Flasgstaff Festival of Science: Stories That Stay With Us – The Return of the Navajo Boy at 25

Join us for a powerful screening of The Return of Navajo Boy, an award-winning documentary that ignited international awareness of uranium contamination on Navajo lands through the extraordinary story of one Indigenous family reclaiming its voice and history. The film’s raw beauty and emotional depth will be followed by a live panel featuring Director Jeff Spitz, who helped bring this hidden story to light, alongside Dr. Tommy Rock, a Navajo scientist and environmental justice advocate whose work carries the film’s legacy forward. The panel will also feature Lorenzo Begay, the film’s narrator, joined by his daughter Cory and granddaughter Breauna, whose lives span the generations impacted by the story, and John Wayne Cly, the “boy” whose return to his Navajo family during the making of the film became its emotional centerpiece. Their conversation–framed by community, science, and resistance–will explore how storytelling can expose injustice, restore dignity, and catalyze change. This event promises not only cinematic immersion but an unforgettable dialogue about healing, land, and the power of Indigenous-led truth-telling. The screening of the film will begin at 1 PM with panel discussion to follow.       Part of Flagstaff Festival of Science, a free annual 10-day event wholly designed to promote awareness and enthusiasm for science in and about northern Arizona and beyond, and is fondly known as the Best 10 Days of the Year. Established in 1990, it is the longest, continuously running, entirely free science festival in the world.