The film will be introduced by Larry Ruiz, the Durango-based producer of the film, and Venancio Aragon, a Dine textile artist. Venancio holds two BA degrees: one in Cultural Anthropology from the University of New Mexico and the other in Native American Studies from FLC. Prior to becoming a full-time artist, Venancio worked for the National Park Service as an interpretive ranger in parks and monuments throughout the Southwest. Venancio was the 2020 Rollin and Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellow at the Santa Fe School for Advanced Research.
Larry Ruiz has been creating anthropological and cultural preservation landscape films in the Four Corners area since 2011, producing, co-producing, and directing over 25 documentaries. His films show the importance of the ancient civilizations, and how their modern descendants, Anglo and Indigenous scholars, and organizations are striving to protect what little of this early culture remains. Larry’s inspiration as a filmmaker stems from his experience in the 1990’s to the early 2000’s, when he spent most of his free time in Chaco Canyon, where he worked on the Solstice Project with Anna Sofaer. His work has been featured on National Geographic Television and in various universities and museums.