Movie about Shoshone people filmed in Elko area

The film and production crew for “Newe, The Shoshone People,” shot scenes the weekend of Feb. 2-4 in Ruby Valley, Spring Creek and Elko.

Led by Argentinian directors and producers Juan Azulay and Flavia Lowenstein, the movie tells the story of a man returning to his Shoshone roots years after he left the area.

“The project is intended to be a poetic and cinematic portrayal of individual’s stories, origin, ancestry, craftsmanship, music and dance as well as situating its meaning and relationship to the land and its beauty,” Azulay and Lowenstein say.

Laura Piffero, who serves as co-producer and the project’s Native culture consultant, was born and raised in Elko, as a member of the Elko Band. She moved to Phoenix in the mid-1980s, but has maintained her connection to the area for years and is a former co-chair of the Western Shoshone Steering Committee.

The husband-and-wife team of Lowenstein and Azulay are also co-producing the film along with actor Maurice Compte and British journalist Lucy Sherriff.

Cast and local production crew members from Elko, Owyhee, Lee and Fort Hall, Idaho, participated in the three-day film schedule.

On location

Among those on set was Valerie Moon, who served as a production assistant. She was recommended for the job by Piffero and Moon’s mentor, Fermina Stevens, who “kind of pressured me to apply because they wanted a Newe to get the job.”

Moon works as a tribal crisis counselor for Native people in Washington state. Born in Elko, she moved to Stillwater on the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone reservation when she was 6 years old. Moon was on the planning committee for the third annual Ruby Valley Treaty Conference in September, working with Piffero.

Asked to work on the film, Moon said she had no prior experience and felt “out of my field,” but was happy to join the project. “Anything and everything NDN, especially Newe, I’m always down to put in [the] work.”

Her job also supported the opportunity she received to work on the film. “Special shoutout to Volunteers of America for letting me take time off work to help with the film.”

As a production assistant, Moon said she did “anything” the production team needed, from assisting the cast to finding chairs and tables to picking up lunches during the shoot.

Although Moon watched YouTube videos to learn about her job, most of her training came from Lowenstein who “was so kind and patient working with me.”

“She had worked with Brad Pitt,” Moon said. “To me, that was pretty incredible to have her as my boss for that weekend. It felt a little surreal.”

Moon also met Elko Band member Nick Knight, who talked about Moon’s family and their allotment lands in Ruby Valley. “I appreciate him for doing that.”

“Every Newe person has a unique story. To pinpoint one as more interesting than another isn’t possible for me,” Moon said.

Moon said she felt the film was an opportunity to show what it’s like for the Shoshone to have a foot in the traditional world and another foot in the modern world.

“Sometimes as an American Indian, it can feel like a burden on you just being Newe. Other times the unimaginable beauty of our traditions, ceremonies and way of life can then make modern culture the burden. That’s what we mean by living in two worlds,” Moon explained.

She also hopes audiences will learn how the Shoshone people try to strike the balance between the past, the present and the future.

“I want non-natives to try to understand that burden we carry as Newe people to protect our language, our land and our culture, all while being able to work, [have] a career, maintain financial responsibility and carry that burden. [It] can really break our people down and [I want them] to see them struggling in town and have compassion for us.”

How it all began

Azulay first visited the area about 15 years ago, “and I fell in love with the land.”

He recalled being pulled toward the “beautiful and sublime” land. He also saw the Shoshone people at the core, who were “creating and thriving” within a “challenging and beautiful” landscape.

The story centers around a top U.S. military scientist and his Shoshone wife whose son is “removed from his ancestral land as a boy for health reasons. Later in life, he returns to his mother’s ancestral land and encounters it for the first time.”

The son, “who was too young to remember things in a reasonable way, his body and spirit feels it as soon as he returns,” Azulay explained. “It’s a feature film. It’s fiction, but fiction based on very real things.”

Azulay said the project is working in small steps to meet the Shoshone people “to understand what their story is to represent this boy’s journey accurately.”

Lowenstein emphasized the importance of having Piffero on board as a consultant “and our guide to everything related to the Shoshone.”

“On set, we want to be as accurate and authentic [as possible],” she continued. “We have to tell the story right.”

To tell the story the right way meant bringing in members of Shoshone tribes to portray characters, serve as extras and work behind the scenes.

“We want everybody that is going to be represented as a Shoshone to be native. We also want to embrace Shoshone and natives to be part of the crew for the film and the cast,” Lowenstein said. “It’s a project to embrace togetherness.”

As Latinos from Argentina, Lowenstein and Azulay said they understand the perspective of the Shoshone as they are “encountering the U.S. as outsiders to some extent.”

