Short film showcases the inspiring story of Dana Tiger — and a family design legacy

A short film about Muscogee Nation artist and designer Dana Tiger screened at the largest documentary festival in the “U.S.” this month.

The 13-minute documentary Tiger — directed by award-winning Cherokee/Kiowa filmmaker Loren Waters — was shown at the massive DOC NYC festival in “New York City” on Nov. 14 (with online screenings available until Sunday, Nov. 30). 

Praised for its emotional testimonials and the “aesthetic audacity” of its cinematography, Tiger details how the artist kept working on her craft and building her family’s iconic t-shirt business, despite a string of tragedies in her family.

Dana, of Seminole and Cherokee descent from “Oklahoma,” now also lives with Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder. 

“Our art helped me survive,” the 63-year-old says in the film, which has spent nearly a year earning accolades on the international film circuit.

It premiered in January at the influential Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing.

It was later an official selection for South By South West‘s film and TV festival.

Since then, it has been shown at more than 40 festivals, winning awards at many of them — including the special jury prize for “aesthetic audacity” at Riverrun International Film Festival in “North Carolina.”

Despite hardships, humour and joy

Waters, who Forbes magazine chose for this year’s “30 Under 30” media list, spoke to IndigiNews about her process directing her latest documentary.

She described the film as a “poetic” and “portrait-esque style of filmmaking.”

“We were very intentional with what we were filming,” Waters explained in an interview.

Tiger and Waters are from the same community, and met on the set of the popular TV series Reservation Dogs, where Waters was the extras casting director — and Tiger an extra, or background, actor. 

They connected very quickly, Waters recalls; she was quickly drawn to Tiger’s art, because it uplifted women as leaders. 

“When I saw her art, it was the first time I’d really seen myself in paintings,” Waters said.

Tiger is both the artist’s surname, and the name of her family’s business.

In the documentary, she describes her journey to becoming an artist as a path laid out for her.

Although she still creates art, she acknowledged her degenerative health condition will eventually prevent her from continuing on that path, because of its effects on motor skills and movement.

But even with the hardships in her life, Tiger radiates humour and joy. That’s reflected throughout the film, which highlights her energy and laughter.

From the moment the pair connected, Waters kept in touch with Tiger and knew she wanted to share her family’s story. 

Filming began more than a year after they became friends — a very spontaneous process, Water notes.

“She was just really open to sharing her story with me,” Waters said, “and I think we had built that trust coming into it.”

As Waters see it, Tiger is one of the happiest people she’s met, despite all she has gone through.

“I was just really inspired by the way that she’s worked through her grief,” Waters reflected.

In the documentary, Tiger is often shown speaking about her family, keeping them and their memories close through many hardships.

Her father died by an accidental gunshot when she was 5; her brother was shot and died at age 22; and her sister tested positive for HIV.

“It’s up to me to see that the world doesn’t forget what they did,” she says in the film.

Waters’ first experience filming Tiger unexpectedly coincided with Tiger’s family restarting their t-shirt silk-screening efforts — after decades in hiatus.

“At that point, we needed to tell the story and build it backwards,” Waters said.

“And think about, you know, how did we get here, and what can we do to help make a positive impact on Dana and the art gallery.”

Rekindling a family business after tragedy

The Tiger t-shirt business was created by Dana’s mother and her uncle in the 1980s in memory of Jerome Tiger — a prolific painter who died when he was just 26. 

Tiger’s mother kept their father’s memory alive as she “made it her life’s goal to keep him near us through his great art,” she says in the film.

Dana, who turns 64 early next month, credits her mother as the creator of the business, and her father for inspiring its artwork.

The bustling business helped support the family, eventually becoming popular worldwide including in the department store chain JCPenney.

With the family working to print Jerome’s artwork on the shirts, Tiger recalls their gallery being busy 24 hours a day to fulfill orders. 

She notes the space was always filled with jokes and laughter from her siblings Chris and Lisa.

But in 1990, the gallery and business came to a sudden and tragic halt when Chris was killed.

For decades, the business lay dormant until recently, when Tiger and her children began screen-printing shirts again.

With many storylines to explore, Waters called the process of creating the documentary very challenging. 

She commended the team behind the documentary, praising them for how they worked together to succinctly capture Tiger’s perspective on her art and family’s journey with the gallery.

The small team filmed Tiger for five days to create the bulk of the documentary, plus a few extra days to gather additional footage.

Waters was deliberate about keeping the filming team contained to only four members when having Tiger tell her story.

“It’s important to have an intimate crew when you’re opening up about these things,” Waters said. 

During a panel discussion at the DOC NYC screening this month, Tiger spoke about her comfort with Waters, saying she had “willed her to come” forward with her project.

“I prayed it into existence,” she said. “I didn’t know that’s what I was doing at the time, but everything just was the way it was supposed to be.”

Tiger’s audience laughed as her personality and humour shone through in both her remarks and on-screen.

The documentary team captured her daily routine at home and in public, resulting in the film’s beautifully poignant footage.

Waters referred to the Tiger home as its own character in the documentary, because it holds so much history and meaning for the family.

The film also features extensive archival footage; Waters wanted to showcase the art gallery’s most thriving earlier eras, and its rise to fame.

But as she uncovered more and more new footage, the project grew in scope — encompassing Tiger’s siblings Lisa and Chris — creating building blocks to share the family’s stories of love, loss and revival.

Emotions play a key role in the documentary, from grief and the losses of family members, to hope for the future, all explored amidst Tiger’s laughter and jokes.

Waters said viewers of the film have told her it reminds them of their own families, and their range of emotions; others said it offers an inspiring look at living with Parkinson’s and working through grief.

’I hope wider audiences can relate’: Waters

Waters wanted to ensure Tiger felt seen and represented in the film about her; the artist’s footage and voice are interwoven throughout, creating a distinct and powerful narrative.

A large part of Tiger’s identity is her family and art. So throughout the documentary, she speaks her relatives’ names.

“I think it does uplift the ultimate feeling of what the audience is watching and how it relates to Dana as a person,” Waters said.

The director described her storytelling as careful to minimize any explicit explanation of identity, portraying Indigenous people as having normal experiences anyone could relate to.

“It’s something that I hope wider audiences can relate to and find themselves in,” she said.

“I think that there is space for all of our stories … They can go farther when we don’t have to explain ourselves, as how we exist in the world.”

Waters hopes that by sharing her storytelling and the process behind it, she can demonstrate how documentary filmmaking can be collaborative — especially when sharing subjects’ personal stories and emotions.

“What I’m trying to do with my work is ensure that there’s no more harm being done with this type of filmmaking,” she explained, “as it is inherently extractive.”

It was essential that her filmmaking process “move forward in a good way of healing,” she added. She spent considerable effort “thinking about how this film can make a positive impact rather than detract from our community.”

Waters discusses how audiences who would like to support the Tiger Art Gallery can visit the website where silk-screened shirts and prints of Tiger family art are for sale.

“Ultimately,” Waters said, “this is about getting her story out there and supporting her.”

At this month’s DOC NYC screening, Waters described the shirts and designs as “a way of reclamation for wearable art,” printing the artwork onto a wide range of formats in hopes of moving her culture forward. 

For Tiger, resuming her family’s t-shirt operations again feels like a full-circle moment.

Her own children are now taking part in the same processes her siblings once did.

Waters described Tiger and her art gallery as a story of inspiration — not only for Tiger’s family, but she hopes for generations of Indigenous artists to come.

Viewers can stream the film Tiger and other short documentaries online through the DOC NYC festival until Sunday, Nov. 30.