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Sterlin Harjo
(1979, Holdenville, Oklahoma) belongs to the Seminole and Creek Nations. He studied painting at the University of Oklahoma and later screenwriting at the university’s Film and Video Studies Program and under the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program. In 2004, the Sundance Institute presented him with an Annenberg Fellowship that provided extended support over a two-year period to facilitate the creation of his feature project, Four Sheets to the Wind. Before his feature debut, he directed three short films: Crooked Little Heart, They’re Playing His Song and Good Night Irene, which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. In 2006, Harjo was in the first class of United States Artists award recipients. He continued developing his feature debut through the Sundance Institute’s Filmmaker Labs. In 2007, Four Sheets to the Wind screened at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals, garnering warm responses from both audiences and critics.
The script was a blueprint, but I didn’t allow it to limit us in anyway. If an actor wanted to change a line it was encouraged, and if I wanted to make up an unscripted new scene, I did it. I wanted to try and capture the spontaneity of the road trip that the characters in the story are actually taking. Because we shot in sequence, it was nice to see the characters change both emotionally and physically throughout the shoot. Frederick Schroeder, the cinematographer, was always ready to pick up the camera and begin shooting something unscripted. Physically, it was a tough shoot. Everyone on the crew was wearing multiple hats and moving constantly to meet the needs of story as it evolved.
Sterlin Harjo
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