Consume

Consume is a 2023 short psychological horror drama directed, written and edited by Zachary Hokeah. The film follows a Native American hunter who is hired to investigate a series of brutal animal slayings and the disappearance of hunters on reservation lands. Blending elements of mystery, horror and drama, the story builds its tension around the land, its people and the unsettling questions surrounding what has happened there.

The project was created in Oklahoma and independently developed. Hokeah, who was pursuing graduate studies at SWOSU and had already been involved in film projects in Oklahoma and beyond, led the film as its writer, director, editor and its central performer. The cast included Hokeah as Michael Blackbear, Hawk Hartico as Charles Redflower, Chris Hokeah as Mr. Tsosie, Jamie Loy as Janine Redflower, me as Franz Koch and Dennis Knifechief as Hunter / Michael’s Brother.

Consume was filmed over the course of one year, on and off, between April 2022 and April 2023. The first and last shooting days were exactly 365 days apart, a fitting detail for a production that grew through persistence, improvisation and repeated returns to the set. Like many independent films, Consume was shaped not by a large studio infrastructure, but by a small group of people taking on multiple roles, solving practical problems, and pushing the project forward whenever time, locations and resources allowed.

Initial Screening of Consume Postponed

We initially announced the film for a public screening on April 30, 2023, at the SWOSU Fine Arts Center in Weatherford, Oklahoma. After that original screening was postponed, the film was ultimately presented at SWOSU on November 20, 2023, accompanied by local media promotion, trailer coverage and a Q&A connected to the screening.

I contributed to Consume both in front of and behind the camera. As an actor, I played Franz Koch. Behind the scenes, I also supported the production as second assistant director, boom operator and camera operator. This made Consume one of the projects where my work crossed several areas of film production at once: performance, set coordination, sound and camera operation.

The production became part of my broader film and visual storytelling work during my time in Oklahoma. While studying Strategic Communication with a Film Production minor at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, I became involved in several independent film projects connected to the regional film scene. Consume was especially significant because it was not just a short appearance or isolated credit; it was a long-running production process that required repeated collaboration across many months.

Working on Consume also offered me a practical education in independent filmmaking. The project involved long shooting days, changing conditions, small crew logistics and the kind of hands-on role switching that often defines low-budget film production. For me, the experience connected acting with production work and gave me a deeper understanding of what it takes to move a film from concept to set, from set to edit, and from edit to public screening.

Selected Mentions and References of Consume

This project was publicly mentioned, listed or documented by several external sources, including:

– Southwestern Oklahoma State University
– Weatherford Daily News
– WestOK Weekly