At the peak point of it, I tried to commit suicide. I had been in a really bad relationship for about four years, and it only got worse. How did you know that it was time to move?ĪW: A lot happened. RMPBS: In the film, you made the tough decision to leave Haines. Even though I don't say a whole lot of things, even just getting the little bits out and having to revisit all that past just to write that one sentence can be way harder than people think. What was your emotional journey during the filmmaking process?ĪW: It was very emotional. RMPBS: You're sharing so much personal stuff in your film. You don't want to put it into the wrong hands or on the wrong platform. RMPBS: How does it feel to be getting your first film out there after all this build up?ĪW: The process is really exciting. The next thing I knew, I had joined film school. I think it was a couple days later an ad for L.A.

I could do film! I could tell my story through film that would get so many other people rather than books. I just kept going, “what can I do?” I saw a short little documentary or something and it was about an Indigenous person and I was like, “Oh, that's a really good idea.” It looked good, it sounded good, but it just didn't connect with me. Tell me a little bit about that process.ĪW: So for years and years and years I tried to write it out. RMPBS: In the film, you said your passion for storytelling led you to filmmaking. I wanted to be there for somebody because I didn't feel like I had anybody there for me. Then growing up with my dad always telling stories, it infused that thought: I need to share my story. I kept thinking that I could be a voice for others because I didn't feel like anybody else knew what I was going through. Tell us about some things that influenced that passion.ĪW: By the time I was 16 or 18, I had already known that I had gone through a lot. You said that you had always wanted to share your story. RMPBS: Let's dig into the story element more. Williams trying on her father's sunglasses alongside her father and brother. I don't know if he actually realized at first until later on when he started seeing me and my brother doing all those things that he taught, that he realized that he had done that. So I think he just found it very important. People were starting to adapt to the newer way of life. Kids weren't learning as much and people just weren't talking about it. RMPBS: Why do you think it was so important for your dad to pass on these traditions to you?ĪW: Because throughout the years, he saw it dying. For whatever reason that one thing sparked everything. They were reviving the culture camp, and it was open to anybody. They started rebuilding it and my dad was part of it, so they were doing the hooligan tradition out there. And in the recent years there was a culture camp at Chilkoot by the river, and they actually hadn't done anything with it in a long time. RMPBS: What kind of community connections did you see happen through that process?ĪW: It brought out the community, a lot of kids - and not just Indigenous.Įverybody was coming and joining in. The night before that, my dad would do funny things like beat on the drum or do a crab dance, sing songs, things like that. In the beginning, in the spring, we would do crab digs. He was always telling us stories, so many stories. My dad also commercial fished, and so if we weren't doing that, we were doing something cultural. Williams' father, who taught Williams and her brother Lingit practices throughout their upbringing. In recent years, my family and just a couple other families were the last families that were still doing the whole entire process. Then you dig it all out and cook it, and you retrieve the oil off the top of a huge, big barrel. You bury all the hooligan in the pit and you let it sit there until it starts fermenting. Everybody gathers there, and all the elders sit around the fire while the younger ones go and retrieve everything.

The whole process is very cultural, and it's one of those community things. From what I understand, there's only a couple rivers that hooligan actually run. One of the biggest ones was Hooligan fishing, and the whole process of doing that. My dad was the one who instilled all of the traditions, whether they were actual Lingít traditions or ones that have come up through the family through the years. Can you tell me a little bit of the culture and practices of your tribe?Īngela Williams: So I am Lingít, I also am Yupik, but I practice more of the Lingít heritage because that was my dad's thing and that's what's in Haines, which is where I grew up. Rocky Mountain PBS: Let’s walk through your timeline, starting with your childhood.

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