Chris Eyre | |
---|---|
Born | 1968 (age 54–55) Portland, Oregon, United States |
Occupation(s) | Film director, film producer |
Chris Eyre (born 1968), an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, is an American film director and producer [1] who as of 2012 is chairman of the film department at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
In 1998, Chris Eyre worked on two film projects. His first release was Things We Do (1998). [2] His debut film, Smoke Signals (1998), won the Sundance Film Festival Filmmakers Trophy and the Audience Award. [3] It also won "Best Film" honors at the 1998 American Indian Film Festival. [4]
Eyre's second film, Skins , is the story of two brothers on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a tribal cop and a Vietnam vet battling alcohol and emotional problems. He said at a screening: "The only thing you get in making period pieces about Indians is guilt. I'm interested in doing what non-Indian filmmakers can't do, which is portray contemporary Indians." [5]
Eyre has also directed two episodes of the famed PBS series Mystery! ; A Thief of Time and Skinwalkers starring Adam Beach as Jim Chee, and Wes Studi as Joe Leaphorn. Both were executive produced by Robert Redford and based on the best selling Tony Hillerman novels. Skinwalkers is a mystery involving skinwalkers or shape-shifters, and the murders of several medicine men. A Thief of Time is a who-dunnit that intertwines very competitive anthropologists, possible artifact thievery, a missing professor, and the legend of the Anasazi.
Eyre's Edge of America was the 2004 Sundance Film Festival "opening night" film. Edge of America is loosely based on the true story of a black English teacher who goes to the Three Nations Reservation to teach, but ends up coaching the very underachieving girls basketball team and takes them all the way to the state finals. In the process, he learns as much about their culture and race relations in America as they learn about winning and self-esteem. On January 29, 2006, Eyre won the Directors Guild of America's award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs for Edge of America, becoming the first Native American to win the award.
Eyre's short film, A Thousand Roads, the "signature film" for the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, opened in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 2005, for an unlimited and exclusive engagement. It is a contemporary film, following four American Indians in different locations, as they each confront everyday events.
Chris Eyre was named a 2007 USA Rockefeller Foundation Fellow and awarded a $50,000 grant by United States Artists, a public charity that supports and promotes the work of American artists.
In 2008 Eyre directed the first three episodes of We Shall Remain, a mini-series that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history from PBS's acclaimed history series American Experience .
Eyre directed the film Hide Away , which was released in 2011. The film's cast includes Josh Lucas and Ayelet Zurer. [6]
Chris Eyre was appointed as chairman of the film department at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design as of January 2012.
In 2017, Eyre is reported to be working on a documentary on "racism in New Mexico", with his starting point being the monument to Juan de Oñate in Alcalde, New Mexico, whose foot was cut off in 1997. [7]
Year | Film | Credited as | |
---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | ||
1998 | Things We Do | Yes | |
Smoke Signals | Yes | Yes | |
2001 | The Doe Boy | Yes | |
2002 | Skins | Yes | Yes |
Skinwalkers | Yes | ||
2003 | Edge of America | Yes | Yes |
2004 | A Thief of Time | Yes | |
2005 | A Thousand Roads | Yes | |
2007 | Imprint | Yes | |
2008 | After the Mayflower | Yes | |
Tecumseh's Vision | Yes | ||
2011 | Hide Away | Yes | Yes |
2015 | The Seventh Fire | Yes |
Anthony Grove Hillerman was an American author of detective novels and nonfiction works, best known for his mystery novels featuring Navajo Nation Police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Several of his works have been adapted as theatrical and television movies.
Jim Chee is one of two Navajo Tribal Police detectives in a series of mystery novels by Tony Hillerman. Unlike his superior Joe Leaphorn, the "Legendary Lieutenant", Chee is a staunch believer in traditional Navajo culture; indeed, he is studying to be a traditional healer at the same time that he is a police officer.
Adam Beach is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Victor Joseph in Smoke Signals; Frank Fencepost in Dance Me Outside; Tommy on Walker, Texas Ranger; Kickin' Wing in Joe Dirt; U.S. Marine Corporal Ira Hayes in Flags of Our Fathers; Private Ben Yahzee in Windtalkers; Dr. Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee; NYPD Detective Chester Lake in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; and Officer Jim Chee in the film adaptations of Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits and A Thief of Time. He starred in the Canadian 2012–2014 series Arctic Air and played Slipknot in the 2016 film Suicide Squad. He also performed as Squanto in Disney's historical drama film Squanto: A Warrior's Tale. Most recently he has starred in Hostiles (2017) as Black Hawk and the Netflix original film Juanita (2019) as Jess Gardiner and Edward Nappo in Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog.
Smoke Signals is a 1998 coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Chris Eyre from a screenplay by Sherman Alexie, based on Alexie's short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993). The film won several awards and accolades, and was well received at numerous film festivals.
Wesley Studi is a Native American actor and film producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and awards throughout his career, particularly for his portrayal of Native Americans in film.
Skinwalkers is the seventh crime-fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by author Tony Hillerman published in 1986. The film version, Skinwalkers, was adapted for television for the PBS Mystery! series in 2002.
Skinwalkers is a 2002 mystery television film based on the novel of the same name by Tony Hillerman, one of his series of mysteries set against contemporary Navajo life in the Southwest. It features an all-Native cast, with Adam Beach and Wes Studi playing officers Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. It was produced as part of the PBS Mystery! series, filmed on the Navajo reservation and directed by Chris Eyre.
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