NAVAJO

A Navajo boy stoically endures hardship, hunger, and the death of his family. He is taken away to attend a white man boarding school and escapes but is pursued to ancient Navajo caves. Magnificently filmed at majestic Canyon de Chelly and nominated for two Academy Awards®. In the title role, a seven-year-old Navajo boy, Francis Kee Teller, received a Golden Globe special award even though he had never seen a movie until viewing his performance. Cinematographer Virgil Miller started in silent pictures and became known primarily for filming travelogues. He had a reputation for keeping cameras rolling in remote locations under adverse weather conditions. The producers needed a cameraman with those qualities and tracked him down at a camera shop where he repaired photographic equipment. At age 64, Miller took on the challenge of working in freezing cold, with only one camera, a tripod, and four reflectors, and came away with an Academy Award® nomination, and a full spread in the prestigious American Cinematographer. The working title was “The Voice of the Wind,” and despite a shoestring $30,000 production budget, a threatened ban by the Indian Service, harsh weather and terrain, infighting between the co-producers, the picture went on to earn universal critical acclaim.

Commentary by Francis Kee Teller Canyon de Chelly' Photo-essay by Deborah Lem, Diné The Canyon Matters” by Genny Yazzie, Diné 1952 National Publicity Tour with Mr. Teller (age 8) 'Our Navajo Neighbors' 1952 documentary 2K scan from the Academy Film Archive preservation negative