an opportunity to celebrate diversity and share stories about different cultures. Being in Arizona, we especially wanted to showcase Indigenous and Native American filmmakers and their stories.”
Selestewa is half Hopi and raised in Tuba City, Ariz. though currently lives in her birth place of Flagstaff with Frisbey.
“You don’t hear a lot about Indigenous films or filmmakers and their stories and we just wanted to include that,” Selestewa said. “It’s a big part of Flagstaff.”
The two reached out to Indigenous Facebook groups all over the country for film submissions, offering half off the submission fee. Four Indigenous narratives and two documentaries made the cut.
“Who She Is” won Best Documentary. Directed and produced by Caldera Productions’ Sophie Barksdale and Jordan Dresser, of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, the 20-minute documentary highlights the lives of four women from Wind River caught in the Missing, Murdered and Indigenous Women epidemic.
The other documentary was the 3-minute “I am Home,” by Dine and Tongan filmmaker Kymon Greyhorse, who lives in Albuquerque, N.M. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and focuses on time, adaption, and Mother Earth.
The narratives were Keanu Jones’ short “Liberty of Jewels,” about a Navajo working at a trading post in Gallup, N.M.; “Burros,” where a young Indigenous girl discovers a Latina migrant her age who has been separated from her father in the Sonoran desert; “I am the Warrior,” an animated film dedicated to Indigenous people across Canada showcasing a fox whose mother is a residential school survivor; and “The Red Orchid,” a 25-minute film by Montana Cypress about an Indian tribe in the Everglade swamps that must attain a sacred plant to stave off an insidious creature.
Even though the subject matter of many of the films were difficult, Selestewa believes the overall feel of airing these at the festival felt like a positive one.
“Curating and bringing these films together… it has a certain flow to it and the theme has heart,” Selestewa said. “It brings up specific issues that are related to Arizona and Native Americans and also the world. It’s got a positive theme to it even if the subject matter is hard to deal with.”
Selestewa is a project manager for the Flagstaff School District, but has always created art, whether it be paintings or graphic design. Her father is Hopi oil and acrylic painter Melvin Selestewa, and Jamie says she was greatly influenced by his style.
Frisbey introduced Selestewa to the art of film after they met via a Flagstaff meet-up group when Frisbey moved back to town five years ago.
“We just clicked, we understood each other,” Frisbey said, attributing their bond to their compatible Taurus and Cancer Zodiac signs.
The two started a Youtube channel together during the height of Covid which showcases Arizona attractions and travel videos in a mini documentary style. From the Japanese Friendship Gardens in Phoenix to the Painted Desert Project in Gray Mountain, the two documented and narrated sights in what they refer to as a “love letter to Arizona.”
The duo started going to film festivals around the state and had a lightbulb idea to make a traditional film festival in Flagstaff.
Though a first for both of them, they used their backgrounds in film and art to make a Flagstaff film festival a reality.
Frisbey says it felt very natural to transition into the world of running a film festival after managing film sets. Though a different kind of art than Selestewa is used to, she says selecting the films that would be played at the festival took on its own art form.
“The curation of the films we chose, I see just the curation of it as a work of art,” Selestewa said. “We look for story, we look at production value, the cinematography, audio, acting, content…and decide off of that.”
Though the 2023 film festival has barely ended, set up for next year’s festival has already started.
“It’s our first year so it’s an experience, we’re learning from it,” Frisbey said. “There are a few tweaks here and there that we’d like to fix but for the most part the vision is the same.”
It was important for them to make the festival hybrid, with showings available in person as well as online through filmocracy.com, as an international festival means a global audience.
“We want to keep growing as a film festival,” Frisbey said. “We hope both the filmmakers and audiences can expect to learn about different cultures and different issues that affect communities and the world in which we live in. By doing that, we hope it can inspire positive change and action.”
For more information visit flagstaffinternationalfilmfestival.com