Growing up, Katie Hoffman-Faulk spent a lot of time playing on her family’s land in Collinsville. Among her favorite activities were bouncing on the trampoline and running through the creek.
Last week, she returned to play some more — only this time, it was with lots of friends toting around movie cameras and lighting. Hoffman-Faulk and dozens of crew members were busy filming her very personal project, “Saphrona.”
It’s a short film about a Shawnee grandmother whose peaceful day with her granddaughter is interrupted by two overeager salesmen with an offer she wants nothing to do with, the writer and director during a filming break.
The story is inspired by an event that happened to Hoffman-Faulk’s great-grandmother in 1952.
“She was a full-blood Shawnee woman, and the true story goes that these two men showed up and essentially swindled her out of her land allotment and then it was gone,” said Hoffman-Faulk, a Cherokee Nation citizen. “That land is just a little bit north of here, and so in this story we get to kind of rewrite that and give her a different, more triumphant ending.”
“Saphrona” writer-director Katie Hoffman-Faulk listens to cinematographer Charles Elmore set up a shot during filming on May 12, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
“Saphrona” writer-director Katie Hoffman-Faulk inside video village while a scene is filmed inside the house on May 12, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
“Saphrona” writer-director Katie Hoffman-Faulk with cast members Robert Peters and Selina Jayne-Dorman before filming a scene on May 12, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
A scene slate from the production of Katie Hoffman-Faulk’s “Saphrona” on May 12, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
Actors Robert Peters and Selina Jayne-Dornan take direction from Katie Hoffman-Faulk during the filming of “Saphrona” on May 12, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer
To tell the tale about her relative on her mother’s side, she’s filming at a house owned by her grandmother on her dad’s side. Base camp is at her parents’ house across the pasture, making it a big family affair.
The production is supported by Vision Maker Media, which provides grants to Indigenous storytellers telling Indigenous stories. Through the grant, Hoffman-Faulk has the opportunity to work with mentor Zach Litwack, who is editing the short film this summer to get it ready for the film festival rush in the fall and winter.
“Saphrona” is an important story to tell because it is very relatable to so many people, Hoffman-Faulk said. She points to the bulldozers parked nearby. They’re currently being used to clear land for a new development across the road from her parents’ home.
“Land and belonging is one of those things that people try to put a dollar amount on, and it’s like no, because there’s not a dollar amount on your sense of belonging and being and who you are, and that’s so deeply tied to our land and where we’re from,” she said.
The filming schedule was extremely tight to accommodate the participation of most of the crew, who were on a short break from filming the second season of “The Lowdown.” Hoffman-Faulk works in extras casting for the FX production.
Hoffman-Faulk said her project allows her and other crew members to be aspirational in their roles and do the jobs they want to do on bigger projects, so they can grow into them. For example, Bailey Hartman, a production assistant on “The Lowdown,” is a first assistant director for “Saphrona.”
“These are some of the best of the best that we have here, and we’re on this little filming break and they all showed up to help me with this project,” Hoffman-Faulk said. “It’s an honor, and it feels like a family. Truly, I don’t think I would want to do this with anybody else.”
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