Headline

Billy Luther's documentary Miss Navajo got mentioned at the very end of the Tonight Show's "Headlines" segment last night. The Monday-night "Headlines" is the only reason to watch Jay Leno, even when Miss Navajo is a punchline.

Another Win

Miss Navajo is still pulling in kind words and kudos. Billy Luther's documentary on the Native American beauty pageant just won the Best Indigenous movie award at the Santa Fe Film Festival. (Source)

The Tribe Has Spoken

Miss Navajo director Billy Luther with featured contestant Crystal Frazier in his award-winning documentary about the 2005 pageant to select Miss Navajo Nation. Luther's mother reigned as Miss Navajo in 1966. (Yahoo!; photo: AP)

Addressed to Kill

After watching Miss Navajo the other night, a viewer wrote to PBS:

I am just writing to you to tell you of my utter shock and displeasure at the show you aired last night on Rocky Mountain PBS, "Miss Navajo." I was in bed, trying to sleep and I often turn to PBS for some educational programming to enjoy. Imagine my shock and horror, when watching Miss Navajo and trying to learn about the Native American traditions and then, seeing the horror of the contestants slaughtering sheep!!! This atrocity must stop and it should not be filmed or aired on TV!!!!! I can't believe that they are still doing this in this day and age, there is nothing to prove by killing an innocent and fearful animal. Those sheep knew what they were in for, I could see it in their eyes.

Miss Navajo director Billy Luther replied:

Whether you are a vegetarian or a meat-eater you must be aware that to feed the American public the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of living things takes place in far less humane circumstances every day. Hiding this from view does nothing other than create a false sense of what is humane and acceptable. In the Navajo tradition we treat the land and its creatures with respect. We all need to eat and when we take from the land we do so in a responsible sustainable way that has been passed down from generation to generation. Perhaps when you are eating your turkey on Thursday you can spare a thought for all the Native Americans who were slaughtered in atrocities still celebrated every day on television in endless Westerns.
Happy Thanksgiving
Billy Luther

The Independent Lens screening of Miss Navajo debuts on channel 13 WNET in New York tonight. (The Miss Navajo promotional key ring)

Choose Miss Navajo Tonight

Billy Luther's award-winning documentary Miss Navajo airs tonight at 10PM on PBS' Independent Lens series. Watch the trailer at the top of the WOW Report.

Miss Navajo's a Doll

The Third Annual Hawai‘inuiakea: Native Film Showcase will be screening Billy Luther's award-winning feature doc Miss Navajo at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu on Wednesday, August 22 at 6:30PM. Luther will be in attendance. (Honolulu Star Bulletin)

Mr Navajo

OK, we're not saying that Billy Luther is Michael Moore's favorite director, but the two sure look chummy here after Luther's documentary, Miss Navajo, won the prestigious Michael Moore Founder's Prize at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. Prize-winning and popular, Miss Navajo had them lined up around the block (below).

Afterward, Luther and a small group of filmmakers traveled with Moore about 20 miles north of Traverse City to visit the Ciccone Vineyard & Winery, owned by Madonna's dad, Silvio Ciccone. Luther bought a case of wine and, while he was putting it in his car and grabbing his camera, Papa Ciccone took off on his tractor and headed into the sunset (below).

Free Screening

WOW's wonderful documentary Miss Navajo will premiere in Los Angeles today, June 22, at 3PM at the Mann Festival Theatre, 10887 Lindbrook Drive in Westwood. The screening, which is part of the Los Angeles Film Festival, is free and open to the public and will be followed by a Q&A with the director, Billy Luther.

Miss Navajo in NYC

WOW's Miss Navajo screens tomorrow and Thursday in Manhattan. Director Billy Luther will answer questions. (Click)

Want to Be Miss Navajo?

The screening of Billy Luther's Miss Navajo this weekend on the Navajo Nation – in honor of Friday's Miss Navajo Nation Appreciation Day – inspired the former title holders (Miss Navajo Nation Council Inc) to organize a workshop for "aspiring" young women and girls. The Want to Be Miss Navajo? workshop being held July 28 from 9AM to 3PM in Window Rock, Arizona, is open to all Navajo girls interested in preparing to compete one day for Miss Navajo Nation, and will be hosted by onetime Miss Navajo Nations. Classes will be in all things Navajo, from crafts and etiquette to goal-setting, entertainment, language, writing, history, and government. No word on whether butchering sheep will be included in the free workshop. (Upcoming Miss Navajo screenings after the jump)

One More Wonder

Miss Navajo director Billy Luther recently snapped this pic in Australia. We aren't opening an Australian office – at least not yet – but he was at the Message Sticks film festival where his documentary played at the Sydney Royal Opera House. Turns out the Opera House is campaigning to become one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Who new?

