imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival 2013 - press summary

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imagineNATIVE!Film!+!Media!Arts!Festival!

October!17=21,!2012!

Press!Summary!

TV & Radio Coverage Interview conducted by 680 News with Jason Ryle, with focus on Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative.

CTV News Toronto Journalist : Karlene Nation Air date: Saturday, October 20th, 6:00pm and 11:30pm news

TFO – Carte de Visite Journalist: Gisele Quinneville Air date: November

CP24 – LeDrew Live Journalist: Stephen LeDrew Air date: October 15th 2

CBC radio Canada – Champ libre Journalist: Isabel Gobeil Air date: October 19th, 2012

Radio Regent – Frameline Journalist: Barbara Goslawski Air date: Interview #1 – October 11th; Interview #2 – October 17th

Aboriginal Voices Radio Journalist: Bob Philips Air dates: Various – multiple interviews conducted.

Broadcast on 106.5 FM; in addition on the national network: Ottawa 95.7 FM, Edmonton 89.3 FM, Calgary 88.1 FM and Vancouver at 106.3 FM, and two satellite channels – Sirius channel 158 and XM channel 156. Also on Rogers Digital Cable on channel 952.

Arte Germany Journalist: Daniela Thiel and Marita Loosen Air dates: Various – multiple interviews conducted; festival piece to be presented on Opening Night at Berlinale 2013, with various future dates to be announced.

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Print & Online Coverage

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1272430--imaginenative-festival-drama-out-of-trauma

imagineNATIVE Festival Drama out of Trauma

By Jason Anderson | Tue Oct 16 2012 When it comes to discovering the breadth and depth of aboriginal cinema, Toronto moviegoers have had no shortage of opportunities in recent months. An ambitious series that ran all summer long, TIFF Bell Lightbox’s First Peoples Cinema demonstrated the vitality and diversity of cinematic visions by the world’s indigenous filmmakers. Now the Lightbox is one of several venues playing host to ImagineNative, the city’s annual showcase of film, video and new media by aboriginal peoples.

The fest’s 13th edition begins on Wednesday at 2 p.m. with a welcome gathering at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto.

As for the five-day program’s on-screen component, it opens with a strong double bill of new and old works by one of Canada’s foremost documentary filmmakers. In The People of KattawapiskakRiver — which makes its world premiere on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema — director Alanis Obomsawin creates a stark but sympathetic portrait of the Attawapiskat community in northern Ontario, whose desperate housing crisis and struggles with poverty continue to be national news. And just as Obomsawin did in Christmas at Moose Factory — her debut short from 1971, which also plays ImagineNative’s opening gala — the director expresses a keen interest in the children of the community. It’s deeply affecting to see them bundled up in blankets and sweatshirts as they contend with the cold that has little trouble penetrating their makeshift and dilapidated homes.

Another new film at ImagineNative recounts the sufferings of earlier generations. Drawn from the experiences of two survivors, We Were Children uses a combination of first-person narration and dramatic reenactments to portray horrific abuses that occurred in residential schools in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the late 1950s and ’60s.In fact, some scenes may be so upsetting to viewers that the festival has partnered with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to have health support workers trained to address residential school trauma on hand at the screening at the Lightbox on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Thankfully, not every event at ImagineNative requires such sensitive handling. Viewers can expect something more playful from Tweet This!, a program of short films by young filmmakers, and Unsettling Sex, a set of experimental works that includes a new video by the reliably provocative Kent Monkman.

Other moviegoers may savour the oddly serene experience of watching Tibetan herdsmen demonstrate the many uses of yak feces in a documentary with the highly appropriate title of Dung.

In another thoughtful gesture, ImagineNative has even created a program to suit busy travelers. Visible until Oct. 21 on the 300-plus screens located on subway platforms throughout the TTC are four new one-minute videos that were commissioned by the festival’s Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative. Other programs, panels, events and exhibitions — including a show of prints by Alanis Obomsawin at Open Studio — demonstrate ImagineNative’s eagerness to venture beyond the confines of movie screens and forge new connections between artists and the people they hope to engage and embolden.

The ImagineNative film and media arts festival runs Oct. 17-21.

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http://www.ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/meet-%E2%80%9C-people-kattawapiskakriver%E2%80%9D

Meet “The People of the Kattawapiskak River” Author: By Barb Nahwegahbow Windspeaker Contributor TORONTO Volume: 30 Issue: 8 Year: 2012 One of Canada’s poorest First Nation communities is next door to a diamond mine that is expected to produce six million carats of rough diamonds in its lifetime. The First Nation, Attawapiskat, made inter-national headlines in October 2011 when Chief Theresa Spence declared a state of emergency because of a severe housing crisis.

Several of Attawapiskat’s citizens, including elders and families with babies and toddlers, were living in tents, sheds or condemned houses without indoor plumbing, electricity or heating. Many others were living in a construction trailer donated by DeBeers Canada which operates the diamond mine located on Attiwapiskat’s traditional territory. With winter fast approaching with its minus-40 to minus-50 degree temperatures, Chief Spence, concerned about the health and safety of her community, said she had no choice but to make the declaration.

The people of Attawapiskat are the subject of a new film by world-renowned Abenaki documentary film maker Alanis Obomsawin. The People of the Kattawapiskak River, Obomsawin’s 38th film had its world premiere at the opening of the 13th Annual ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto on Oct. 17. The film opened to a sold-out crowd at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.

One of Obomsawin’s greatest gifts as a filmmaker is her compassion and her love for her people. Tom Perlmutter of the National Film Board introduced her before the screening and spoke about “her ability to uncover things in a way that was different, in a way that opened up worlds, in a way that was so respectful and in a way that forced you to exist and think and feel differently… Very few people can do it in that kind of authentic way.”

The film goes behind the headlines of what became known as a “Canadian tragedy” and into the homes of the

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people affected by the crisis. Obomsawin’s film gives a voice to the people of Attawapiskat and, yes, it does challenge the viewer to think and feel differently.

One of the people introduced in the film is Sharon Spence, a young woman living in a construction trailer donated by DeBeers. She and her three children, ranging in age from five months to three years, live in one room. She takes Obomsawin on a tour and the camera follows as she points out the shared bathrooms and showers and finally, the common kitchen, a cavernous room devoid of any niceties or even the necessities usually found in a kitchen, like tables and chairs. The corridors are narrow and the rooms are like cells.

William Wesley is an Elder who had to move out of his house because it has mold.

“This is only a shed, not a house,” he said in the film while he builds a fire in a stove he crafted out of a barrel.

He’s mourning his wife who he lost in 2010 and he talks about the good times they had hunting in the bush. He confides that now he goes into the bush to cry because he misses his wife and his late mother. His home is neatly kept and a crucifix hangs on the wall alongside pictures of his children, grandchildren and late wife. There are others who tell their stories and like Spence and Wesley, they tell them in a matter-of-fact way, with dignity and with no bitterness or resentment. One woman, Rosie Koostachin, shares her optimism for the future for her community.

Obomsawin spoke to the audience before the screening and said, “I fell in love with the people and you will too once you see them.” After the film, Obomsawin took the stage again and she invited the people of Attawapiskat who were in the audience, some of whom were featured in the film, to join her. The audience gave them a thunderous standing ovation.

“There is poverty there, yes, but to me, the richness of the mind and the heart, it’s so big,” Obomsawin said when she spoke to Windspeaker. “I guess to describe them best would be people of good minds and good hearts.” Chief Spence, in Toronto for the screening, talked to Windspeaker about the film and the current conditions in her community.

“It’s an incredible documentary,” she said. “I was really astonished and I could see she was there for the community, not for herself and it shows. You don’t have too many people like her.” She went on to say, “It’s a documentary meant for people to see and to learn what is going on in the reserves…”

The housing crisis is far from over, said Chief Spence. There are well over 300 people on the waiting list for safe housing. Severe overcrowding, older houses requiring renovations and houses with mold are part of the crisis.

Chief Spence has set up a Housing Working Group with Mushkegowuk Tribal Council and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada to develop a 20-year housing strategy for Attawapiskat.

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Attawapiskat raconté par Alanis Obomsawin http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/grands_lacs_cafe/2011-2012/chronique.asp?idChronique=251932

Le samedi 20 octobre 2012 La réalisatrice Alanis Obomsawin a présenté son nouveau documentaire en ouverture du Festival ImagineNative de Toronto. « Le peuple de la rivière Kattawapiskak » nous plonge dans la réserve d'Attawapiskat qui a fait les manchettes, il y a quelques années après de très importantes inondations. La cinéaste expose la dure réalité des quelque 1700 habitants du village.

Audio-vidéo Attawapiskat raconté par Alanis Obomsawin Hyperliens pertinents Dossier | Attawapiskat une réserve sous surveillance Attawapiskat, une communauté de près de 2000 habitants située sur la côte ouest de la Baie James, est aux prises avec une grave pénurie de logements. Des dizaines de personnes vivent dans des tentes, des roulottes ou des maisons en bois non isolées et dépourvues d''eau et d''électricité. Le conseil de bande a sonné l''alarme à la minovembre devant la crise humanitaire qui s''annonçait. La Croix-Rouge a envoyé des secours et Ottawa a décrété la mise sous tutelle de la réserve autochtone, une décision contestée par la Première Nation d''Attawapiskat, qui a déposé une demande d''injonction devant les tribunaux à la fin janvier 2012.

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http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=155719 Listing – NOW Magazine

FESTIVALS

Fall Preview : Festivals Fall Preview : Festivals

By LESLEY MCALLISTER Harvestfest Festival celebrating fall harvest with entertainment, food, crafts, kids’ activities and more. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. 416-9734000,www.harbourfrontcentre.com. Oct 8 and 9 Festival Of Spoken Word Workshops on spoken word, poetry slams and performances by Shane Koyczan, Lillian Allen, Robert Priest, Motion and Sheri-D Wilson. 416-3123865, www.cfsw.net. Oct 11 to 14 Toronto International Latin Film Festival Films from Chile, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Spain, Quebec, Uruguay and France. $10, passes $40-$120. www.tilff. com. Oct 13 to 20 Cuban Cinema: The Many Layers Of Reality In Cuba Festival of new and classic Cuban films.

Free w/ museum admission. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. 416-5865524, www.rom.on.ca/about/icc. Oct 15 to 20 Diaspora Film Festival Celebrating the diversity of films and videos made by cineastes living and working outside their countries of origin. $10, stu/srs $7. 416-5712150, www.diasporafilmfest.org. Oct 18 to 22 Imaginenative Film and media arts festival with work by Kanakan Balintagos, Alanis Obomsawin and others. Various prices. Downtown cinemas. 416-5852333, www.imagineNATIVE.org. Oct 18 to 22

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/cultural-tributes-imagine-native-film-fest-001150585.html YAHOO News Canada Yahoo! News

Cultural tributes at Imagine Native Film Fest CBC – Wed, 7 Nov, 2012 Alanis Obomsawin's latest movie, The People of Kattawapiskak River, shines a light on the lives of First Nations people who, she said, are often represented in a negative light.

After working on other movies, Obomsawin noticed viewers had mixed reactions to her work.

"Why is it that people love to hear about bad people? You tell me," she said. "Why is it that they are so happy to talk about those 'savages,' those people that don't know how to live and calling them all kinds of names?"

The People of the Kattawapiskak Riveris screening on Nov. 11 at the Grande Bibliotèque and again on Nov. 17 as part of the 13th annual Imagine Native Film and Media Arts Festival.

Also published at:

Nolet http://nolet1.nolet.com/article/cultural-tributes-imagine-native-film-fest

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Alanis Obomsawin doc to open ImagineNATIVE film festival http://playbackonline.ca/2012/09/19/alanis-obomsawin-doc-to-open-imaginenative-filmfestival/#ixzz2CGWJtnva September 19, 2012 by Etan Vlessing

The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is to open with festival favourite Alanis Obomsawin screening her latest documentary, The People of the Kattawapiskak River.

“Throughout her decades long career, Alanis has produced work of great importance to global Indigenous cinema,” Jason Ryle, imagineNATIVE executive director, said Wednesday in a statement.

“With this latest film she continues her commitment to present a real picture of Indigenous perspectives that are often overlooked or unheard,” he added of Obomsawin’s commitment to telling traditional native Canadian stories.

Obomsawin, the doyenne of Canadian native filmmakers, will bring her feature about the struggling Attiwapiskat First Nation in Ontario to the Bloor Hot Docs cinema on October 17 for a world premiere.

And the imagineNATIVE festival will close on Oct. 21 with a gala screening of Benjamin Brattstarrer The Lesser Blessed, director Anita Doron’s coming of age feature set in the Northwest Territories that debuted at TIFF.

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http://nationtalk.ca/story/alanis-obomsawin-award-winning-filmmaker/

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/sami-filmmaker-brings-1st-feature-doc-imaginenative-233221873.html

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http://thetfs.ca/2012/10/17/today-on-the-scene-screenings-and-film-fun-for-wednesday-october17-2012/ Toronto Film Scene THE AUTHOR

Danita Steinberg I love old musicals, Bette Midler, and great horror films. I’m a student, barista, bookworm, wannabe foodie, cinephile, and celebrity stalker. If I’m at home, I’m in my pajamas. I think everyone should laugh more. Follow me on twitter@danita_35

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Today on the Scene: screenings and film fun for Wednesday, October 17, 2012 DANITA STEINBERGCOMMENTS (0) SHARE

How is everyone’s week going? You’re halfway there. As Dory says, “Just keep swimming!” Or as I would say, “Just go see a movie,” so here is what”s happening today on the Scene for Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

The TIFF Bell Lightbox is screening four films today - Keep the Lights On, Samsara, Nobody Walks, and Dial M for Murder.

Looking to spice up your afternoon? The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema has Por El Flamenco and Flamenco From the Roots beginning at 1:00 pm. These two films are part of the Flamenco Film Lunch Break series. Tonight at 7:00 pm is the ImagineNATIVE opening night gala. The opening film, The People of the Kattawapiskak River, promises to be an eye opening and rewarding experience for audiences.

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http://thetfs.ca/2012/10/17/imaginenative-review-we-were-children/ Toronto Film Scene THE AUTHOR

Brandy Dean Brandy Dean is the owner of the digital marketing consultancy Pretty Clever Things and the editor, writer, and janitorial staff for the film blog Pretty Clever Films. She likes dogs, poutine, silent movies, and hockey, not necessarily in that order.

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imagineNATIVE Review: We Were Children BRANDY DEANCOMMENTS (7) SHARE

Director Tim Wolochatiuk’s docudrama We Were Children is an examination of Canada’s Indian Residential School system, as recounted by two survivors Lyna Hart and Glen Anaquod. Both Hart and Anaquod were torn from their families and reservation homes as very young children and shipped to residential schools in Manitoba and Quebec, respectively. Forced to speak English and punished for speaking their own languages, they were subjected to years of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse.

The movie is a harsh indictment of a shameful period in Canadian history and of the Catholic Church, but the mix of talking head testimony from Hart and Anaquod and movie-of-the-week quality dramatizations robs the film of the moral high ground. The filmmakers may have hoped that dramatic recreations of the tale would be more visceral to audiences, but watching in adorable, chubby-cheeked little girl be slapped by nuns and raped by priests just feels tawdry, sensational, and exploitative. The obvious pain and trauma expressed by Hart and Anaquod are so obvious and heart wrenching. The real shame of We Were Children is that these two survivors were not given a dignified forum in which to be heard.

Is We Were Children Essential imagineNATIVE Viewing?

No. There are many, many docs, non-fiction books, and novels about Canada’s policy of boarding Aboriginal children in abusive schools. Seek out a more dignified telling, historical or artistic account. The survivors of these houses of abuse deserve to be heard and respected, not further exploited.

We Were Children Screening Times Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 7:30pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox

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http://realscreen.com/2012/09/19/alanis-obomsawin-doc-to-open-imaginenative-film-festival/

Obomsawin doc to open ImagineNATIVE film festival September 19, 2012 by Etan Vlessing

The 13th annual ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is to open with festival favorite Alanis Obomsawin screening her latest documentary, The People of the Kattawapiskak River.

“Throughout her decades long career, Alanis has produced work of great importance to global Indigenous cinema,” Jason Ryle, imagineNATIVE executive director, said in a statement.

“With this latest film she continues her commitment to present a real picture of Indigenous perspectives that are often overlooked or unheard,” he added of Obomsawin’s commitment to telling traditional native Canadian stories.

Obomsawin, one of the doyennes of Canadian native filmmakers, will bring her feature about the struggling Attiwapiskat First Nation in Ontario to the Bloor Hot Docs cinema on October 17 for a world premiere.

And the ImagineNATIVE festival will close on October 21 with a gala screening of Benjamin Brattstarrer The Lesser Blessed, director Anita Doron’s coming of age feature set in the Northwest Territories that debuted at TIFF. From Playback Daily. Photo: Alanis Obomsawin, via NFB.ca

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http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/more/hot-links Listing

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/imaginenative-celebrates-13thanniversary/article4621295/ Globe and Mail FILM

imagineNATIVE celebrates 13th anniversary JAMES ADAMS The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Oct. 18 2012, 5:00 PM EDT Last updated Thursday, Oct. 18 2012, 2:41 PM EDT

Billed as “the world’s largest film and media arts festival devoted to indigenous peoples,” imagineNATIVE is celebrating its 13th anniversary this weekend in Toronto.

One of the event’s must-sees is the international premiere on Friday of Cao Honghua’s documentary The Grandmother’s House Away from Home.

In the matriarchal society of the Mosuo, one of the many indigenous peoples of mainland China, the grandmother’s house or yimi is considered the spiritual heart of the family. Cao’s film explores the controversial fallout from young Erche Pichu’s decision to sell a yimi – the first such sale in Mosuo history – and have it transported to an art exhibition in Beijing. Is it another example of globalization as its most exploitative? Or the chance to celebrate Mosuo culture and promote it to a wider audience? imagineNATIVE runs through Sunday at various locations in downtown Toronto; click here for website.

The Cao documentary screens at noon at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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http://www.ecomediastudies.org/2012/10/23/imaginenative-film-festival-in2012/ Gettysburg College

Ecomedia Studies Exploring non-print media and environment

ImagineNATIVE film festival (iN2012) 2012 OCTOBER 23 tags: film festivals, indigenous film by smonani A shout out for the ImagineNATIVE film festival that I attended this past week. While not officially designated an eco-film festival, there is plenty in the films screened (as I argue more generally about indigenous film festivals) to pique the interest of any ecomedia scholar.

While feature length films such as Katja Gauriloff’s Canned Dreams, an aesthetically stunning and unnerving rumination on global food systems, and Dung, Tibetan Lance No’s experimentation with observation documentary, speak explicitly and powerfully to environmental themes, it was the shorts, many made by upcoming and emerging young indigenous artists, with their implicit eco-sensibilities that really captured me. From Miranda de Pencier’s heart-wrenching Throat Song to Jules Koostachin’sNiiPii and Anne Merete Gaup’s Eahparas eerie resonances, and the more tongue-in-cheek tones of Kent Monkman’s Dance to Miss Chief and Tiffany Parker’s Scar, ecology is well and alive in the cinematic imaginations of these filmmakers, a number of whom I had the privilege of speaking with. A special thanks to all who were kind enough to take the time to be interviewed (including Jason Ryle, the Executive Director; and Alanis Obomsawin, a stalwart in the field.)

If the festival films come touring in your vicinity, I’d highly recommend attending.

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http://www.blogto.com/film/2012/10/this_week_in_film_the_imposter_antiviral_nobody_walks_helg a_fanderl_imaginenative_and_whats_new_in_dvd_bluray/

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http://philanthropyandaboriginalpeoples.ca/2012/10/16/original-indigenous/

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http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/12/five-things-to-do-this-week-october-13-19/ National Post Reposted at Rendezvous With Madness: http://www.rendezvouswithmadness.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/03/Oct-12-National-Post-5-things-to-do_The-Maze.pdf

POSTED TORONTO Five things to do this week: October 13-19

JASON REHEL | Oct 12, 2012 1:30 PM ET More from Jason Rehel | @culturejunky 1. FILM: The latest documentary feature by Alanis Obomsawin will open this year’s imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which is dedicated to indigenous filmmakers and artists. The People of the Kattawapiskak River is an account of the tragically impoverished conditions among the Attiwapiskat First Nation in Ontario, but unlike much of the newsmedia’s coverage of the housing and basic needs crisis, the story is told here by residents themselves from within their own homes. A program of shorts by youth, plus features such as The Tundra Book, about Russia’s indigenous Arctic peoples; We Were Children, about survivors of the residential schools tragedy; and Smoke Traders, about the aboriginal tobacco market, help round out a lineup of workshops, roundtables and artist talks. On Oct. 21, 6 p.m., the fest closes with The Lesser Blessed, starring newcomer Joel Evans and Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order), about the coming of age of a First Nations teenager in a remote Northern community.

• October 17 to 21. Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor St. W., TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W. and other venues. Screenings: $7-$12 with some free events, festival pass: $40; visit imaginenative.org/festival2012 for tickets and a full schedule.

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http://blog.zeebigbang.com/post/33891870272/imaginenative-industry-panel-music-in-film-tv Zee Big Bang.com

imagineNATIVE Industry Panel - Music in Film & TV: Guide for Filmmakers and Musicians The 13th Annual imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival comprises a line up of thought-provoking films, New Media Art exhibits and an Industry series, which celebrate the works of Indigenous peoples who are at the forefront in film and new media. zeeBigBang attended the Music in Film & Television panel, which connected Indigenous musicians with Indigenous filmmakers and mainstream professionals within the Film, TV and Music industries. The panel discussed the many sides of music licensing.

The panel was moderated by Denise Bolduc the Board Vice-Chair for imagineNATIVE and featured Brent Bain, manager of the Submissions Department at FACTOR; Elizabeth Klinck, Research & Copyright Clearance Specialist at E Klinck Research; Cris Derksen, Aboriginal Composer & Cellist; Paul Still, Account Executive for Film & TV at SOCAN; Jeremy von Hollen, Music Coordinator atInstinct Entertainment, and Geoff Morrison, Producer and Director at FilmCAN. Here are the top tips we learned from these industry professionals, which can help you as a filmmaker, television producer or musician. 

For Filmmakers and Television Producers - Get your music cleared early on!

According to Jeremy von Hollen, who works with both musicians and filmmakers, he is often approached by filmmakers or TV producers at a very late stage in their productions. He suggests involving a music coordinator early on in your production. This way they can get a better idea of what it is you’re looking for and work with you to find the right music or composer for your project. It’s also important to note that broadcasters won’t look at your project without the music rights cleared.

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For Musicians - Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Cris Derksen says that working in the arts can be “a crazy career where you never know what you’ll get.” She suggests stepping out of your comfort zone and taking smaller projects that you can learn and improve from so that when you work on bigger projects, you will have that knowledge to help you.

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For Filmmakers and Television Producers - Working on a small budget?

Find a composer rather than getting songs licensed for your project. Both Elizabeth Klinck and Geoff Morrison agreed that if you are working with a small budget, it’s better financially to find a composer to score your film or TV show rather than getting licenses to specific songs. Klinck suggests finding a composer early on in your project so that you can work with him/her every step of the way.

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For both Filmmakers, TV Producers and Musicians - Transparency is key!

All of the panelists agreed that transparency is very important, whether you’re in film, TV or music. According to Derksen, don’t be afraid to say no or walk away from a project that goes against your beliefs, both artistically or otherwise. The same goes for filmmakers and TV producers. If you disagree with the terms of a music license, then be honest about it. People appreciate the honesty.

zeeBigBang’s Takeaway: If you’re a a filmmaker or television producer, think about the music rights early on in your project - don’t leave it till the end! If you’re a musician, know your rights and limitations and don’t be afraid to walk away from a project that doesn’t work for you.

Join the new world of arts & entertainment and do business online. Sign up now onzeeBigBang.com

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http://danielgarber.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/oct-19-2012-imaginative-imaginenative-moviesreviewed-charlie-zone-we-were-children/

Oct 19, 2012. Imaginative ImagineNATIVE. Movies Reviewed: Charlie Zone, We Were Children Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM, looking at high-brow and low-brow movies, indie, cult, foreign, festival, documentary, genre and mainstream films, helping you see movies with good taste, movies that taste good, and how to tell the difference.

Earlier this week, I found myself munching some bannock and wild rice in a packed hall on Spadina to witness the opening ceremony of one of the warmest and friendliest film festivals I’ve seen in Toronto.

ImagineNATIVE is a celebration of indigenous film, video and art in Canada and around the world and it’s on right now, and open to everyone.

There are free short film screenings tonight at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, art installations around the downtown, and films, parties, concerts and lots of great movies to see. So check it out. This week I’m reviewing two Canadian movies playing at ImagineNATIVE, both with aboriginal topics and actors, and both about people trapped far away from their homes.

Dir: Michael Melski Avery (Glen Gould) is the strong silent-type, a tough Native guy who did time and never shies from a fistfight.

Now he just wants to earn some good money so he takes on a sketchy job. He has to find a young woman in Montreal, abduct her, and drive her back to her parents. Easy, no?

No. She’s an angry junkie who doesn’t trust anyone, and will do anything not to go home again – ever.

Turns out Jan (Amanda Crew) was adopted and now feels adrift – she doesn’t even know who she really is. But it’s up to Avery to get her there safeky. But things start to change.

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There’s an extremely violent Quebec biker gang chasing the two of them, two young gangsters who think of Jan as their property, and a shady, secretive businesswoman orchestrating the whole deal by telephone for unstated reasons. And Avery is stuck in the middle of it — a thug magnet – but won’t give up on her. Are Jan and Avery enemies or allies? And will either of them ever connect with the people they really want to find?

Charlie Zone is partly an action-packed violent crime movie about the seedier side, partly a heartfelt drama about rural life, loves lost and families torn apart. Glen Gould and Amanda Crew make a good pair, (though without any sexual spark between them) and the plot-driven story keeps you guessing till the end.

UPDATE: This year’s ImagineNative Best Dramatic Feature award went to Charlie Zone: Producer, Hank White.

We Were Children Dir: Tim Wolochatiuk For over a hundred years, but especially from the 1930s to the 80s, 150,000 native children were taken from their families and sent to residential schools to learn English and French and trade skills, and to be assimilated into the dominant Canadian culture.

Most of them were run by churches, and the children often treated as inmates not students. Harsh corporal punishments were common, as was malnutrition, and, shockingly, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of the boys and girls sent there.

We Were Children is a powerful film that combines a documentary history of two kids Lyna and Glen (now adults) who lived through this in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and a shocking dramatization of what it was like. Glen is locked in a dungeon room by an abusive priest and Lyna, who initially spoke no English was physically punished just for speaking her native tongue. Although they want to go home, they are prevented from leaving and treated like escaped prisoners if they run away. Not a one-sided film at all, it takes pains to show some positive characters at the schools, like a nun who helps the girls when they are hungry. This film is an eye-opening look at shameful chapter of Canadian history and the attempts at cultural genocide forced upon First Nations children, scarring families for generations.

For show times of Charlie Zone, We Were Children and more, go to ImagineNATIVE.org . Other festivals in the city this weekend include the very scary Toronto After Dark, Ekran.ca the new Polish film festival (starting next week), and Brazilfilmfest.net for movies and music from Brazil.

This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com .

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http://www.iheartmoviesto.com/press1-canadian-film-review-premieres-november-6th/ Canadian Film Review: First of three interviews

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http://playbackonline.ca/2012/09/27/imaginenative-festival-fills-out-film-lineup/

ImagineNATIVE Festival fills out film lineup September 27, 2012 by Etan Vlessing

The ImagineNATIVE Film Festival is to screen in all 80 film and video works from Canada and internationally, including a world premiere for We Were Children, a Cree, English and French language film about residential school survivors by director Tim Wolochatiuk.

Also booked into the festival is Michael Melski’s thriller Charlie Zone, which stars Glen Gould, the Tibetan-language documentary Dung, about China, from director Lance No, and Honghau Cao’s The Grandmother’s House Away from Home, a Mandarin and Mosuo language film.

And ImagineNATIVE has programmed Australian director Ivan Sen’s Toomelah, a take on Aboriginal youth, James Diamond’s The Man from Venus, and Danis Goulet’s Barefoot.

The festival already announced Alanis Obamsawin’s The People of the Kattiwapiskat River as the opening film, with Anita Doron’s The Lesser Blessed to close the 13th edition.

In all, ImagineNATIVE has booked 24 world premieres and seven Canadian premieres.

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http://mixedbagmag.com/tag/imaginenative-2/

imagineNATIVE FILM FEST: Celebrating Canadian & International Indigenous Filmmakers & Media Artists Posted on October 17, 2012

On the subject of Contemporary Aboriginal Art… & considering how Indigenous Culture has a vital place in the current global landscape MIXED BAG MAG recommends checking out imagineNATIVE – Toronto’s film festival that focuses on Canadian & international Indigenous talent. “imagineNATIVE is committed to dispelling stereotypical notions of Indigenous peoples through diverse media presentations from within our communities, thereby contributing to a greater understanding by audiences of Indigenous artistic expression.”

One event in particular that would make for interesting dialogue is “Alternative Audiences and Interactive Storytelling: Infusing Indigenous Art and Issues into the Public Consciousness” on Saturday 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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http://thetfs.ca/category/festivals/imaginenative-festivals/ Toronto Film Scene – Full Program Reviews

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http:/ /www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/10/22/lesser-blessed-imaginative-charleyboy.html

The Lesser Blessed tells universal story of alienation N.W.T.-set film focuses on experiences of First Nations teen CBC News Posted: Oct 22, 2012 5:09 PM ET Last Updated: Oct 22, 2012 5:36 PM ET

The Lesser Blessed, a story of teenage angst and seclusion told from the perspective of one young First Nations man, was the closing gala at the ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

The film combines a universal story about feeling like an outsider with the unique tale of a young man who has to overcome much hardship in his young life.

Based on the novel of the same name by Dene author Richard Van Camp, the story is set in the Northwest Territories and follows a Tlicho teenager, Larry Sole, through some of his high school experiences.

The Lesser Blessed is written and directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Anita Doron and has a mostly Canadian cast including Chloe Rose (Degrassi), Kiowa Gordon (The Twilight Saga), Benjamin Bratt, Tamara Podemski as Verna Sole and Joel Evans as Larry Sole.

The film was shot in Sudbury, in part because of the lack of government incentives for movie-making in the Northwest Territories. But it still manages to cinematically capture the feelings of social, cultural and geographical isolation of the original novel.

“I feel like Anita totally captured that —what it’s like to be in the middle of nowhere, so far away from everybody — that it’s both in a geographic sense and in the social sense of being an outsider,” says Tamara Podemski who plays Larry Sole's mother.

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“He was a boy who couldn’t be more different. But he’s not so different because he’s Indian, he’s different because he’s traumatized, and that’s the beautiful part about the story.”

ImagineNATIVE winners        

Best dramatic feature:Charlie Zone, produced by Hank White.

Best indigenous language film: Throat Song, Stacey Aglok MacDonald.

Best documentary: My Louisiana Love,Monique Verdin.

Best short documentary: Songline to Happiness, directed by Danny Teece-Johnson.

Best short drama:Throat Song, Stacey Aglok MacDonald.

Best new media: Sense of Home, Leena Minifie.

Emerging talent: Scar,directed by Tiffany Parker.

NFB/imagineNATIVE Digital Media Partnership: In the Similkameen, Tyler Hagan Podemski has had to face her own challenges as a native actor.

“I’ve never only been put out for native roles, but I only get cast in native roles. I can’t say that it’s been a bad thing,” she says.

“I’ve often been told ‘It’s so interesting that you have only done native roles, or have chosen to do native roles.’ And they don’t understand that it’s not a choice. We (native actors) are told where we can be seen, how we can be seen, and who we can be seen with on the screen.”

“It takes courageous producers filmmakers, writers, to fight for their stories to be told,” says Podemski.

It seemed to be a great feat to get this indie film made – taking seven years from the time it was a figment of the imagination of director and screenwriter Doron. Van Camp, the novel’s author, worked with Doron from the beginning, even opening up his home to her so she could capture the feel of the N.W.T. The Lesser Blessed is most certainly a First Nations story about a young man’s struggle for identity and healing, but it’s also a story that is universally felt. And that is what makes this film beautiful, that we can all relate no matter what colour of skin we have.

Also published at:

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/10/19/imaginenative-we-were-children-charleyboy.html

We Were Children 'a healing journey' for residential school survivors CBC News Posted: Oct 19, 2012 11:59 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 19, 2012 5:28 PM ET

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We Were Children is a feature-length docudrama that tells the story of residential school survivors Lyna Hart and Glen Anaquod. (ImagineNATIVE)

Residential schools, revisited in the new film We Were Children, are one of those things that no one wants to talk about. It’s a shameful part of Canada’s history that many would prefer to ignore or to just put to rest.

The forced assimilation of First Nations children in residential schools lasted more than 130 years. Until 1996, more than 100,000 children were legally placed in Christian care. There were many atrocities and cases of abuse that occurred, leaving thousands of residential school survivors with wounds that run deep.

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Lisa Meeches, an esteemed Aboriginal producer, spent more than seven years travelling across Canada to collect these survivors' stories for the federal government. The idea for We Were Children stemmed from a discussion she had at the Banff World Media Festival.

A feature-length docudrama, We Were Children tells the story of residential school survivors Lyna Hart and Glen Anaquod. Their sorrowful stories unfold with deep emotion and impact for the audience: there are times of humour as well as heartbreak, but most of all their tales showcase strength and resilience. The film underlines the vast suffering of the Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their homes and put in the care of those who tried to strip them of their identities and culture.

“I believe that they were trying to annihilate us and they couldn’t, because what they did to us — and everything that we had to live through — only made us stronger, made us more determined,” Hart says in We Were Children. “I had so much rage. It took a long time to make peace with the church.”

For Meeches, who co-produced the film with Kyle Irving, the film is for different audiences.

“We told the story for the survivors, we told the story for folks who are intergenerationally impacted and we told the story for Canadians who also have been lied to,” she said.

“It’s a crime of knowledge that we [Aboriginal people] don’t know what happened to us. If Canadians knew what was making us sick, I think they would all cheer for our speedy recovery, because Canadians have a lot of compassion.”

In a moderated panel discussion following the film's screening at the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival, she added: “We know now what pain looks like and now it’s our goal to capture the healing and forgiveness.”

Hart added: "this is part of my healing journey, this film.

“I’m hoping that it is an inspiration for the survivors to tell their story and release it and go do the work that they need to do in order to move on beyond being a survivor.”

For generations of Aboriginal people to move forward, there needs to be an open discourse about the experiences and impact of residential schools and We Were Children offers a portal for that discussion — not only for Aboriginal people, but for all Canadians alike.

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network will broadcast We Were Children in March 2013.

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OCTOBER 19, 2012 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival 2012 http://hyemusings.blogspot.ca/2012/10/imaginenative-film-media-arts-festival.html

In its 13th year, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the largest festival of its kind in the world. Dedicating its programming to highlighting Indigenous films, music, and other digital projects, imagineNATIVE will offer a five full days of great programming.

The festival kicked off this week with the Opening Night and World Premiere screening of The People of the Kattawapiskak River by Alanis Obomsawin. This film takes us north to the Attiwapiskat First Nation in Ontario where a housing crisis and poverty levels made international headlines. Other films to note include the National Film Board's We Were Children, which presents very personal, hearbreaking yet important stories from survivors of residential schools and their families.

This year, their international spotlight will be on the Mapuche Nation. The Mapuche are an indigenous group from Chile, who have been fighting to gain more autonomy and preserve their independence and culture. This international spotlight includes the documentaries Diez Veces Venceremos and Wallmapu. I'll have more on these documentaries in this program shortly.

Also of note is the Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) an artistic commission and national exhibition of four, one-minute digital works by award-winning Canadian Indigenous filmmakers celebrating and honouring Indigenous women and their contributions as strong, successful and valued members of society. SSDI will be exhibited throughout Toronto’s subway system on more than 300Pattison Onestop digital subway platform screens, on 254 digital monitors in 33 English language shopping centre display screens across Canada, at the Calgary International Airport, and at the TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during the festival.

Definitely lots to experience at imagineNATIVE this year. Check out the website for full scheduling, event, and ticketing information.

Read more at http://hyemusings.blogspot.com/2012/10/imaginenative-film-media-artsfestival.html#4K7VkF6Ire38c9KY.99 34

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/10/18/imaginenative-obomsawin-charleyboy.html

ImagineNATIVE opens with Alanis Obomsawin's distinctive lens Film fest hosts premiere of Attawapiskat doc The People of the Kattawapiskak River CBC News Posted: Oct 18, 2012 11:10 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 18, 2012 1:24 PM ET

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Alanis Obomsawin's latest doc The People of the Kattawapiskak River tells the story of those who continue to live in Attawapiskat despite some deplorable conditions. (ImagineNATIVE)

Alanis Obomsawin brought fans to their feet in Toronto Wednesday night, as the Canadian filmmaking icon helped kick off the ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival with her new doc about the crisis in Attawapiskat.

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“You make me feel like I’m coming home,” she told the crowd about its warm welcome, after ascending the stage.

Obomsawin’s documentary film career has spanned four decades and more than 30 films. Her work is dedicated to Aboriginal peoples and she chronicles First Nations experiences, but her exploration of social and political issues is of interest to all Canadians. Of Abenaki descent, she has received several honorary degrees and awards, including her appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Her film Christmas at Moose Factory started off Wednesday night's screening and it definitely took the audience back. It was her first short film, created in the late ‘60s. The film presented a creative take in documenting the lives of Cree children through their illustrations, renderings, and their own voices, as the children do the storytelling from their perspective.

Presenting a distinct point of view is exactly what Obomsawin is known for and this was reiterated with the night's feature film. In her new doc The People of the Kattawapiskak River, Obomsawin offers the audience a glimpse into the previously untold story of community members fromAttawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario. Last October, when Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence declared a state of emergency because of the state of housing on the reserve, the small community became the spotlight of media attention all over the globe.

That spotlight wasn’t always so friendly and many media stories focussed on the chief and council of the community, placing the blame on them rather than exploring the issues at hand.

The documentary captures the people who live in Attawapiskat, who share their stories and why they continue to live there despite some deplorable conditions. There is finally a personal touch to the tale, so vastly different than the mass media reports that emerged last fall.

Despite the seemingly gloomy feel to the film, it offered a bright light of hope and change that was felt throughout the cinema. At the end of the screening, Obomsawin was joined on the stage by Spence, NDP MP Charlie Angus, and members of the Attawapiskat First Nation. There was a celebratory cheer in the air that must have contributed to her feeling at home in a theatre where her work, once again, was being warmly received.

Also published at:

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IMAGINENATIVE STAYS STRONG AND DIVERSE IN 2012  

October 24, 2012 / Written by Tyler Lemaich

What can you say about a festival like ImagineNATIVE? I know that I can say that it’s one of the many Toronto festivals that I look forward to the most every year. Not just because of its strong lineup of diverse films they have each year, the very interactive industry panels they have, which attract speakers from all over the world, or the celebration of native culture in such a positive and inspiring way. For me, it really is that extra mile the staff goes to make the festival so special. It’s by no means just another film festival; their parties are more vibrant and they have much more to offer – they always have a really outstanding musical performance which is something you rarely see at festivals.

Daryl over at Daryl’s Hard Liquor and Porn Film Festival usually books an awesome surf rock band like Luau or Die, and you can usually find some local DJ spinning records at your TIFF parties but ImagineNATIVE actually attracts a well known star in the native community and it really adds to the credibility of the festival and their strong sense of community.

Beyond the music and entertainment of this festival, again, I have to go back to the staff and mention how freakishly approachable and friendly they are. Industry Manager Daniel Northway37

Frank called me up a few months ago and invited me to partake in their distribution roundtable talks which are so useful! They’re like speed dating for business meetings and I heard about a lot of interesting projects that I hope I can distribute or finance in the near future. Having a festival director that’s easy to get along with is crucial for a distributor and I have to assume it would also translate well to the filmmakers.

I love the big festivals like TIFF and Sundance but if I could constructively criticize them, it would be that they’re just way too busy. It’s one big circus and a lot of great films get lost in the shadow of huge budget studio films that already have distribution and will get a worldwide theatrical release in a few months anyways. There’s nothing like that going on at ImagineNATIVE. Sure you might see some of the films at TIFF and Sundance but there is no sense of one film overpowering any other, which brings me back to that theme of community.

It’s just really important to support festivals that aren’t just your generic festival like (INSERT CITY) International Film Festival. It’s really important to have festivals with a strong focus on a specific race or culture, especially when you’re living in a city with a massive film market like Toronto. I attend so many festivals and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the same film. It’s brutal and the programming blocks get eaten up by films that have played 100 other festivals. It’s gotten so bad that just last week I was flipping through the print source list of one of those international film festivals and I had literally seen or at least heard of every single film they had programmed!! This is so lazy, sad, and more than anything, it’s uncultured mainstream.

So support these powerful niche festivals. You don’t need to see a Johnny Depp movie at TIFF; just wait two months! Go to ImagineNATIVE, Reel Asian, Hotdocs,Planet in Focus and Reel World. TIFF doesn’t need your support nearly as much as these festivals do. Now more than ever, with the tragic hiatus of the CFC World Wide Short Film Festival, we need to make sure our voices are strong, loud and heard. We can’t allow a monopoly to happen with the most mainstream festivals.

I don’t have anything against TIFF. I love TIFF and have already signed The Dancing Cop, which also screened at ImagineNATIVE. I’m just saying, if you do go to TIFF support the film that you might not get to see ever again.

So submit, attend, learn, and party at ImagineNATIVE. You won’t regret it.

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http://thetfs.ca/2012/10/15/13th-annual-imaginenative-film-media-arts-festival-starts-wednesdayoctober-17-2012/ Toronto Film Scene

13th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival starts Wednesday, October 17, 2012 DANIEL JANVIERCOMMENTS (0) SHARE

Every year, the work of Indigenous artists of film, video, radio, and new media across the planet are celebrated during Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film + New Media Arts Festival. Now in its thirteenth year, the festival will take place at TIFF Bell Lightbox where, in addition to the usual cinematic delights, a selection of web-based New Media will be showcased.

Featured artists include Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Archer Pechawis and Sheila Urbanoski, who will be recreating the website “Speaking the Language of Spiders,” an artistic collaboration between imagineNATIVE, the NFB, Vtape, and ITWÉ will be given a sneak peak during the festival as well at VMAC Gallery, with a discussion being held at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Saturday October 20, 2012 at 10:30am. Some films featured in the Festival include Michael Melski and Hank White’s Charlie Zone, Cristian Jure and Pascual Pichún’s Diez Veces Venceremos, and Melissa A. Henry’s Run Red Walk. All screen as part of this year’s vast selection of shorts and feature lengths, for which you can find a complete list (including screening times) here.

