THE RETURN OF NAVAJO BOY, 25 Years Later: A Conversation with Jeff Spitz

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In fall 2024, we were visited by environmental filmmaker Jeff Spitz, whose film Return of Navajo Boy, in collaboration with the Navajo Nation, drew urgent attention to the contaminating impact of uranium mining on Navajo lands and People. These joint efforts resulted in a record $1bn compensation to the Nation for the cleanup of 50 abandoned mines.

Following his talk, Jeff invited members of the Nation to discuss their experiences, but I found that I also had lots more questions that I wanted to put to Jeff. I was delighted that he took the chance later that day to sit down with me and talk further about the project and its significance, twenty five years after it was made. With thanks to my colleagues at Edge Effects, you can now listen in to our conversation!

Stream or download our conversation here.

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Interview Highlights

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Will Brockliss: Welcome Jeff, and thank you for your powerful films and for your important work in environmental justice. For those who have not yet had the chance to see your film, The Return of Navajo Boy, what would you most want them to know about it?

Jeff Spitz: The title of the film is a double entendre. It is called The Return of Navajo Boy because it’s literally about the return of an old film from the 1950’s titled Navajo Boy, to the people who are in it, the Navajo family. And as you watch the film, you realize they are missing somebody. They talk about a child, a baby that they see in their mother’s arms in that old film, named John Wayne by the actor. The film title becomes literal when John learns about the making of this documentary and about the return of this old film. It became a congressional investigation, and people started to write about this, and lo and behold, a long-lost family member reads about the Navajos in this story and returns to them. So, it really becomes the literal story of the return of Navajo boy.

WB: Quite a few of the listeners will be working in environmental film or considering doing so. What tips you might have for them?

JS: I didn’t start out with this idea of working in environmental film. I was meeting people with this possibility of making a film about what it was like to grow up in Monument Valley from the point of view of the Navajo person who was photographed. These were people who were photographed and filmed almost every day in the warm weather months.

I discovered, when I went there and brought pictures from Navajo Boy, that they really were never interviewed by anyone or asked any questions, for that matter, other than, “Could you stand here and pose this way? Stand over here and pose that way?” The photographers are concerned about composition and subject matter, but not necessarily human beings. I learned how not to take pictures and how not to make films by people who simply used human beings as props, and it was obvious to me that that was the norm for the history of filmmaking.

WB: Do you have advice for those who are looking to work in partnership with the Native Nations and also on environmental justice projects?

JS: Yeah, my advice starts with listening. People will be able to hear what you’re interested in very quickly and determine whether or not that’s of any meaning to them or value. So if you have a preconception and a hypothesis, and you’re going to a community to prove it, you might have a hard time. If you’re going with an open heart, open mind, to listen and learn how you might be of use, how you might be able to collaborate and find some sort of common ground, you have a better chance of having a good human relationship and a good outcome for whatever it is you’re doing.

A headshot of a bald white man in a purple button down shirt, smiling and standing against a brick wall.
Filmmaker and professor Jeff Spitz.

WB: Could you give listeners just a sense of how your project has developed over the past twenty five years and what you’re hoping to achieve with it in the future?

JS: When we started, it was a problem we were trying to solve, figuring out what to do with an old film. It evolved into the people in the old film telling their own stories and using the old film as a starting point. It evolved further into a compilation of other films made about Navajos, and because one of those film companies was John Ford, that opened up a whole audience that was interested in the Westerns and in the stories of the Navajos who appeared in them.

Then that advanced this idea that the documentary could evolve into an expose of uranium, injustice, and contamination. And so we followed that track. The fact that this film leads to an unexpected and beautiful reunion with a long-lost baby that was taken away by missionaries opened an entirely new track for people who are interested in foster care and adoption.

The environmental track became the most compelling because of the urgent issues that many Navajo families were facing. We built a series of webisodes showing each step that the EPA and Navajos were taking to move toward the cleanup of one abandoned uranium mine. The EPA had already identified 523 other abandoned uranium mines that were not being cleaned up. It’s estimated that it may take 100 years for this work to be done—if it’s going to actually be done.

I learned how not to take pictures and how not to make films by people who simply used human beings as props.

And the Navajos do not want that uranium waste that was left behind on their reservation to be buried in place on their reservation. They want it taken off their lands. And so even the cleanup that we filmed in Monument Valley is considered a temporary solution.

I don’t know how that will ever change, to be honest with you. I don’t know if those other 523 abandoned mines will get cleaned up, but we want to continue to keep the story visible. We want people to know that the consequences of an environmental injustice don’t just end when the mining companies walk away or when the polluter gets to go away. These things evolve and they continue.

WB: What are your fears for the future of the Navajo Nation, and what are your hopes?

JS: If I have fears about the future of the Navajo Nation, it is probably just the same fears I have for my own family, my own kids, and my own environment; we’re all connected. I see this as kind of a bigger question about whether or not we can get more proactive and use appropriate regulation to prevent these sort of things from happening in the future, if we can find the technology and develop the means to clean up the errors of the past.

a man and Navajo woman stand in front of a desert landscape, the woman holds an old photograph in her hands
Jeff and Elsie Mae Begay’s first meeting, when Jeff brought still photos from the original 16mm NAVAJO BOY film to Monument Valley in search of the girl in the film. Elsie holds a still of herself from the film. Image courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 1997.
Navajo man and woman standing in a desert landscape looking at a cardboard cutout of a white cowboy.
Elsie and her brother John Wayne Cly face a cardboard cut-out of John Wayne. Image courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 2000.
two children play in front of a red cliff with a white stain
Two Navajo girls play in front of the contaminated, uranium-stained cliff in Monument Valley. Image courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 2000.
Navajo woman sits in front of a loom made of branches, which holds a rug made of orange and gray fibers.
Happy Cly, a well known photography model in Monument Valley. Her loom always had a half complete weaving project, so she could easily pose when a photographer showed up. Image courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 2000.
Navajo man holds a black and white photo of a young boy, with another black and white image in the background of a held baby.
A still from Spitz’s documentary shows community members considering old photos of children now grown up. Image courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 2000.
Two people stand in the distance with a desert landscape behind them, including a tall rock formation.
Another still from Spitz’s documentary shows Elsie speaking about her home. Photo courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 2000.
Navajo man stands in front of a mine entrance that has been sealed with cinderblocks; the caption reads "Bernie Cly: former uranium miner."
At an abandoned mine, Bernie Cly reflects on the area’s (and his own) relationship with uranium mining. Photo courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 2000.

Featured image: A still from the film, during a gathering of Navajo Uranium Workers to compile legal evidence in the case against the Kerr-McGee mining company. Image courtesy of Jeff Spitz, 2000.

Podcast music: “Gloves” by Julian Lynch. Used with permission. 

Jeffery Spitz is an Associate Professor in Cinema and TV Arts who teaches documentary story, production, screenwriting, service learning, and civic engagement. Spitz is the Director and Co-Producer of the official Sundance Film Festival & PBS selection, The Return of Navajo Boy (2000 & 2008 Epilogue). Spitz continues to amplify the voices of Navajo Nation allies. Contact.

Will Brockliss is Director of the Center for Culture, History, and Environment, UW-Madison, and Professor in the Department of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, where he researches monsters, horror, and ecocriticism. Contact.

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