Larry Ruiz is a non-profit filmmaker living in Durango, Colorado creating unique, timely and engaging films and documentaries to show how important the ancient civilizations and their modern descendants of the southwestern United States are, and that it is still possible to protect what little of this early culture is left.

In the 1990’s, during production of the popular Chaco Canyon documentary, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon, directed and produced by Anna Sofaer and narrated by Robert Redford, Ruiz volunteered as location scout, assistant camera, grip, surveyor, and other various duties over the seven year production of this film. Larry still works closely with Anna Sofaer, helping to film and document some of her ongoing Chaco research work.

In 2012, Larry Ruiz directed and produced his debut film, Death of Place. The core message of the film was the importance of individual responsibility and stewardship of archaeologically significant sites.

Waking the Mammoth premiered in 2014 and was Larry Ruiz’s second directorial work. Filming the winter solstice burning of a wooden mammoth built in Bluff, Utah by local artist Joe Pachak and other community members, this ritual was woven into the intricate fabric of significant archaeological discoveries in the region dating back as far as 13,000 years.

In 2017, Ruiz directed and co-produced 10 documentaries for the preservation series, “The Greater Chaco Landscape”, working closely with Drs. Steve Lekson, Ruth Van Dyke, several Dine and Pueblo Chaco scholars, and the National Park Service.

Larry has currently completed the feature-length Navajo weaving film titled, “Spider Woman’s Web-Weaving Stories From the Diné”.

Additionally, he is working on a series of vignettes titled “The Languages of the Landscape”. Each film addresses a specific regional archaeological preservation issue and tonight’s segment highlights the incredible work Dr. Laurie Webster and her team have done to help preserve the perishables on Cedar Mesa.