Homegrown director showcases his ‘Tribal Journey’

Lolita Harper

Scott Macklin has returned to his hometown with lessons learned from

his parents, professors, loved ones, mentors and subjects of his

film.

The Costa Mesa native has taken the advice of a major player in

his film, “Tribal Journey: Celebrating our Ancestors,” and is aware

of the journey of life.

“If you don’t know where you’ve been, you’re not going to know

where you’re supposed to go in life,” Chief Guy Capoeman of the

Quinault Indian Nation said to his canoe pullers as they embarked on

a six-day journey.

Macklin was there as the group pushed off. He heard the message,

recorded the story and has returned to his own soil to share it with

others at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

The film documents the voyage taken by more than 20 dugout canoes,

which represent 25 Indian nations from the United States and Canada.

The tribal journey takes place every four years as part of a series

of inter-tribal cultural exchanges that had been lost for some time,

for reasons of oppression, poverty etc. The journeys, traveled along

the path of their ancestors, reawaken the canoe cultures of the

Northwest coast, he said.

Macklin’s film portrays the celebration of ancestors through the

art, dance and songs of the participating tribes, the preparation and

sharing of meals and a gift-giving ceremony. He was privy to many

rituals that had never been witnessed by outsiders and banned, still,

from some of the most sacred.

“It was made as a gift for the tribe and when we were finished the

chief told me to go share it with others,” Macklin said.

Sharing is a trait of Macklin’s ancestors, as his Italian

grandmother, known to Macklin, as Nona Bina, was the family’s

story-teller. She would tell the most marvelous stories, in detailed,

dramatic fashion, he said. Also no stranger to the spotlight was his

father, a local preacher.

Macklin became interested in screen story-telling at a very young

age.

“The first movie I ever saved up my own money for was here in

Costa Mesa and I walked down to the Mesa Theater to see ‘Witch

Mountain’ and the ‘Shaggy DA,’” Macklin said. “After I saw a talking

dog and a flying RV, I knew this is what I wanted to make.”

And so it was decided. Macklin would be a filmmaker. He planned to

go to film school and embark on a movie making career. His own life

journey involved a detour and Macklin followed the path of

theological and architectural studies overseas.

Although he had strayed from his plans, he returned to the path of

his own ancestors and pursued film making to tell his stories. Tribal

Journey: Celebrating Our ancestors is his first film and will show at

11 a.m. today at Edwards Island -- gold.