When
Where
Sunday, February 15, 2026 - 1 pm
Free event - RSVP HERE
Includes reception with food and musical performance
ENR2 Building, University of Arizona Campus
Join us for a special screening and a panel discussion featuring the filmmaker Jeff Spitz and Navajo elders who appeared in this landmark documentary about the effects of uranium mining, the film industry, off-reservation adoption, and the legacy of nuclear colonialism on the Navajo Nation. The event will include food, a musical performance, and an homage to Elsie Mae Begay.
The Return of Navajo Boy is an intimate Navajo-centered story focused on one family’s incredible history in pictures. Pictures voiced suddenly by the photo subjects break stereotypes and reveal a hidden history of abandoned uranium mines, radioactive contamination, and the haunting mystery of a long-lost child taken by missionaries in the 1950s.
The event is co-sponsored by the Southwest Center, the Indigenous Resilience Center, the School of Theater, Film, and Television, and the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Arizona.
A Chicago-based Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and Associate Film Professor Emeritus Jeff Spitz leads workshops in storytelling, documentary, film history and social impact media. He has developed innovative media arts programs with funders, non-profits and academic departments ranging from environmental science and Native American studies to dance and fashion.
Invited Panelists:
John Wayne Cly
While still a baby, John Wayne Cly was taken from his Navajo family in Monument Valley by white missionaries and raised in a Christian home for Native American orphans near the continental divide in Thoreau, New Mexico.
John graduated from Thoreau High School and worked as a uranium miner for several years before starting his career as a certified fire bus driver, transporting Native American fire fighters from their communities to hot spots across the country. John has traveled to many colleges and film festivals to speak about the legacies of The Return of Navajo Boy.
A professional jewelry maker John lives and works in Zuni, New Mexico where he enjoys the company of his children and grandchildren. John’s beloved late wife, Rufina, introduced him to traditional Zuni culture and heritage.
Lorenzo Begay, Narrator
A resident of Monument Valley, Lorenzo served 10 years in the US Army and then went on to work in construction in Phoenix, AZ, jewelry in Monument Valley and uranium remediation at the Mexican Hat uranium disposal site near his home. Along with his mother, Elsie Mae Begay and extended family Lorenzo has helped advocate for the clean up of abandoned uranium mines in Navajo Nation. He enjoys guiding tours in Monument Valley and spending time with his children and grandchildren. Daughter Cory Begay (38) and granddaughter Breauna Atine (12) accompany Lorenzo to screenings.
Elsie Mae Begay
Elsie Mae Begay, (narrator Lorenzo Begay’s mother) is a longtime resident of Monument Valley, Utah, (Navajo Nation). Elsie has worked as a tour guide and housekeeper for Gouldings Lodge, a landmark trading post in Monument Valley. A Great-Great Grandmother, Elsie was raised by her photogenic grandmother, Happy Cly, one of the most photographed of all Native American women. In 1997 while viewing the vintage 16mm film titled Navajo Boy for the first time, Elsie identified family members and explained her family’s involvement with the local trading post, photographers, John Wayne-the actor, and the uranium mine visible on the cliff behind her home. She is the central witness in the documentary, The Return of Navajo Boy.
Elsie has presented The Return of Navajo Boy with Director Spitz at film festivals, universities, museums and on Capitol Hill. Elsie appeared on the front page of the LA Times which featured her in its four-part investigative series titled : Blighted Homeland by Judy Pasternak. Elsie is also featured in Pasternak’s subsequent book titled Yellow Dirt: A Poisoned Land and the Betrayal of the Navajos. The Associated Press credited Elsie and The Return of Navajo Boy for prompting the cleanup of the abandoned uranium mine in her community - the Skyline Mine in Oljato, Utah.
Cory Begay
At 13 years of age, Cory witnessed the first day of filming for The Return of Navajo Boy. She has witnessed the generational story unfolding for more than 25 years and participated in east coast and Midwest screenings of the film. She is still learning about her family’s history and wants to continue the legacy with her daughter Breauna.
The Return of Navajo Boy official website
RSVP HERE
Directions to ENR2 Building
Watch the trailer: