Born and raised in Oregon, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, Chris Eyre enjoyed photography in high school, studied television production and filmmaking in college, then attended the New York University Graduate Film Program.

Eyre’s 1998 feature film, “Smoke Signals,” was the first directed by a Native American to receive national theatrical release. His next, 2002’s “Skins,” solidified his reputation as a filmmaker.

Fifteen years later, Eyre, 49, is an award-winning director and producer of work for film and television.

This month he’s lecturing at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa and West Oahu campuses as the Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals.

JOHN BERGER: What is the most important thing you want to share with island filmmakers?

CHRIS EYRE: I used to think there was going to be a perfect movie that I’d make, but with age what you start to realize is that it’s about the number of opportunities that you get to make work and tell stories.

Hopefully over the course of that you’ll have a body of work which will say something about you and what you want to say to audiences.

JB: In 2002 you said, “The only thing you get in making period pieces about Indians is guilt.” Do you still feel that way?

CE: Yes. There’s this perverse kind of narrative romanticized storyline in Hollywood in which it’s romantic that the Indians always die.

If you look at film history, you see this over and over. If that’s the arc (of the story), it leaves a lot of guilt.

JB: A monument in New Mexico honors Don Juan de Onate, a Spanish conquistador who killed hundreds of Native Americans. How does the statue fit into your new documentary, “Statues Between U.S.”?

CE: Statues are a monument to a time and a place. The movie looks at monuments and questions them; we also solve the mystery of what happened to the foot that was cut off the Onate statue in 1997.

JB: Do you make films about contemporary Indians so they can see films about themselves or so everyone else has a window into their experiences?

CE: Both. I make movies like “Smoke Signals” for a native audience but it certainly can be accessible to as many people as possible.

“Skins” was more couched in native audiences’ reactions. It’s a matter of being an artist and trying to find that line.

With “Statues Between U.S.” I’m trying to find that line.

JB: What would you like to be doing five years from now?

CE: Expanding the nuances of who native people are and who I am as an artist and a person.

“On the Scene” appears on Sundays in the Star-Advertiser. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.