Idyllwid Arts Academy student Camille Tso was recently the subject of an article in the Navajo-Hopi Observer, “Young Navajo filmmaker refines skills at Idyllwild Arts Academy.” Tso won a scholarship to Idyllwild with her movie “In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman.”
S.W. Benally presents a complex, nuanced picture of mother, daughter, leaving home to pursue opportunity, and missing home once gone.
Commenting on her Idyllwild experieinces Tso told Benally:
“I had high expectations for this school, and it has exceeded them all…I imagined the film department to pretty much look like the studio at Outta Your Backpack, but it is very, very different. There is even a steadycam, a camera that straps to your chest with a steady arm slider. That’s a long stick with a camera on it. I am able to use a very modern way to tell old stories. It’s a new way to pass on oral histories.”(N-HO)
Reflecting on the past history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and boarding schools, Camille added:
“When I say ‘boarding school’ back home on the rez, people get that ‘BIA’ look…This is not that kind of boarding school.”(N-HO)
Movie making is a family affair for Tso, “Camille began her film training under her mother, Rachel Tso, and her nephew, Klee Benally who heads ‘Outta Your Backpack‘ in Flagstaff.” Rachel Tso’s MA thesis film “The Making of Yellow Woman” chronicles the making of her daughter Camille’s movie “In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman.”(N-HO)
Tso recognizes and seizes the opportunity to broaden her horizons and art through her Idyllwild experiences while missing home and the Rez.
Rachel Tso’s role as mother comes through in refelction:
“”I really am glad she’s here,” Rachel said. “It’s just so hard to leave her.”(N-HO)
“‘In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman’ has screened in 39 film festivals and won nine awards to date, and will take her to New York City’s Native American Film and Video Festival at the Museum of the American Indian in April.”(N-HO)
