AL: Yeah, yeah. It’s definitely not the Lakota story. If it was, it’d be a lot more traditional, but I definitely was not married to that and I think if I was I would definitely restrict myself a lot more. I feel like just embracing what I know about Indigeneity and my perspective of what it means to be a Native person. It was shaped by my mom, was shaped by my grandma, and like, that’s like strongly my narrative and my understanding of what it means to be Lakota.  I only have the Native women really to rely on in my family because the native women in my family lead the shit and are the ones teaching us and are the ones who are making us go through ceremony are the ones who are making us go through all these understandings. And I just wanted to express that aspect and my experience going through that. My experience of being Native is different from other Natives because I’m obviously more black presenting. So I wanted to really showcase that aspect of that story because I feel like that’s what’s been the most integral.

AP: Now that you’re on the other side of production, what’s the big highlight for you in terms of making this film?

AL: Number one: hiring Shaandiin [laughs]. Being able to communicate with her and have her understand what I was looking for and having that relationship with a DP you really respect and you really fuck with. I think the second one is just those instances where I’m thinking through a creative solution. I think a problem came up when one of our locations fell through. So I had to think of something else and that turned out to be such a better thing. Having instances like those where I’m just like, wow, somehow even though we ran through a problem, it was still for the better, it still worked out.

Also having to, like, unclench a little, not be as stressed. I feel like I need someone to take the logistics away for me so I can focus more on the creative. I think that’s my breakthrough now that I’m at the end.

AP: We kind of talked about it a little bit before that idea that each film is kind of like it’s your baby, your own kid to some extent. I also feel that in making films there’s a certain part of it where the film starts to make itself in some regard and it almost communicates to you in some weird way about yourself. For you, what was your take away from your film speaking to you about itself?

AL: Let me think about that. I get what you mean. I feel like the old Lakota saying,  understanding the value of relationships. I feel like the relationships within the film feel real. They feel like what I experienced and I was totally blown away by that. And then, also having really amazing relationships behind the camera as well. And just thinking how these people are fulfilling me creatively and how these people are doing something I totally didn’t expect and that it turns out to be really freaking awesome. Just like having these really beautiful colors coming up to create a final painting. I maybe started the outline, but everyone came and filled this shit up and made it look really crazy and something that I’m really proud of.