A note from STTLMNT Digital Occupation Documentary Series Director Razelle Benally

Years ago, I began my narrative fiction journey after getting my start in documentary. Honing the muscles that allows me to work with actors, direct scenes, and lead a team of cast and crew has been a tasking and rewarding journey. There’s so much psychology in filmmaking, but I’ve found that trust is truly the foundation of this medium because people depend on you and you depend on them. It’s a working faction that requires care, maintenance, and accountability in order to output a good movie. And movies are made for other people to see. They are generally not made for self- serving purposes. I make films for other people to see and enjoy. I attempt to take audiences on a journey and experience.

My goal for STTLMNT’s new digital form is to provide additional engagement to the artists and their work. Settlement was intended to be a physical, immersive onsite experience and because our plans for that was halted due to the pandemic, I felt the need to support my people whose work was being developed with the aforesaid intention. Documenting each artist in their space/their studio was born out of just wanting to utilize video as another vessel of access. Film, cinema, and video are unique in that it can be viewed and easily digested by almost anybody, which allows for broader participation. I have seen STTLMNT acclimate and evolve, into a re-imagined living and breathing entity that the artists have adapted with. The concept itself has beautifully persevered, like us as indigenous people have done so for years.

With that being said, I have undertaken this documentary series in a fashion I’ve been practicing for a while. As a film student, we are taught to be a fly on the wall and to not engage with our “subjects” in order to “capture” reality. Cannupa Hanska Luger, Ginger Dunnill and I have conversated about how even the verbiage of filmmaking is rooted in colonization with words like “capture” “shoot” “subject” and “cut”. A long time ago having worked on a documentary about Resource Extraction, my producer and I couldn’t help but always go back to the word extraction. We correlated how processes of film can be extractive, how stories can be extracted, and how often filmmaking is extractive in general. Extraction is a colonial tactic. It’s important for me to consciously work against extractive filmmaking methods in everything I do, and this project was no different. These documentaries are an extension of the artists. They are vessels of access to them and rather than imposing my lens and telling a story solely from my own standpoint, I invited each artist to show us only what they wanted to show.

The process of making films has always been important to me. I believe the process is what makes a film indigenous more so than the content itself. As a Director, I’m responsible and accountable for the physical safety and emotional well-being of the cast and crew of my films. In this case I was responsible for my Cinematographer/Assistant Adam Conte, I was responsible for the well-being of the artists. It has been a privilege to be given access to their spaces and their work. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in bringing this project together. We were fed full meals, given coffee, art, couches to sleep on, snacks, tequila, and water. Thank you to my sister, my mom, my brothers, the artists, the Conscious Sisters Collective, many friends, and children who helped Adam and I. My ancestors have always led with good intention and humility, and I strive to carry that ethos over in my filmmaking. It’s with a good heart and much love that I share these short documentaries with everyone. Wóphila thanka ečhíčiye X Ahéhee’