Pink Gator Films
My goal and vision is to direct a movie with Zuni tribal themes that hit profound emotional points on spirituality, identity, and Indigenous culture. It's time movies become more diverse with actors that represent a true portrait of Native America. As a result, we will cast Native American actors who will speak my tribe's Native Zuni language in the movie. The protagonist of the stories will live in the reality that many Indigenous peoples live, they will come from a life of poverty, decimation, resilience and arise through traditional spiritual belief and culture to become a hero for the people.
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The short film is a cross between a harsh realistic story of survival like Menace II Society and a hopeful magical world like The Shape of Water. As an artist, I draw inspiration from these two films that are close to wha I want to achieve. I also draw inspiration from directors Kathryn Bigelow and Stanley Kubrick.
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I get inspiration from Bigelow's raw and hard-hitting stories. Her style of camerawork such as using handhelds and steadicams make for an intense point of view. While Kubrick's style uses more production design, prime lenses, and slow steady camera movements to paint a smooth picture in a cruel world. I paint and see things a different way as our Indigenous history has come to light for the betterment of the world. My visual foundation and inspirations are from classic Italian, German, and Dutch painters.
Joshua Zunie - Director & Writer of Rude Girl
DIRECTOR'S BIO
Joshua Zunie (Zuni Pueblo) is an aspiring movie director with years of experience working as an assistant to many iconic Hollywood producers, actors, and directors such as Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul; AMC), Antony Star (The Boys: Amazon), Ethan Hawk (Training Day), Roland Emmerich (Independence Day Resurgence), and currently Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, directors of the franchise movie Bad Boys for Life starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence
Josh was born and raised on the Zuni reservation, New Mexico where his auntie and grandmother told him folktales full of history, lessons, and triumph. He was inspired by his tribes storytelling tradition to write stories as a kid. He has moved on to graduate with a bachelors in business economics: emphasis in the film industry from Colorado College and earned his master’s degree in television and film producing from a top and national film school Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
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In 2006, Zunie studied for two years and produced short films at Chapman University. He was the only Native American among twenty-five of his producing colleagues to move to Los Angeles and begin a career in Hollywood during the stock market crash of 2008.
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In 2010, Zunie was accepted to the NBC Page Program and worked for a diversity talent executive at NBC Comcast experiencing the studio system and learning the who’s who of studio executives, producers, writers, and directors. Inspired by his experience Josh focused on the production side of the business, where he landed an office production job with Wolf Films on the television show Law and Order: Los Angeles. It was then that he witnessed juggernaut showrunners like Dick Wolf run a franchise show from development to studio release.
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Since then he has worked on a total of twelve movie and TV productions and is an advocated for eradicating the stereotypes of Native Americans in television and movies. Zunie is inspired to establish a scholarship foundation for Native Americans who want to pursue the creative and business entities of Hollywood.
On set assisting the Bad Boys for Life directors, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah
