Sarah Del Seronde is from the Bennett Freeze lands of the Diné Nation, an undeveloped area of land banned from all repairs and development because of ownership disputes with the Hopi Tribe. She obtained an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and founded Aboriginal Lens LTD. Making the River, a biographical tale of an American Indian charged with the murder of a prison guard, took her inside the Washington State Penitentiary as a first time director. Her next film explored the world of Navajo railroaders through the lens of one workday on the 9001 Heavy Steel Gang in Metal Road.