Spenser Jaimes Shares Chumash Heritage Through Film
Local Filmmaker Is Researching His Second Documentary Project on the 1824 Mission Revolt
Sitting in the sand at Santa Barbara’s West Beach, on what is originally the Chumash village Syuxtun, 19-year-old filmmaker Spenser Jaimes looks out onto the ocean toward the islands —which he also refers to by their original names: Tuqan (San Miguel), Wi’ma (Santa Rosa), Limuw (Santa Cruz), and ‘Anyapakh (Anacapa) — telling of his family’s roots, and the deeply beautiful culture that has existed along the coast for thousands of years.
Jaimes, whose Šmuwič-Chumash heritage can be traced back to Syuxtun and the island of Limuw, made a splash at the 2022 Santa Barbara International Film Festival with his first-ever short documentary Connected By Water, which documented a traditional paddle out in the channel by relatives from the Coastal Band of the Chumash, Tongva, and Acjachemen tribal nations in redwood-plank tomols.
He has since started Limuw Productions, and is currently researching his next project, which will focus on the 1824 Mission Revolt, which he says is often told through a Spanish or American historical lens.
