Loren Waters’ beautiful documentary “Tiger” won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film acts as a capsule of the Tiger family’s personal and artistic history. A family of painters and T-shirt print makers, the Tigers suffered illness and violent loss, forever fracturing them. The film stars Dana Tiger, who in the end teaches her son how to screenprint her murdered brother’s designs, which helps keep his memory alive. Waters tells the story respectfully and gracefully, giving a safe space for the Tiger family to express themselves on screen.
How did you get connected to this story and the family?
I feel really grateful because this film is a community film. Dana Tiger is in my community and we met because I was doing the background casting for “Reservation Dogs” … and she was on the show, and we just became close. She’s a painter and she depicts Native women in her art, and that guy I’ve never seen before. When I would see her paintings, I was like, I saw myself in this. And that really inspired me. So, whenever my partner and I actually had a camera package sitting for a week between projects, we decided we needed to take advantage of this and go shoot something.
I called up Dana after we’d known each other for two years, and asked if we could come film with her. She said, “Yeah, for sure, come on.” So, we came, and it was the first day they were screen printing T-shirts since 1990! We didn’t know when we showed up that was going to be the case. . . . The third act probably, I would say, is what we captured first and then built the film out from there. But yeah, Dana is one of my great elder friends and we just got much closer through this whole process.
And your partner is the cinematographer? The cinematography was so interesting and beautiful. Can you talk about that?
Absolutely, yes. My partner, his name is Robert Hunter. He is Blackfoot and Shoshone-Paiute. He’s a cinematographer, and whenever we were crafting the look of this film, he’s more narrative-based, and we didn’t want this to be solely verité. We really wanted it to be intentional with every shot we were putting up. We pulled a lot of images for inspiration and built it out that way. We knew we had to get an interview with Dana, but if we were gonna have to look at any interview, we wanted it to be interesting. So whenever we went to Dana’s house, I looked at the swimming pool and said, “Dana, would it be weird if we did your interview on the diving board or your swimming pool, which is now a pond with fish swimming around it?” She was like, “No, I do that all the time. I go lay out there and talk to the fish.” So, we really wanted every shot to feel like real-life Dana, and I think we were able to accomplish that. My partner was able to bring those ideas to life in such a beautiful way.
You just mentioned your partner is also Native, and I noticed right away that Black Belt Eagle Scout did the music. Could you talk about the importance of working with other Native collaborators?
So, we had a Native PA who was a camera assistant on the set. Black Belt Eagle Scout had her song “Soft Stud,” which is like our song, the theme of the film. Then we also had a song by Wotko Long, who’s a Muscogee-Creek as well. I always try to prioritize Native collaborators first. If I ever work with a non-Native collaborator, it’s because I really tried to find the best person for the story within the timeframe and budget. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but I think that’s important for authenticity. We can’t dilute that with other perspectives — I want to keep this truly from our perspective. Since this film didn’t have big names or big funders, we had the creative freedom to do what we wanted. Robert and I worked so closely to make that happen, and I’m so proud that it’s screening here. My whole team is so happy to be here. It’s been a magical experience for us.
Can you talk about anything you did to make the set a safe space? Because I felt like, especially with Dana, she was really vulnerable, and something she said was so beautiful: “What I did in my life mattered.” She seemed to really be sharing herself. How did you make the space feel safe for her?
Yeah, Dana, Robert, and I had spent time together. I had this relationship with her, so there wasn’t any weirdness with the camera. We had already built that. When it came to bringing in the crew, we had two other crew members. It wasn’t like there were many of us — there were four on those small shoots. They knew who she was because they were from the community. They knew of her art; they knew a little about her story. Because of that and because Dana is so open to sharing, there wasn’t a lot of prepping I had to do, which is amazing. You don’t want to have to explain everything to the crew. I’ve had to do that before, and it’s time-consuming and hard. With this project, it was special. Dana is open and welcoming. For other projects where I might need prep, we do blessings and introductions before we start shooting, like making sure we enter spaces with respect. Especially as Native people, we’re traditionally very closed off to outsiders coming in, so I always try to make sure that there’s a level of respect.
I love the parallel between Dana’s art and you making this film. Dana’s able to see the memory of her brother alive through her son making a shirt, and it feels like you’re keeping her art alive too.
Everything I make, I think about why I’m making it and who it’s for. My films are always for the community. So, I wanted to make sure this film was something Dana and her family were proud of and involved in. I also thought about how to use this film as a tool to funnel resources back into her art gallery; to help her family. So yeah, I definitely thought about that because I’m not just making a film to make it. There has to be a deeper reason. Now her family has this special time capsule of Dana’s perspective of their story. And of course, showcasing her beautiful art is just a plus.
What generational traditions do you have in your family that are special to you?
Oh, this is random, but my dad and grandfather were both basketball players, and so was my brother, who plays for the Detroit Pistons [recently traded by the Golden State Warriors]. He’s the fifth Native American ever to play in the league. We’ve been using his platform to funnel resources and support back into a foundation our family helps run, creating opportunities for Native youth. We’re doing storytelling workshops to inspire youth to get involved. It’s interesting how this sport has created opportunities for us to make an impact. My brother lets me have a storytelling component to reach more people.
