Kymon Greyhorse brings storytelling to life through a visual medium.
Greyhorse’s latest short film, “Can I Love You?” is set to screen at 9:10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, at the Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe.
The film is part of the New Mexico Shorts Program 1 at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.
“Can I Love You?” tells the story of a Navajo girl as she navigates surrendering her role as a mother figure as she receives an acceptance letter to college.
“It’s a film that sort of offers a glimpse of reservation life,” Greyhorse says. “It explores the hardship and complexities of balancing your future and your present. It’s a love letter to my mom.”
Greyhorse says the main character is based on his mother, who like many, had to choose between their dreams and family life.
“It means so much to me,” Greyhorse says. “I believe that a lot of people can relate to this topic because it happens in all types of cultures. As one of the older siblings, they are often looked on to take on many parental roles.”
Production took place near Isleta Pueblo for a few days.
Greyhorse was able to find a rental house that reminded him of his grandma’s house in Farmington.
“It was the same shade of blue and had wooden stairs,” Greyhorse says. “It was perfect and we raised enough money to get the space for a couple of days.”
Greyhorse began to write the script in October 2021 – a process that included Zoom meetings with his family ensure accuracy.
Actual production took less than a week and the editing process took about 21 weeks.
“I scored the film myself using GarageBand and I did the sound design,” he says. “It was so challenging to be the foley artist. I put my cast and crew through a lot because I wanted it to be powerful all around.”
Greyhorse admits that he went through a roller coaster of emotions during the entire process.
“People canceled on me and I began to get discouraged,” he says “I wanted to quit and was tested by the universe. I’m excited to be able to screen the film in my home state.”
Earlier this year, Greyhorse was selected to be part of the Sundance Institute’s Native Lab.
He was picked because his work explores the human experience, shining light on the underrepresented and normalizing Indigenous stories and existence. “I want my films to inspire and empower yearning voices that have been silenced for too long,” Greyhorse says.
