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March 2011
 Director Blackhorse Lowe (Navajo) is known for narrative films set on the Navajo reservation that explore the pull between Navajo tradition and contemporary non-Navajo ways. Members of his family have been active participants in his productions and are often cast as the actors. In 2007 Lowe received a New Visions/New Mexico Contract Award to direct his most recent film, Shimásání. This narrative short, shot in 35mm black-and-white film, is taken from a story in his grandmother’s life as a young woman in the 1930s. It won the 2010 SWAIA Indian Market's Best of Show Award, the first time a film has won SWAIA’s top prize. The film also earned the award for Best Cinematography at the First Peoples’ Festival in Montreal and Best Narrative at the Marin County International Festival of Short Film + Video in San Rafael. Shimásání had its world premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and was screened at many locations, including the Native Cinema Showcase, Sundance Film Festival and the imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival, where it received two Honorable Mentions.
In 2005 Lowe premiered his first feature film, 5th World, at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to screen it at numerous festivals, including the Sami Film Festival and First Nations|First Features. In 2006 he participated in the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab for his script, The Left-Handed Path (working title), for which he also received a 2006 Renew Media/Tribeca Film Institute Fellowship. He made his film debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 with a hard-hitting short drama, Shush.
Lowe studied film at Scottsdale Community College. He has served as a McKnight Screenwriting Fellowship panelist for IFP Minneapolis/St. Paul. Lowe grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Nenahnezad, New Mexico.
"A piece has to grab hold of me by the throat and I have
to totally visualize everything."
Screened by NMAI
Image credits: Blackhorse
Lowe - courtesy of filmmaker
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