Ramona Emerson

Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She received her degree in Media Arts in 1997 from the University of New Mexico and has worked as a professional videographer, writer and editor for over twenty years. Ramona is a Sundance Native Filmmakers Lab Fellow and a Time/Warner Storyteller Fellow and is a graduate of the 2013 CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH Boston. She is the director of six films: The Backroad, The Last Trek, A Return Home, Opal, Between Worlds and The Mayors of Shiprock. Ramona also just finished the first draft of her novel, Shutter and recently received her MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her latest documentary, The Mayors of Shiprock was funded by Vision Maker Media/PBS/CPB and by the newly awarded Beau McNicholas Post Production grant and the Isora Foundation Grant from the NM Film Foundation. Emerson also received a Tribeca All Access grant for a new media/app design for The Shiprock Experience, a companion and community development project being created alongside the documentary. She currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she and her husband/producer, Kelly Byars run their production company Reel Indian Pictures with their son, Max.