“From our perspective, Juan and I come from the art world,” Lowenstein said. “We see this beautiful landscape through a lens that is, probably to some, different. We see so much beauty in it and the culture also. We’re very excited to film it here.”

Azulay had known Compte for many years. About 17 years ago, they began working on an early version of the “Newe” script and filmed some scenes with Compte as the military scientist.

“The project came back to us in a very serendipitous way,” Azulay said. “We’re creating a number of cultural film bits to accompany the project as a broader assembly of things.”

“I don’t think the film in itself is the final product. It’s the message and the outreach of what happens within it,” Azulay explained. “The key to it all is the spirit of this guy who returns to his ancestral motherland and finds himself.”

Representing the Shoshone

Piffero said she was brought into the project by Compte, who has had notable roles in television’s “Breaking Bad,” “Narcos,” and “Mayans M.C.” He met her at the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty convention in September and after a three-hour conversation, he connected her with Azulay and Lowenstein.

“There’s no words. I’m so blessed Maurice saw something in me and introduced me to these beautiful people,” Piffero said.

“I want to make certain that I’m doing my very best in authenticating everything from the people to where we shoot this film, do it with a good heart and in a good way so that it comes back to us and back to them and Maurice in a good way,” she added.

After learning about the movie, “I thought it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I’m absorbing everything I can from Juan and Flavia.”

Piffero said she took extra care to find Shoshone people for the project, understanding they are “humble people. They’re not out looking for fame and fortune. I was very careful selecting the individuals cast in the film.”

Piffero said Shoshone elders who speak the language and maintain traditions were wanted for the project. She said she observed this is rare in Shoshone and other tribes “across the country because different generations want to go out and get an education and further themselves. Sometimes they don’t come back.”

She pointed to film projects, including "Newe" led by Azulay, Lowenstein and Compte, that are opening the doors for Shoshone, bringing their authentic story to a wider audence as one of her reasons for getting involved.

Getting the Shoshone people involved in the film also “creates opportunities for young children so they can step into those doors after us. We do have Native actors and screenwriters, but it’s not as widespread.”

“That’s the reason I said, ‘I have to take this,’” Piffero continued. “I want people to know about the Shoshone nation because we are such an unrepresented tribe.”

The Martin Scorsese film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” featuring the Osage Nation, and the Academy Award Best Actress nomination for Lily Gladstone, who is of Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce descent, also prompted Piffero to join the “Newe” film.

“It’s taken a long time to get a Lily Gladstone to be nominated, and it’s way overdue,” Piffero said. “I had to jump on this as fast as I could.”

Seeking input from the Shoshone

Piffero approached Shoshone elders for the project personally, imploring them to consider the opportunity to have direct input in the film and tell their people’s story their way, instead of having their culture interpreted by outsiders or commercialized.

“The Shoshone people have had people come in and do documentaries,” she said. “I guess they felt they never got the good end of the stick because they didn’t know what [the filmmakers] were using it for, they haven’t seen it, though they take the Shoshone songs that are sacred to us and put them on blast.

“It’s one thing if you’re doing it with their consent. They want to give it to you, and they want you to enjoy it, feel it, breathe it. But it has to come from them,” Piffero said.

Showing the elders the reasons to come on board with the project was challenging.

“When I approached people, especially the seniors, it was tough. I felt like I was a car salesman for a little bit. I had to get on their level and cause them to think, ‘What if we don’t do this? What if I back out and leave people who don’t have a direct connection like I do [to make the movie?]’” she said.

“Would you rather have your story told like how it’s been told over the last few centuries,” Piffero said. “This is an opportunity I think that will break that [precedent].”

However, younger Shoshone members were excited and were quick to participate, she said.

There was “a good handful” of people who declined to share their stories, she said. A couple of people who signed on initially later decided to drop out of the film.

Piffero said those people’s decisions have not deterred the group from pursuing the film project.

“Our general consensus is that we respect whatever decision you make. We can’t run after you because that might bring negativity to the film,” she said. “We’ve agreed whoever is meant to be in this film and whoever has said yes and wants to share their story are the right people who need to be there.”

“I want it to be authentic and [portray the] truth in everything these people tell us,” Piffero said.

Moon said she hopes the film impacts the Shoshone people locally, inspiring them to be proud of their culture and traditions.

“I hope the film speaks to the Newe community here in small town Elko, [so] they can see the strength and vulnerability the film portrays and be proud of that,” Moon said. “I hope Newe can be inspired to do more for us as Newe, to share our stories to be vulnerable [and they] are inspired to become more with this film.”

For audiences outside the area, Moon has similar hopes.

"I hope the non-native community around us can be inspired to share their stories with us too and help us find our voices [to] share our stories just like Juan, Flavia and Laura helped us,” she said.