Michele StuevenHaagua is a short film that is making its Los Angeles debut at the LA Skins Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, Nov. 24. The documentary captures the powerful and culturally rich story and reintroduction of an Indigenous people back to their natural ecosystem that serves as a reckoning for a new generation.
A blend of Indigenous language that translates to water, Haagua is directed by Octavio Coutiño Aceves (Euforia La Película, Omorfia, El Gordo) and Marc Antony Chavez who makes his directorial debut. The film was produced by Native Like Water and explores a vital narrative through the lens of Indigenous surf culture at a time when the world’s academic scholars, scientists and leaders are looking towards the future of a shared blue economy.
The short 15-minute film examines the relationship between the law of nature and the coastal birthright of Native ancestral roots, fueled by a timely regeneration and Indigenous movement of surfers. Time-honored traditions, rituals, and generational legacy capture a renewed connection to the sea and significant coastal sites of Kumeyaay, Payomkawichum, Acjachemen, and Nahua territories.
Indigenous Surf Culture Film Haagua Premieres at LA Skins Film Festival
Locations in Southern California and Mexico offer a reflective sense of the timeless connection between the ocean, a new wave of an Indigenous movement, and the cultural coastal lifestyle that regenerates in Haagua.
The cast represents more than 13 tribal nations whose lineage and heritage are carried over into the narrative of the film. Haagua stars Jacinda S. Townsend (Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Nation) and Shuuluk Leo-Retz (Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Nation). Chavez (Nahua-Xicano) and Erika Archaga wrote the film, with Leo-Retz making story contributions. Indigenous Surfers include professionals Andy Nieblas and David Flores Ramos, with traditional Paipo board wave riding by Kaliko Kahoonei and surf cameos by Reg Macarro, Liam Walsh and Chavez.
Chavez is the founder and director of Native Like Water, a non-profit cultural education and enrichment program founded in 2000 in San Diego. It has grown into an international program with travel and wellness programs offered in Panama, Hawai’i, Mexico, and Jamaica. Its work creates scholarships for an endangered Native American population in California and beyond providing a reintroduction to coastal habitats normally frequented by tourists, yet seldom by the local Indigenous population.
“There is an indisputable pattern of the coastal displacement of Indigenous people across the globe,” the director said in a statement. “This film thoughtfully depicts our community of Indigenous leaders, elders, and enterprising youth who are following in the footsteps of their ancestors with that same ambitious spirit that shines a light on the renewed relationship to our oceans and the land that is our birthright.”
Haagua makes its Los Angeles debut at the LA Skins Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 24.