FILM SUMMARY
In the short film, “The Mystery of Now,” artist and Apache Skateboards founder, Douglas Miles shares socio-political context around the history that lead to life on the San Carlos Apache reservation, and the personal history of how and why he started a skateboard brand and team of local youth leaders. His advice on cultivating resilience, creativity, and joy, provides guidance in a time that for many feels uncertain, polarizing and divisive in our living rooms and around our dinner tables.
"It’s no mystery that the history of Native American people in this country has been overlooked, misrepresented and maligned to create a more heroic narrative for settlers to sell books, to sell land, and to sell movie tickets," Douglas shares. "In the middle of this cultural clash, stereotypes and battles for agency, one thing that has never ceased is Native creativity and the making of art. In our creativity we recreate ourselves, and in doing so we create and shape the world around us."
In his words, "this film is visual meditation about life on the Apache nation via lived experience of Apache Skateboards. It’s a soulfully joyous glimpse into hard-edged lives of Native kids becoming artists, musicians, skaters, creatives, and leading in their community using art, music and skateboarding as a means of expression and power."
"I felt if I could create art that kids could use it would change the way we not only looked at art but would change the way we looked at our community and ourselves," Douglas says. "This film captures the joyous, yet open-eyed worldview that living on the res develops in young people."
ARTIST & APACHE SKATEBOARDS FOUNDER
ABOUT DOUGLAS MILES
Douglas Miles is an artist, designer, photographer, filmmaker, muralist, public speaker, and founder of Apache Skateboards.
His work encourages reflection on how art can foster community-building and promote pride and well-being, especially among young people.
Rooted in Apache history and deeply engaged with the world of contemporary pop culture, Douglas' work has been exhibited at Princeton University, Columbia University, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, and the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum in Santa Fe.
Douglas recently collaborated with Tommy Guerrero and REAL SKATEBOARDS on a custom skate deck for Actions REALized. Prior, he collaborated with actor and author Ethan Hawke and artist Greg Ruth on a New York Times bestseller graphic novel, Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars.
DIRECTOR
ABOUT AUDREY BUCHANAN
This film is Audrey Buchanan’s directorial debut.
Audrey is an interviewer and filmmaker who believes in civic engagement, social justice and the fact that diversity drives innovation.
As the founder of a boutique production company called THE WOODS, and a founding board member of NPR Generation Listen, Audrey curates and lifts up diverse voices through intimate interviews, films, digital content and experiential programming.
In 2015, Audrey was named one of ORIGIN magazine's top creatives and leaders changing the world, and in 2013, Audrey was named one of GOOD magazine's top 100 innovators and entrepreneurs pushing the world forward.
