Fort Lewis College to screen the 2013 Navajo dubbing of Star Wars: A New Hope

Star Wars has long been an international phenomenon and Lucasfilm has even coordinated efforts in the past to see its movies released worldwide on the same day. The global community comes together in appreciation of the messages and stories of the franchise. In 2013, the Navajo Nation released a dubbed version in the Dine language and this dub will be shown again to the public on September 26, 2024.

The Journal's website relates that Fort Lewis College's Center of Southwest Studies will be screening Sq'tah Anaa': Siih Nahasdlii on September 26. This showing comes after a "labor of love" by Manny Wheeler, "a consultant for the entertainment industry pertaining to language and culture." It took years for the dubbing of A New Hope to happen, but he relates the enthusiasm of the Lucasfilm representative for the project:

"It was ultimately finding the person whose job it was to get dubbing done. Finally, I found that person. And once he got the request, he sent me an email and wanted to have a meeting, and he thought it was a great idea."

- Manny Wheeler

Wheeler, who will be at the showing to discuss this project, contemplated with his wife ways in which their language could be preserved. "Our concern is that Navajo language could be in real trouble if we don't do anything about it," he explains. They decided that Star Wars would have "broad reach and appeal, to young children all the way to elders."

After finding funding for the project, seventy Dine voice actors collaborated at Knifewind Studios in Gallup, New Mexico. The appeal that the Wheelers anticipated means that it has sold out at the Navajo Nation Museum, and Disney+ allows viewers to stream it.

The story of this 2013 film has also been documented in the documentary series Looking for Leia. Episode 5 covers the production, with interviews with Geri Hongeva (C-3PO) and Clarissa Yazzie (Princess Leia), among others, such as Manny and Jenny Wheeler. Hongeva says that when she was recognized as the voice of C-3PO in public, she would give away necklaces because of the idea that "youth need to be encouraged not only to maintain their language but also have that self-confidence, that self-esteem and to go against the odds... because you one person, just one person can do it."

Wheeler agrees, "Our cultures are embedded in our language, and when we lose our language, we're losing our culture... That's one thing to think about for Native people, and there's a lot of tragedy in that history."

The showing will be at 6 p.m., hosted by the Center of Southwestern Studies and Reed Library at Fort Lewis College on September 26. We should all give Wheeler, the cast of 70, and the rest of the team a heartfelt ahehee for bringing this to the world.