Feature
OU Grads Debut Documentary
at Sundance
By Chelsey Kraft
A documentary film with ties to Oklahoma, the University of Oklahoma and the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
“N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear” tells not only the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa novelist, short-story writer, essayist and poet who was born in 1934 in Lawton, but also that of the Kiowa tribe.
Desiree Hill, who holds a degree in journalism and political science from OU and also earned her Ph.D. in journalism from the university last year, worked as an associate producer on the film. She met Jeffrey Palmer, director of “Words From a Bear,” when they were both professors at the University of Central Oklahoma. Palmer, who now teaches at Syracuse University, is also an OU graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology and a Master of Arts in Native American studies.
The film will air on the PBS documentary series “American Masters,” with dates for the showing still to be determined. It is also going to screen at the deadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City this summer. Officials from the PBS series approached Palmer, who is also a member of the Kiowa Tribe, about directing the film on Momaday after seeing one of his short films titled “Isabelle’s Garden” at a past Sundance.
Although his unique heritage is a central theme of the narrative, Momaday’s work asks the questions every audience can relate to: What are our origins and how do we connect to them through our collective memories?” Palmer explained.
Hill comes from a television news background, and she put on her “journalism hat” and helped schedule interviews in her role as associate producer for the documentary. Her skillset especially came in handy when coordinating interviews for the film. Momaday’s family helped create a list of well-known people they thought would like to speak about him, including Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges, James Earl Jones and Robert Redford. Hill said she started “the old-fashioned way” and started looking up who their agents were so they could reach out and see who would like to be involved with the project.
“N. Scott Momaday touches many worlds when it comes to artistic expression,” Hill said. “He touches the world of writing. He touches the world of fiction and poetry. He also touches the documentary world because he has a beautiful voice and has narrated documentaries himself. He has written screenplays and so his world touches that of very famous people such as Hollywood types.
“One of my key jobs was to get those interviews set up and get the answer to yes,” Hill said. “I don’t want to act like I did that all by myself because we had other voices in the process who knew we were trying to get these interviews and they were putting the word out, but that was I think one of the key things I did.”
When Jeff Bridges was available for an interview the same weekend the Redford interview was scheduled, Hill handled the Bridges one, which was unique for her in that she is usually a behind-the-scenes person and not an on-camera person. She also negotiated with the Jemez Pueblo people in New Mexico for rights to shoot on their land.
“Being in an associate producer role, you have to be willing to stretch yourself and do some things that you may not be comfortable with or that you’ve never done before,” Hill said.
Many crew members, including Hill, attended the Sundance premiere in Park City, Utah, and Hill said it was an emotional experience. Momaday and his family were also in attendance.
“At the end of the film there was a standing ovation, and I think the standing ovation was for N. Scott Momaday as well,” Hill said. “That was also a beautiful moment to see.”
