Sun Kissed

Sun Kissed centers on Navajo families ravaged by the rare genetic disorder Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), whose victims develop skin cancer if exposed to sunlight and often suffer fatal neurological degeneration. Filmmakers Adi Lavy and Maya Stark spent three years filming in the New Mexico desert to profile Dorey and Yolanda Nez, father and mother of two XP children. After their 11-year-old son died, Yolanda discovered how prevalent XP was on the Navajo reservation and set out to learn why. Navajo parents believed that their sins led to their youngsters' suffering, in particular taboo marriages among distant relatives within a far-ranging, complicated system of Navajo clans (the Nezes are perhaps third or fourth cousins). Harming animals is presented as another possible cause (a medicine man told Dorey that his children were sick because he killed ants as a child). The Nezes learn from a geneticist that the forced relocation of the Navajo during 1864's Long Walk greatly reduced the Navajo population, creating a “genetic bottleneck” that may have left them susceptible to certain disorders, and he assures the father and mother that the disease was not caused by any action on their part. When their second child, 16-year-old Leanndra, also dies, the Nezes are stricken with grief before finally finding a seeming equilibrium within their community. Featuring the full-length version and a 54-minute abridgement, this sensitive, heartbreaking portrayal of one family's struggle with a devastating medical mystery is recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg)