SPECIAL PROGRAM: Cousins and Kin

COUSINS AND KIN

COUSINS AND KIN

BY SKY HOPINKA ON BEHALF OF COUSIN COLLECTIVE

This series of programs represents a mission of the Cousin Collective to share and support Indigenous experimental cinema—a phrase that is loaded in so many ways . What constitutes Indigeneity? How experimental can cinema be given its complicated past in relation to power and class and oppression? And what even is “cinema” anymore as it exists in a theatre or a gallery or a black box or a laptop screen? I have answers to none of those questions, but I do enjoy the process of seeking to understand these words and phrases, and I enjoy the conversations occurring between films and filmmakers as they try to suss out meanings and ask questions .

A bit of background on us: The Cousin Collective formed in the summer of The three programs we’ve selected are a glimpse into these conversations and 2018 at the weeklong Flaherty Seminar in upstate New York . Myself, Adam questions . One of the things we’ve found as we formed our collective is the Khalil, Adam Piron and Alex Lazarowich were all there together, perhaps richness and vastness of the works being made by Indigenous peoples who are for the first time . In that space, discussions around documentary filmmak- thinking of the same things we are, as well as so much more that we weren’t ing, race, representation and power were prevalent, and we found ourselves or had missed . Our first cohort of support involves 10 filmmakers, and we’re drawn to the idea of having these conversations about Indigenous cinema, showing a selection of their works in the Cousin Showcase: Shorts Program (pg and specifically Indigenous experimental cinema, as it’s an often underrepre- 77) . Due to the pandemic, projects we supported were put on various states of sented form without much support in terms of either funding or play . Over hold in different stages of progress . As a result, we felt like this is a good opporthe course of that week, the four of us talked a lot about questions surround- tunity to show earlier works of these directors . The five filmmakers from Cycle ing what the genre could do: What are its ethics? What should we show, and 1 we selected for this program here at DOXA are Fox Maxy, Miguel Hilari, what don’t we share? What do we not have to explain, and what are ways Woodrow Hunt and Olivia Camfield, and Eve-Lauryn LaFountain . that we could resist the didactics that are often expected of Indigenous filmmakers? Why contextualize for non-Indigenous audiences when we really want to be making works for Indigenous audiences themselves? There were lots of questions, and not enough voices in the conversation . With that “ THIS IS OUR CONTRIBUTION The next program is titled What was always yours and never lost (pg 78), and is a constantly evolving program I’ve been curating for a number of years . This is its most recent iteration, as screened at the Whitney Biennial in 2019 . Featuring the we began organizing and planning, and were able to secure TO THE works of Caroline Monnet, James Luna, the New Red Order, some funding from the NY-based non-profit Cinereach . We put out a call for proposals, and from that selected 10 filmmakers to be a part of Cycle 1, the first in a cycle of CONTINUING CONVERSATION Thirza Cuthand and Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, this program is a way of looking at the ways genre can be challenged, and the filmmakers who are actively doing so . The last program in support to help fund more experimental film projects and ABOUT WHAT the series consists of the singular Honey Moccasin by Shelinstallations . Eventually we would like to have a seminar INDIGENOUS ley Niro . This film from 1998 does so much, was ahead of its of our own, to support more artists and build a community where we can help each other navigate the film and art worlds in ways we don’t yet understand . But where we began CINEMA IS AND WHERE IT time, and has been an inspiration to all of us in Cousin . We’ve tried to show and share it whenever we can, and we’re happy to have the opportunity to share it with you here . and where we begin is with film . COULD GO There’s still so much more we wish we could screen, so many At its best, experimental cinema is a medium expressive of artists and filmmakers whose works should be seen and expea multitude of voices . It can be democratic, and it can reflect individuality rienced . There’s much more conversation to be had, and again, so many more and perspectives often overlooked and ignored . Less generously, it can be voices we need to hear from and make space for . This is our contribution to the another style of filmmaking defined by outdated and essentialized ideas of continuing conversation about what Indigenous cinema is and where it could what constitutes form . Still, it is this tumultuary aspect of that conversation go, and we’re looking forward to the future, to new voices, new forms and the where exciting and new things can happen . How does one embrace a form new cousins and kin we’ll meet along the way . that is defined by both its disregard for and dependence on tradition? It’s not - - - - - - that much of a leap to see the parallels between this and what Indigenous filmmakers are grappling with today in terms of evaluating, determining and questioning what “tradition” is in so many contexts . What do we hold on to and what do we let go? I’ll leave that question vague and airy .

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Founded in 2018 by Sky Hopinka, Adam Khalil, Alexandra Lazarowich and Adam Piron, Cousin Collective was created to provide support for Indigenous artists expanding traditional definitions and understandings of the moving image by experimenting with form and genre.