Fox Maxy spoke earnestly about her Indigenous filmmaker identity and how it shapes her practice after screening her 2022 experimental short, “F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now,” at San Diego State University on March 21.
The discussion panel was held in the Bernstein Theatre at SDSU. This panel was a collaboration between Arts Alive SDSU and the School of Theatre, Television and Film. Brian Hu, a professor, spoke to Maxy about her body of work and how she came to build her portfolio to what it is now.
The panel began with a brief discussion with Maxy, a Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians and Payómkawish filmmaker whose roots lie in San Diego, California. Her first feature film, “Gush,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023.
Her work has continued to grow by holding screenings at museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Maxy got her start during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she and her cousins would go hiking and filming. Recalling the memory, Maxy emphasizes that she was always the one holding the camera and recording.
“There was this free energy going around; I felt free. That freedom allowed me to sit down and look at this archive I had built–and I didn’t think of it as an archive at the time,” said Maxy.
Her archive consisted of videos and photos from nearly ten years before. The pandemic gave Maxy the opportunity to sit down and look at all the accumulated footage. From there, she began to construct her own movie.
“I was like, ‘let me make it for me.’ It felt comfortable and very freeing. It was emotional, too because all that [footage] was memories,” said Maxy.
Maxy’s work is very abstract, involving her unique aesthetic of personal footage, footage from websites like Facebook, surveillance imagery and animation.
The screening of her 17 minute film, “F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now,” told a story of anxiety and alienation through a lens of surrealism and flashy, dream-like visuals. Maxy calls attention to issues surrounding Native land within the film and combines graphics with relics from her childhood to provoke that sense of personality.
“People thinking they can tell me where I go and where I can’t go, because all my family’s passed on. They don’t talk to people whose family is alive. They think it’s easy to tell me, ‘oh, you can’t go here,’” said Maxy.
Maxy references ghosts, spirituality and horror to influence her work profoundly. Even the name of the film, “F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now,” is inspired by her thoughts regarding violence and fighting.
“I used to think of fighting as a physical thing, having a physical battle. But no, there’s layers and it’s spiritual, there are spiritual fights all the time. It became a horror story in its own way,” said Maxy.
Towards the end of the panel, the audience was welcome to ask questions about Maxy and seek advice. Many students spoke about their efforts and dreams for their future careers, providing a heartwarming end to the discussion panel.
“Don’t get discouraged. It takes a long time. For me, it almost took 15 years to be able to say, ‘oh, I feel confident in my film work.’ If you really love something it’s worth building something sustainable,” said Maxy.