Now, just as Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games in 1896 with his modern version of the competition, New7Wonders founder Bernard Weber is seeking to revive the concept of the 7 Wonders of the World with this ambitious global campaign, the New 7 Wonders of the World. The key difference is that, this time around, they will not be chosen by one man, but rather by millions of people all over the world. (Source)

Visit the 21 candidates here, and stay tuned for the announcement of the winners on 7.07.07.

There's Always Room for Rudolph

One of the key scenes in the Miss Navajo beauty pageant is when contestants must slaughter a sheep. Well, for the Sami – aka the Reindeer People – it's all about Reindeer. The freezer in the entrance hall of the house we were staying in was stuffed with reindeer. They eat reindeer with everything. Smoked. Boiled. Stewed. Even reindeer omelettes for breakfast.

And according to John, who came round to cook us reindeer, the way to kill the animal is to cut its throat out in the wild and then drain the blood because a) it makes for better dried meat and b) the way to show respect and be sure the reindeer is happy when it dies. Slaughterhouse meat is invariably spoiled by the fear the animals experience. I only ever thought of Reindeer as mythical things pulling Santa's sleigh. But out here reindeer are the backbone of the Sami economy. Shoes, gloves, hats, and coats are all made out of reindeer. If they had dollar bills, they would put reindeer heads on them instead of Uncle Sam's.

Inger – who here looks like a contestant from America's Next Top Model – attends Reindeer University in Kautokeino, and was our guide and took us out to the tundra to hang with the herd. Because they really love them, too. The other interesting thing about the Sami is that they are huge fans of That '70s Show. Particularly Fez.

– Text and photos by Fenton Bailey

Navajo of the North

The wind picked up and the temperature dropped into the minus-20s for the opening of the Sami Film Festival here in Kautokeino, Norway, well inside the Arctic Circle where the sun don't shine for weeks at a time. The movie Miss Navajo played to a packed and rapt house in a theatre made entirely of ice. Constructed by Thomas Orderud of Orderud Design, this ice palace, with its Studio 54 blue-lit staircase, completely surpassed expectations – even though global warming plagued construction by repeatedly melting the edifice during the two weeks it took to build.

If you click here, you can catch a glimpse (toward the end of the newscast) of Miss Navajo director, Billy Luther, with his subject, Crystal Frazier, disembarking from their triumphant entrance on a reindeer sled.

– Text and photos by Fenton Bailey

Miss Navajo Has Legs

Sundance has added three more showings of Miss Navajo. At a high-school screening yesterday, Crystal, the film's main subject, and her family were mobbed by students. That's the film's director, Billy Luther, in the back.

SRO in SLC for Miss Navajo

At a special community screening of Miss Navajo in Salt Lake City, director Billy Luther was swarmed by Native Americans. It was SRO; many came with elders and children, and Luther's mother, a former Miss Navajo, was there too. Luther was seen later at the Film Independent party hobnobbing with director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, The Nativity Story), who coincidentally is filming on a Navajo reservation. What were the odds of that?

5ive Questions for Billy Luther

Billy Luther is the director of Miss Navajo, a documentary screening at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Click here for dates and times.

1. If you could be a Miss Anything, what pageant would you choose?
America's Next Top Model, of course. As Tyra always reminds us, "Modeling is not pageantry." So true. But I would never win. So if I could be a Miss Anything I would have to choose to be Miss Miranda Priestly.

2. Your mother was a Miss Navajo. Tell the truth: As a kid did you twirl in front of the mirror wearing her sash?
No. But I did spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, and still do, as a matter of fact. Also, I have an addiction to face products fit for a beauty queen. I love slathering stuff all over my face.

3. Do you dedicate Miss Navajo to anyone?
It's dedicated to the Navajo woman, which is what the film is all about. Navajo women wear the trousers in Navajo society. They work the land, they raise the kids, and they preserve the culture and traditions. And they butcher the sheep! So you can see they are so much more than just a pretty face. My film isn't just about them, it's for them.

4. Is Native American the preferred term for a Native American?
Ask Sacheen Littlefeather (pictured).

5. What do you drive and what's in the CD changer right now?
I drive a big truck. But I walk to and from the office because if I drive I run the risk of losing my parking space and that freaks me out. I know it sounds sappy, but in my CD player right now I have the music David Steinberg did for my film. It's so amazing.