What: 13th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival When: October 17-21, 2012 Where: All over Toronto For More Info: For more information, go to imagineNATIVE’s homepage.

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http://www.blogto.com/events/63409 Listing – Blog TO

EVENTS

2012 imagineNATIVE Opening Gala The Festival runs October 17 - 21, 2012 Tickets go on sale October 3 Festival Passes are on sale NOW http://www.imaginenative.org/page.php?p=buytickets&y=2012 Welcome Gathering Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, 16 Spadina Road 2-4PM FREE Welcome in the 13th annual Festival as our cultural advisor commences with an opening prayer. Enjoy Canadian Indigenous dancers, local craft vendors and a bite to eat before going to imagineNATIVE’s Opening Night Screening.

Opening Night Screening Screening presenter Aboriginal Peoples Television Network The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West 7PM (arrive early to guarantee a ticket and good seat) $12 ($10, students/seniors/underemployed) The Festival opens with the World Premiere of The People of the Kattawapiskak River (Screening presenter Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), the latest documentary from legendary Canadian filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin. A moving and powerful feature that takes the viewer north to the Attiwapiskat First Nation in Ontario where a housing crisis and poverty levels made international headlines in the winter of 2011. More info: http://www.imaginenative.org/newsdetails.php?id=232

Opening Gala After-Party The Brant House, 522 King Street West 9PM FREE with an opening night screening ticket stub or Festival pass.

Celebrate the Festival launch with attending filmmakers and artists at The Brant House! Bear Witness of DJ collective A Tribe Called Red will bring us through the night.

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Indigenous Music Culture. http://rpm.fm/news/imaginenative-2012-indigenous-film-music-and-media-arts-take-centre-stage-2/

NEWS

imagineNATIVE 2012: Indigenous Film, Music and Media Arts Take Centre Stage BY: MELODY MCKIVER | PHOTO: NICKSHERMAN-REDWORKS | NOVEMBER 7, 2012 IN NEWS | ADD COMMENT

Since its inception in 1998, Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival has grown to be the largest festival of Indigenous film and media arts in the world. The annual celebration was held October 17-21, 2012. Melody McKiver was the grateful recipient of a delegate pass for Indigenous musicians sponsored by Slaight Music. Here’s her exclusive festival recap for RPM. DAY ONE: Wednesday October 17th I last attended the festival when I lived in Toronto in 2009. Returning home to see that most imagineNATIVE screenings and workshops are now held in the TIFF Lightbox (Toronto International Film Festival) is a welcome development, and a testament to the major impact this festival has made on the international film, media, and Indigenous arts communities.

OPENING GALA: THE PEOPLE OF KATTAWAPISKAK RIVER The sole film screening held off-site was Wednesday’s opening gala and world premiere ofThe People of the Kattawapiskak River. Acclaimed Indigenous filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, along with many community members from Attawapiskat First Nation including Chief Theresa Spence, were present, and received standing ovations following the film. Preceding the main feature was Christmas at Moose 41

Factory, Alanis Obomsawin’s 1971 debut film. Despite the 41-year gap between the two films, both share a gentle portrayal of the realities of life in remote Northeastern Ontario and a focus on Omushkego (Swampy Cree) youth. Obomsawin was on the ground in Attawapiskat as news of the community’s state of emergency went viral in late-2011. As mainstream media coverage quickly devolved into factually inaccurate stereotypical reporting, Obomsawin masterfully took vitriolic commentary from Sun Media conservative ideologue Ezra Levant, and presented community members’ responses to his unfounded accusations.

The film began with the community at the peak of the housing crisis, then showed community members celebrating newly-built housing six months later, and concluded with the court case that absolved Attawapiskat First Nation of any financial misdoings—and illustrating the callousness of the federal government’s response to the crisis.

AFTER-PARTY ROCKIN’ WITH DJ BEAR WITNESS Following the film, imagineNATIVE provided buses to an after-party that offered a happy reunion for many members of the Indigenous arts community. RPM and festival favourite, DJ Bear Witness (of A Tribe Called Red), spun a wide range of reggaeton, Latin, reggae, hip-hop, and his own powwowstep.

At 80 years young, Alanis Obomsawin showed off her spirit and vitality by owning the dance floor late into the night.

imagineNATIVE@imagineNATIVE Alanis Obomsawin on her reception @ #iNfest2012 : "you make me feel like I'm coming home" The party was also an appropriate send-off for DJ Bear Witness, who was set to meet his ATCR brothers at the Toronto airport less than 12 hours later to fly out to perform at the WOMEX Festival in Thessalakoni, Greece.

DAY TWO: Thursday, October 18th PANELS & WORKSHOPS I began my day at the Music in Film & TV: A Guide for Filmmakers and Musicians industry panel, where a diverse and accomplished roster of panelists were invited: Brent Bain of FACTOR; Elizabeth Klinck of E Klinck Research; Paul Stillo of SOCAN; Jeremy von Hollen of Instinct Entertainment, and RPM favourite cellist/composer, Cris Derksen. The audience was filled with film, music, and dance professionals, culminating in a lively question period. For my own soundtrack work, the workshop was more than worthwhile, answering some long outstanding questions I’ve had regarding the nuances of licensing new recordings of existing songs.

UNSETTLING SEX With a slight overlap between the end of the industry panel and the beginning of the Unsettling Sex screenings assembled by Chickasaw artist and curator John G. Hampton, I snuck into the movie 42

theater. Although I missed the screening of Dance to Miss Chief by Cree Two-Spirited iconoclast Kent Monkman, I recently saw the piece in a gallery and can testify that his mash-up of disco and powwow music is well worth a listen for powwowstep fans.

Dear Diary and Target Girls by Cree/Ojibway/Roma/Jewish filmmaker and video artist Ariel Smith lacked dialogue, but paired score and sound design by Ottawa band Crush Buildingswith vivid black and white imagery. ‘Unsettling’ was an apt description for Target Girlsespecially: the cinematography was reminiscent of German expressionism, while the soundtrack was reminiscent of 1950’s bubblegum American pop with decidedly un-bubblegum lyrics.

Also featured in Unsettling Sex was Mars-Womb-Man and I am the art scene starring Woman Polanski by Cree/Métis artist James Diamond and About Town by Métis filmmaker, writer, and artist Marnie Parrell. The screenings were shorter than usual in order to give curator John G. Hampton time to read his paper on the series. His written work draws heavily on recent developments in Queer Indigenous studies, while also emphasizing that the films screened should not be essentialized to any single descriptor of queer, Indigenous, sexuality, or feminism.

CONCEALED GEOGRAPHIES When not at the TIFF Lightbox, many imagineNATIVE attendees could be found nearby at the 401 Richmond artist complex, which houses a number of small galleries, while others found their way to exhibitions and artist talks including: Concealed Geographies: New Media Exhibition featuring the works of KC Adams, Jason Baerg, Merritt Johnson, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Justine McGrath and Nigit’stil Norbert, De Nort: New Media Exhibition by the ITWÉ Collective of Kevin Lee Burton, Caroline Monnet, and Sébastien Aubin, andWbomsawinno: Les estampes de/ The Prints of Alanis Obomsawin.

RESONATE: YOUTH MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION I made my way to RESONATE – Indigenous Youth Showcase, where a variety of print media and video art was on display by youth artists Nishka Turner, Leslie McCue (Ojibway), Asivak Koostachin (Cree), Cecily Jacko (Ojibway), Kyle Burton, Jared Robilliard (Dene), Damien Bouchard, Cheyenne Scott (Coast Salish), Nigel Irwin-Brochmann, Emily Jones, Alice Thompson and Alana Mcleod. A reception complete with frybread followed that emphasized the tightknit nature of the community and everyone from newborns to kookums were in attendance.

INDIGENOUS WRITERS’ GATHERING & MUSKRAT MAGAZINE That evening, I made the difficult choice to break from imagineNATIVE to catch the wrap party of the 5th annual Indigenous Writers’ Gathering and launch of MUSKRAT Magazine, where I caught up with Cree cellist Cris Derksen, who wowed the crowd with recent material not heard on her album or 8th Fire soundtrack, along with some older favourites. An all-star lineup of Indigenous writers, including Lee Maracle, Richard Wagamese, and Marilyn Dumont read from their work. Daniel Heath Justice’s (Cherokee) new poem, which dealt with lies told about Indigenous people, was a personal stand-out, as its unflinching honesty and emotional intensity were reminiscent of Ryan Redcorn’s acclaimed poem Bad Indians. And, of course, event hosts Sid Bobb and Wab Kinew kept the crowd entertained throughout the night.

DAY THREE: Friday, October 19th 43

SPOTLIGHT ON THE MAPUCHE NATION On Friday I caught two documentaries that were part of an International Spotlight on the Mapuche Nation I. Each year at imagineNATIVE an Indigenous nation from around the globe is featured, and this year’s invited guests were representatives of the Mapuche Nation from what is also known as Chile.

