Los Angeles Festival Premiere
DOCUMENTARY SHORT | United States | 27 MINUTES | English
Cara Romero: Following the Light
A documentary on contemporary fine art photographer Cara Romero. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero was raised between contrasting settings: the rural Chemehuevi reservation in Mojave Desert, CA and the urban sprawl of Houston, TX. Romero’s identity informs her photography, a blend of fine art and editorial photography, shaped by years of study and a visceral approach to representing Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective.
“Following the Light” explores Cara’s development as a photographer, delves into the Chemehuevi and California Indigenous history that informs her work, includes behind-the-scenes footage of Cara’s shoots, and features interviews with leading Indigenous artists: Cara herself, husband and famed Pueblo potter Diego Romero, collaborator and place-based artist Leah Mata Fragua (Northern Chumash), National Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation), multidisciplinary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), and more. Original musical score by Jason Goodyear.
CAST & CREDITS
Directed by Kaela Waldstein
Kaela grew up around fine craftsmanship in the diverse city of San Francisco and applies the talents she has developed over the course of her life to the craft of filmmaking. An early fascination with the art of storytelling inspired her to teach herself how to write (once upon a time = wussaponatim). At San Francisco School of the Arts High School, she studied visual arts and gained a refined sense of color, balance, space. However, it was a social documentation class that Kaela took while studying Sociology at UC Santa Cruz that triggered an interest in human-centered video storytelling. She brings her exceptional communication skills, keen visual sense and sensitivity to the art of video production.
Director
Kaela Waldstein
Composer
Jason Goodyear
Program Eight
Showtimes
Saturday, November 19
IN-PERSON
Screening: 12:00 to 1:25pm
