Hunt's Trading Post #3: OTV Drop, Screenings & More!
Cinematographer Kamyar Mohsenin sitting in as we review interview footage of our main film subject, Bill Day. (We're using a Panasonic GH5 and GH3, if you're wondering.)
EXCITING NEWS! HUNT'S TRADING POST was released on OTV's streaming platform via a special September 1 content drop! Now, OTV subscribers can be among the first to view the film, (I'll also be visiting Chicago for OTV's "Beyond the Screen" 10th Anniversary Convening on September 27, so if you'd like to say what up, please feel free to let me know.)
In the last newsletter, we told you all about Blanding, Utah, and the mixture of the town there, which makes an Indigenous-led, Indigenous-centered trading post so vital in a majority-white, quite-Mormon town. We also showed you a bit about the premiere community screening in the town, so now, we thought we'd go a little bit back in time to showcase what it was like when my cinematographer Kamyar Mohsenin and I visited William Wayne Billy Bob Day when we were doing the shoot... all the way back in August 2023.
As you'll see from the film, Hunt's Trading Post is PURE MAGIC. Amazing vibes. If I had more space, I could tell you more stories about how Bill was in old Western movies and has photos of himself with John Wayne while they were filming in Monument Valley Tribal Park. I could tell you about how Monument Valley is the first Indigenous park in the United States, and one of its founders was Bill's dad, Sam Day III, who was a Navajo Nation Councilmember. I could tell you about how Bill's great grandfather was one of the few white men who was allowed by the Diné (Navajo) people to participate in ritualistic dances, and I could tell you about how Bill showed me some of the sacred tools he remains in care of. I could also tell you about how the Day family actually did have a relationship with Edward S. Curtis, though that is perhaps controversial. I could tell you about the photo albums of the Hunts with the Indigenous craftspeople that they had worked with through the decades, or the boxes upon boxes of archives about the Day family which are held in an archive at a University in Flagstaff... but there's not enough time.
So... in preparation for you watching the film, we just wanted to share with you my director's statement on the project, for some truly crucial context:
Me with Bill's dog, Sage <3
“Located in Southern Utah, just outside of the Navajo and Ute Nations, Hunt’s Trading Post is an irreplaceable gem and third space operated by the charismatic Wayne Day, an enrolled Navajo Nation citizen. Hunt’s carries on the multi-generational legacy of the Days and the Hunts — two family lineages which came together after Day married his wife, Debbie Hunt. Both families have collectively operating trading posts in the Four Corners region since the late 1800s.
Remaining true to their family legacies, Hunt’s Trading Post is one of the last trading posts in its area that still operates in the “old way” and has not turned into a tourist shop that sells imported, falsely Indigenous goods. With an unparalleled work ethic and true care for his community, Day sources directly from Native artisans and medicine men, using the trading post as an outlet for economic opportunities and access to the tools, medicines, and ceremonial objects which are necessary for Natives both off and on the reservation to maintain close ties to their traditional ways of life. The trading post’s work is necessary in the white-dominated, Mormon-settled town where it is located. Natives from around the region drive, sometimes through hundreds of miles of desert, to come to Hunt’s Trading Post for an opportunity to share their livelihoods or commune with like-minded relatives.
Still, the question remains: with Day in his ‘80s and his wife recently passed, what is the importance of a true small town trading post, and will the next generation see the value in helping it continue?”
Me with Bill in Monument Valley, where he told us he used to drive golf balls from off the top of tall mesas and lived in traditional housing dwellings or took care of sheep and horses. He's done it all!
Below, you'll see our HUNT'S TRADING POST poster!! :) Apparently, some in the community had questioned why it featured giant rainbow (some other people's eyes went to some other things in the image... we'll let you figure out what...).
Mai, Bill's niece, joked that he was a QUEER ALLY!!! How it actually came about is that Kamyar and I saw an awesome end-to-end, awe-inspiring rainbow in Blanding one day.
To all of this commentary and hearsay, Bill told us, "I don't give a damn what they think." Classic Bill.
We're so excited to say have HUNT'S TRADING POST now available for streaming on OTV, along with our short film, RECKLESS SPIRITS, which is a proof-of-concept for our feature! The support that OTV has given me as a filmmaker -- first as a OTV Fellow for RECKLESS SPIRITS and now as an #OTVAtlas Ambassador for HUNT'S TRADING POST is just all the more reason I continue to have a crush on this nonprofit organization, full of real-ass humans, doing really good work. <3
This is the last of our three OTV email newsletters, though we still have a Instagram takeover to come. In the meantime, you can also follow my film (and embroidery) journey by adding my linktr.ee and social media! I love random emails, so feel free to reach out!
We also have an upcoming in-person premiere at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle on September 28 as a part of Closing Night of Local Sightings Film Festival (featuring a pop-up trading post shop!), as well as some other dates we will include on our website for the project.