Indigenous resistance to colonialism, capitalism, dispossession of land, and loss of language were recurring themes in the two documentaries screened, En El Nombre del Progresso (In the Name of Progress), and Wallmapu – but also a profound resilience and fierce pride in their culture and nation. I would revisit these themes later in the evening, when I performed as part of the afterparty for the Mapuche delegation.

SHORT FILMS: TURNING POINTS Immediately after the International Spotlight screening I saw the Turning Points: Shorts Program I. Showcasing a wide variety of creative projects, shorts programs are my favourite parts of film festival programming, but they often force you to make difficult viewing choices. Plus, I knew I would have to run to soundcheck midway through the program. But the opening film, Throat Song, directed

by Miranda de Pencier, was a standout. Set in Iqaluit, the 18-minute film follows a young Inuk woman as she seeks an escape from an abusive relationship. The acting and the technical production were superb and throat singing, as the title suggests, played a major part in the film’s soundtrack and sound design. This incredible form of singing propelled the action through dreamy sequences of running and hunting across the tundra that owed much to Zacharias Kunnuk’s groundbreaking work in Antanajuarat: The Fast Runner.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE MAPUCHE NATION As I ran out early to set up my drums for soundcheck at The Central, I was honoured to participate in the celebration of the Mapuche Nation and perform under their flag. The evening began with a selection of hip-hop and heavy metal music videos curated by director Danko Mariman, whose En El Nombre del Progress (In the Name of Progress) screened earlier in the day. The feature of the screenings was the 2008 film Cortometraje “Che Üñum, Genta Pájaro”, a 22 minute short by Mapuche video artist Francisco Huichaqueo (huichaqueo.cl). The dreamy film opened with a quote which, in English translation, read “When somebody has to move, he has to start all over again and open his eyes and look another way”. Movement was an ongoing theme, with a number of the performers, wearing helmets that suggest the mandibles of ants, engaging in near-impossible displays of parkour throughout the urban landscape of Santiago, Chile. The third movement was particularly mesmerizing, with the introduction of the song Anarky Plastic by Mario Z propelling the action forward and building the sound design from the first two movements to incorporate traditional Mapuche horns. The shift to electronic music in the final movement suggests that this contemporary mix of electronic and Indigenous sonic aesthetics is truly an emerging global sound (as we explored in RPM’s Electric Pow Wow podcast – which included artists Cris Derksen and Bear Witness, who also performed during this year’s imagineNATIVE).

AMAZONICA SOUND FORCE & RED SLAM COLLECTIVE Following the film screenings, live music took the stage. Toronto-based Mapuche MC La Bomba opened things up with her reggae-influenced band, Amazonica Sound Force. All of the band’s 44

members are veterans of the hip-hop en espanol and reggae communities, and performed a tightly polished set. ASF were a tough act to follow, but my band Red Slam Collective took the stage. Red Slam represents a diverse number of Indigenous nations from across Northeastern Turtle Island and our brand of live hip-hop draws from a diverse set of influences including reggae, hand drum songs, spoken word, and funk. It was a true pleasure to play in front of such an inspiring Indigenous audience.

DAY FOUR: Saturday, October 20th SPOTLIGHT ON MAPUCHE NATION – PT II On Saturday the International Spotlight on the Mapuche Nation continued with more documentaries.

First up was the North American premiere of Francisco Huichaqueo’s 2012 film Kalül (Reuniôn de Cuerpo / Reunion of the Body) which brought his dreamy cinematographic style, as seen in the previous night’s Cortometraje “Che Üñum, Genta Pájaro”, to document a Mapuche performance art intervention in a shopping mall in Santiago. This was followed by the international premiere of Diez Veces Venceremos (We Shall Overcome Ten Times) by director Cristian Jure. Diez follows the political exile Pascual Pichún, as he attempts to return from his journalism studies in Argentina to his Mapuche homelands in occupied Chile. The title of the film is drawn from a protest song often sung by Pascual and his supporters. Protest songs are an integral part of the narrative of the film, sung by Pascual in exile in Argentina, and by his supporters in his home community.

THE BEAT The Beat is a hotly anticipated part of imagineNATIVE that shifts the festival’s focus from film to music for a Saturday night celebration. Demonstrating the strong connection between film and music, each year The Beat opens with a collection of the past year’s best Indigenous music videos.

This year’s line-up represented Indigenous nations from around the globe, including: This Is My Time Everyday directed by Michelle Latimer, Leivänmuruseni (Breadcrumbs) directed byOskari Sipola, Ghost House directed by Zoe Hopkins, Mr. Milkman directed by Laura Milliken, Dirty Games directed

by James Kinistino, My Blood My People directed by Martin Leroy Adams, and Waardeur directed

by Eugene Hendriks. I was proud to contribute drum tracks to this year’s Best Music Video, Sides directed by Mosha Folger, an Ottawa-based Inuk writer, performer, playwright, and member of the Counterfeit Nobles.

Nick Sherman (Ojibway) opened up the evening’s live music component with a commanding solo set.

The Sioux Lookout-based singer-songwriter performed seated on his suitcase, which doubled as a bass drum. For the final portion of Nick’s set, he invited up the visual artist and musician Arthur

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Renwick (Haisla). The two men had only recently began playing together at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals a few weeks ago, but impart a familiarity that I hope will lead to many future collaborations.

George Leach (Sta’atl’imx) was the evening’s headliner, performing a mix of old favourites and new tracks from his eagerly anticipated new release, Surrender. Audiences at The Beat got a chance to purchase copies of the new album prior to the official release, and I can confirm that it sounds as great as his live set. George Leach and his band pumped up the mood in the room, switching gears from the quiet reverence of Nick Sherman’s set to a full-on Saturday night rock’n’roll party.

They played a high-energy set, proving that nobody in Indian Country rocks a double-necked Gibson SG quite like George Leach.

DAY FIVE: Sunday, October 21st CLOSING GALA: THE LESSER BLESSED On Sunday, I made my way to the closing night gala screening of The Lesser Blessed directed by Anita Doron and based on the Richard Van Camp (Dogrib) novel of the same name. Shot in Sudbury but based in the Northwest Territories, the film was gorgeously rendered and scored. The film’s protagonist Larry Sole, a Tlicho youth played by Joel Evans in a stellar acting debut, comes to terms with his traumatic past as he deals with high school bullies. The film premiered earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is well worth seeing as it screens more widely.

The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Indigenous Film & Media Arts Festival wrapped up with an awards gala at The Mod Club hosted by actor Billy Merasty, who donned this year’s circus theme and put on his top hat as the ringmaster. The crowd was tired but happy after a week jam-packed with festival events and networking that always ran well into the night.

To take part in the festival as a musician truly demonstrated to me how interconnected Indigenous arts practices are: what’s a film without a soundtrack, or a musician’s single without a music video?

At the end of the festival, my only regret is that I can’t go back and catch everything I missed the first time around. Aho!

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http://povmagazine.com/blog/view/imaginenative-film-media-arts-festival-2012

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival 2012 Posted on October 16th, 2012 • 0 Comments Point of View is proud to once again be sponsoring the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival!

“The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media. Each fall, imagineNATIVE presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe. The Festival’s programming, cultural & social events, and Industry Series attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, buyers, and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world’s Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of our art and culture in contemporary media.”

Running from October 17-21 in Toronto, ON, the festival kicks off at 2pm on Wednesday, October 17th at the Native Canadian Centre of Canada. This event is FREE and open to the public!

Though there are many films to choose from, we’d like to highlight one in particular: POV is co-presenting Young Lakota this Saturday, October 20th at 4:30pm at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

“On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, teenagers Sunny Clifford and Brandon Ferguson dream of one day changing the world.

They find inspiration in the leadership of Cecelia Firethunder, the first female President of their tribe. But when their new Chief challenges a South Dakota law criminalizing abortion, her actions unleash a political firestorm that sets off a chain reaction in the lives of her young supporters. Sunny finds herself embroiled in a battle for women’s rights, while Brandon abandons his ideals in the face of political opportunity. Each is forced to make difficult choices in this raw and uncompromising coming-of-age story.”

A representative from POV will be on hand at the screening – hope to see you there!

Also published at: 47

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/10/19/imaginenative-canned-dreams.html

Sami filmmaker brings 1st feature doc to ImagineNATIVE CBC News Finnish filmmaker Katja Gauriloff has had quite a run this year. Her first feature length documentary film Canned Dreams had its international premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, where ImagineNATIVE Film +Media Arts Festival's Jason Ryle first saw the film and was “completely blown away.”

