Nika Bartoo-Smith
ICT + Underscore News
In the first few minutes of the short film, “The Roof,” a Northern Cheyenne teenager approaches his grandfather’s house out in the woods. His grandfather is up on the roof, banging away with a hammer.
“Grandpa, what are you doing?,” the kid asks.
When the grandpa doesn’t respond, the kid walks back inside the house, calling home and asking when he can leave.
That scene is one writer of the film, W.A.W. Parker, Northern Cheyenne, knows well. The film stars Phoenix Wilson, M’Chigeeng First Nation, and Wes Studi, Cherokee.
“The roof is a symbol for what protects people inside the home,” Parker said in an interview with ICT Newscast with Aliyah Chavez. “And it’s a story about two people literally working on a roof, but also needing to connect with each other about the things that they don’t talk about in their lives.”
Parker grew up loving movies and the different worlds they can allow the viewer to inhabit. When applying to college, he decided to go to film school and ended up at Harvard. Parker finished his undergrad, studying film and gender studies, at Harvard in 2008. In 2019, he graduated with an MFA in TV and Screenwriting from Stephens College.
In the years since, Parker has written a few scripts and even published three novels.
His latest venture, “The Roof,” has gotten much visibility since being released on the popular streaming platform, Disney Plus. He wrote the first draft in June 2021 and the film released to the public in September.
The short is part of season two of “Launchpad,” a collection of live-action shorts that features writers and directors from underrepresented backgrounds. Though the shorts are all stand alone, each piece for the season is filmed using the same crew during the same timeframe in Los Angeles, Parker said.
At the end of the filming process, the entire team gathered together in celebration of the film.
“The part that sticks out to me the most was at the end of the film when we invited everyone – cast, crew, executives, extras – to dance with us in the powwow circle to an intertribal song,” said Blake Pickens, Chickasaw, producer of the film. “It was this beautiful moment where everything we were trying to do with the film sort of culminated in one special celebration.”
Inspiration for the “The Roof” struck Parker while visiting his 93-year-old grandfather right after he had a stroke. Unsure how long he had left to live, Parker immediately jumped on a plane and was lucky enough to spend a few days with him, listening to stories.
“I wrote (“The Roof”) thinking about what I really wanted to say to him and what I really wanted him to say to me,” Parker said.
Throughout his life and into his old age, Parker’s grandfather was an active man. The family used to joke, “he wanted to die falling off his roof,” Parker said.
Parker’s grandfather is similar to the grandfather in the film in other ways as well — namely they both went to boarding school and don’t talk about their experiences.
“The thing that you don’t want to talk about, the thing that people don’t want to talk about — it’s probably the thing that you need to talk about,” Parker said.
He hopes that is the message people take away from the film.
For Pickens, he wants viewers to walk away with a greater sense of acceptance toward one another.
“Honestly, I just hope that viewers love each other a little more,” Pickens said. “If people walked away a little happier and a little more accepting then I think we did our job.”
The film is about a teenager who goes to spend time with his grandfather. When the kid finds a jingle dress in the closet and tries it on, it eventually sparks a deep conversation between grandfather and grandchild by the fire — the teenager is Two-Spirit.
As the writer, one aspect of the casting was particularly important to Parker — he knew he wanted Studi to be up on the roof, portraying the grandfather. For Parker, this felt like an important way for Native uncles and grandfathers to see someone like Studi in a role opening up about his own trauma and also accepting his Two-Spirit grandchild.
“The Roof” not only shines a light on the experience of this Two-Spirit young person, but also the ways in which being Two-Spirit is not new to Native people, even though there may still be resistance from older generations as younger generations of Native people claim a Two-Spirit identity.
“Growing up, I wish I would have learned about Two-Spirit people in my tribe,” Parker said.
As a queer, Two-Spirit, Indigenous person himself, Parker hopes this film will bring recognition and love to other young, two spirit people.
“You’re not alone. You have a family and community who loves you and sees you,” Parker said, as a message to all Two-Spirit people. “I hope it’s the one that surrounds you, but it might be the one you find. And I promise you will.”
ICT’s Paris Wise contributed to this report.
This story is co-published by Underscore.news and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest. Funding is provided in part by Meyer Memorial Trust.
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