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February
2009
 Bennie
Klain (Navajo), director of documentaries and short
fictions, is the founder of TricksterFilms, based in Austin, Texas.
A fluent Navajo speaker, Klain often incorporates the language
into his work. On the basis of scripts for his future projects,
in 2007 he was selected to participate in Tribeca All Access,
and in 2004 he was a Sundance Institute/Ford Foundation Film Fellow
in scriptwriting. In 2007 Klain's feature documentary, Weaving
Worlds, premiered at the South by Southwest festival and was
screened on national television by PBS. His widely-screened short
film, Share the Wealth, had its world premiere at the 2006
Native American Film + Video Festival and earned the Platinum
Remi Award at World Fest in Houston.
Klain was associate producer and worked as a translator for The
Return of Navajo Boy (d. Jeff Spitz), which screened at more
than 60 festivals and has received many honors. Recently the film
screened on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C. with a revised epilogue
that was designed to spur public discussion about the environmental
impacts of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.
Klain serves as the Native Programming Liaison for Ciné
las Americas International Film Festival in Austin. He has worked
as a mentor to both Hispanic and Native American youth, teaching
master filmmaking and radio program production courses. Before
turning his attention to filmmaking, Klain produced Windsongs,
a Native American music program syndicated for public radio. He
anchored the award-winning daily Navajo language newscasts at
the radio station KTNN on the Navajo reservation. Klain graduated
from the University of Texas at Austin in Radio-Television-Film.
"My work stems from a solid artistic commitment to media
and storytelling, which began in radio and continues to develop
through film. As an artist, continual development in narrative
structure education, film theory and production development, and
adapting everyday cultural experiences, are all life-long ventures
for finding my voice. This allows me to forge ahead with a strong
personal intuition that feels natural to me, rather than reasoned,
because I know that any story—once given the space and opportunity—will
take on a life of its own. This is the real victory and goal of
my work."
Screened by NMAI
Image credit:
Bennie Klain - courtesy of the filmmaker; Bennie Klain - courtesy
of the filmmaker
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