by Adrian Manygoats, Native American Business Incubator Network Marketing Coordinator
Jake Hoyungowa and Deidra Peaches, two Native American independent filmmakers and owners of Paper Rocket Productions, are encouraging young artists from Native communities to get their cameras rolling and tell their stories.
This summer, Paper Rocket Productions is hosting a series of FREE multi-media workshops in four locations across Navajo Nation. Geared toward students ages 10-25, the workshops take a project-based approach to address each area of production, starting by shooting raw footage and ending with a polished film.
It’s the overall creativity, all the technical aspects that go into it. That’s all really fun to me.
– Jake Hoyungowa, Paper Rocket Productions
Kayenta, AZ: June 15-18 • Shiprock, NM: June 29-July 2
Shonto, AZ: July 6-9 • Huerfano, NM: July 13-16
Jake and Deidra started filmmaking at a young age, and to date, they are the youngest Native filmmakers to have their work accepted at Sundance Film Festival. Their short film Rocket Boy (2010) was one of 60 films chosen from a pool of 650 submissions.
"For Native people, storytelling is central to maintaining knowledge and culture…our voices and concerns are not represented in mainstream media."
Paper Rocket Productions uses their talent to serve over 500 tribes across North America, with a particular focus on encouraging young people to creatively use technology to connect with their culture. Having participated in a number of youth workshops themselves in their early days of filmmaking, Jake and Deidra are using what they’ve learned to launch their own workshops and mentor Native youth.
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Paper Rocket Productions is a client of the Native American Business Incubator Network (NABIN). Watch a Paper Rocket Productions film about NABIN below.
