Dustinn Craig is a

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

filmmaker and skateboarder from Arizona. Craig is an enrolled citizen of the White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation and

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

descendant.

Early life

Dustinn Craig was born in

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 504,258 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Arizona, third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, T ...

, in 1975. His father was the comedian, comic artist, and musician Vincent Craig (

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

, 1950–2010), whose parents were Nancy Mariano Etsitty and Bob Etsitty Craig, a Navajo code talker. Dustinn's mother was Mariddie J. Craig (

White Mountain Apache The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in Arizona, United States, encompassing parts of Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties. It is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation (We ...

). Dustinn grew up on the

Fort Apache Indian Reservation The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in Arizona, United States, encompassing parts of Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties. It is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation (We ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and later at

Window Rock, Arizona Window Rock, known in Navajo language, Navajo as Tségháhoodzání (), is a city and census-designated place that serves as the capital of the Navajo Nation, the largest List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States, Nativ ...

, on the Navajo Reservation.

Skateboarding

As of 2020, Craig is leader of the White Mountain skate team. Craig began filmmaking when, as a teenager, he started making skateboard videos.

Filmmaking

Craig's filmmaking career often focuses on topics that explore his identity as a

person who grew up on

Indian reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

s. Craig wrote, directed, and produced ''I Belong to This'', a personal documentary that is part of the 2003 PBS documentary series ''Matters of Race''. In 2005 the National Video Resources Media Artists Fellowship awarded Craig for his documentary on skateboarding at Fort Apache: ''Ride through Genocide''. In 2005, the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

in Phoenix, Arizona hired Craig to produce and direct three films, two about the Havasupai Tribe and the

Colorado River Indian Tribes The Colorado River Indian Tribes (, ) is a federally recognized tribe consisting of the four distinct ethnic groups associated with the Colorado River Indian Reservation: the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo. The tribe has about 4,277 enrol ...

in Arizona and one entitled “HOME”, a multi-screen half hour documentary that features the imagery of the Native Southwest and first hand perspectives of Native People. Craig is also a recipient of the 2005 Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship. In 2008, Craig released a film about Geronimo, the fourth episode in the 5 part documentary series “We Shall Remain” produced by

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

. The film premiered at the 2008 Native Cinema Showcase. In 2009, Craig released ''Our Home, Our Stories: Short Films by Dustinn Craig'', a compilation broadcast on Arizona Public Television.

References

{{reflist

External links

Dustinn Craig - Vimeo
Living people 1975 births Artists from Arizona Navajo artists Native American filmmakers Native American skateboarders People from Mesa, Arizona White Mountain Apache people