Gauriloff, 40, was born in Inari, Northern Lapland, where her grandmother is a famous Skolt Sami traditional storyteller. She studied film directing at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences, School of Art and Media and has been involved in filmmaking for over 14 years.

She last presented her work at Toronto's ImagineNATIVE festival back in 2008: A Shout into the Wind followed the lives of the Skolt Sami, an endangered people trying to survive and striving to hold onto their indigenous lifestyle in the harsh climate of northern Finland. The verité documentary was her first foray into the genre. Her fourth film, it is an evocative and thought-provoking reflection on the struggle of indigenous peoples striking the balance between traditional and modern life.

Her latest film, Canned Dreams, screened earlier this spring at Toronto's Hot Docs film festival, which is co-presenting it at imagineNATIVE Film.

Canned Dreams is an intense look at processed food and its production. Gauriloff's gaze is neutral and she takes a humanist approach as she travels across Europe and South America to discover the unique journey of each ingredient in a can of ravioli: from metal mined in Brazil for the tin to the wheat produced in Ukraine and the pork from Romania for the pasta. The audience is offered glimpses of factory facilities that might cause one to question our penchant for processed foods.

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In Portugal, we learn that a woman who picks tomatoes dreams of staying healthy enough to work so she can afford to send her daughter off to university, where “she can achieve what I could never achieve.”

A Romanian young woman who prepares pigs to be slaughtered wants one day to be a beautiful bride in a pretty dress and makeup, though in reality she is in an abusive common-law relationship with the father of her child. She works to keep her child in diapers and afford abortions when necessary.

Each scene is visceral. Gauriloff shotCanned Dreams in 16mm and had to carefully plan her shoots as she only had a day or two in each location.

One of the most powerful moments in the film is at a processing plant in Romania where pigs are electrocuted and their throats slit before they're sent for slaughtered. A man who works in the plant says that it took him more than three months to get used to killing the animals, and that even after having killed around 15,000, his heart still cringes.

“I still think of it, and then I think of my family,” he says. “Without this sacrifice, what am I going to put on my table?”

After an hour and a half of watching these far-flung stories behind just one example of processed canned food, one begins to question what exactly we're putting on our tables to feed our families.

“If there was one film that I’d like to see again is Canned Dreams,” says Ryle, executive director of ImagineNATIVE. “It’s an incredible documentary, really masterfully made, and the content of the documentary is very current. It’s a film that we can all relate to, but it’s also something that we’ve never really considered before. I really like work that takes something everyday and completely flips it and makes us think about things that we never thought about, and that’s whatCanned Dreams does.”

Also published at:

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ArtBridges/ToileDesArts EVENT: imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Oct. 1721 (Toronto) http://artbridges.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/event-imaginenative-film-media-arts-festival-oct-17-21-toronto/

17/10/2012

13th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Five days of Indigenous film, video, radio, new media, entertainment, and more.

Presenting Sponsor: Bell Media October 17-21, 2012 The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the world’s largest Indigenous media arts festival, celebrates its 13th year October 17-21, 2012 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (Reitman Square, 350 King St. W) and various other venues in downtown Toronto. This year imagineNATIVE celebrates 117 new works by Indigenous people at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media. imagineNATIVE’s Opening Night Screening features the world premiere of Alanis Obomsawin’s captivating feature-length documentary The People of the Kattawapiskak River. Obomsawin takes her camera and awardwinning direction behind media headlines with the personal journey of the people of the Attawapiskat First Nation and the realities in their northern Ontario community.

The Festival closes with the gala rresentation of The Lesser Blessed. Adapted from Executive Producer Richard Van Camp’s celebrated novel, this deeply moving dramatic feature film takes us to the Northwest Territories as a young Tlicho teen takes his first, challenging steps toward adulthood.

TICKETS: – Regular screenings: $7 (FREE to students, seniors and the under-employed before 6pm) – Opening Night Screening and After-Party: $12/$10 – Closing Night Screening and Awards Show: $12/$10 Other FREE festival highlights include: - Welcome Gathering at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto (Wednesday, October 17th @2pm) - Industry Series - New Media Installations - The Witching Hour: Late Night Shorts (screening) - New Media Presentation (screening) Visit www.imagineNATIVE.org for the full festival line-up.

Connect with imagineNATIVE on Facebook or Twitter #iNfest2012.

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http://nationtalk.ca/story/imaginenative-film-media-arts-festival-is-proud-to-present-the-beat/

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is proud to present The Beat by aanationtalk on October 16, 2012 Presented by Slaight Music Featuring: George Leach with Guest: Nick Sherman

October 20, 2012 – 9:00PM – Lee’s Palace – 529 Bloor Street West The Beat Tickets: $15 ($10 students/seniors/underemployed) Available online, by phone, in person: www.imagineNATIVE.org George Leach and Nick Sherman are available for interviews (Toronto – October 15, 2012) – The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is thrilled to announceThe Beat, presented by Slaight Music, at Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor Street West) on October 20, 2012 at 9PM, featuring a rock-out performance by George Leach. This 9th annual showcase of Indigenous music includes opening guest Nick Sherman, and international Indigenous music videos.

Playing from his latest album, Surrender - set for release in November – Leach brings together a collection of unique and distinctively original songs reflecting a deeply felt musical statement of change, growth and maturation. A limited number of this new album will be for sale at The Beat.

Leach is a much-respected multi-award winning singer, songwriter, guitarist and performer. His video for the popular single, Young Enough, reached the top 5 on the coveted Bravo Video Hit list, and the Top 10 on the Much More Music chart.

Opening for Leach is promising singer/songwriter, Nick Sherman, who hails from Northwestern Ontario. He will play from his debut album Drag Your Words Through, released this past March and available now through iTunes.

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The Beat also features imagineNATIVE’s music video program, featuring works from Canada, Finland, Australia and South Africa; the screening presents some of the latest in Indigenous music.

George Leach A member of the Sta’atl’imx Nation from the interior British Columbia, George Leach has earned his artistic integrity. His debut album, Just Where I’m At (2000), garnered international recognition, establishing him as a respected singer, songwriter, guitarist, and performer. Leach composed, performed and arranged all of the vocal, guitar and bass tracks on the selfproduced album, winning “Best Male Artist” and “Best Rock Album” awards at the 2000 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. The video of its popular single, “Young Enough,” reached the Top 5 on the coveted Bravo Video Hit List and the Top 10 on the Much More Music chart. Equally impressive is its win for ”Best Music Video Award” at the 2002 American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.

He has shared the stage with such talented and legendary artists as Bo Diddley, the late Jeff Healey, Great Big Sea, Tom Cochrane, Robin Ford, Robert Randolph, 54-40, Doc Walker, Robbie Robertson, Susan Aglukark, Trooper, Chilliwack, and The Constantines. His music has enjoyed radio play across Canada.

Nick Sherman Nick Sherman (Ojibway) is a singer/songwriter from Northern Ontario who spent his childhood traveling between his birthplace of Sioux Lookout, the remote First Nation community of Weagamow Lake and North Caribou Lake trapline. His songs are earnest and thoughtful, rooted in contemporary-folk sound. Nick plays most shows as a solo act unless joined by invited guests who play under the name The Winterdark. Nick released his debut, full-length album entitled Drag Your Words Through on January 20, 2012, with funding from the Ontario Arts Council. The album was recorded in Northwestern Ontario in the city of Thunder Bay. The sentiments of the album are broad as the songs cover the best and worst days of the last four years.

About imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media. Each fall, imagineNATIVE presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe. The Festival’s programming, cultural & social events, and Industry Series attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, buyers, and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world’s Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of our art and culture in contemporary media.

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE, BY PHONE AND IN PERSON NOW Online: www.imagineNATIVE.org Phone: 416 599 TIFF (8433) (10am-10pm, daily) 52

In-Person: TIFF Bell Lightbox, Reitman Square, 350 King St. W (10am-10pm, daily) PASSES All-Access $110/$65 Industry All-Access $90 Screening $40/$24 Weekend $65/$40 TICKETS Regular Screenings $7 Students/Seniors/Underemployed before 6pm FREE Opening Night Screening and Party $12/$10 Opening Night Party only $8 Closing Night Screening and Awards Show $12/$10 The Beat featuring Buffy Sainte-Marie $20/$15 For more information and the full Festival listings, including FREE events, visit: www.imaginenative.org 2012 Sponsors: Presenting Sponsor: Bell Media Gold: Astral Radio • Deluxe • Slaight Music • Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Silver: Global Toronto • RBC Royal Bank • Canada Media Fund Bronze: TD Bank • TVO • Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund • CBC • Casino Rama Media: NAPT • NOW Magazine • Muskrat Magazine • Voices 106.5FM • Media Indigena Public Funders: Ontario Arts Council • Canada Council for the Arts • Canadian Heritage • Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training • Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport • Telefilm Canada • Toronto Arts Council Community Partners: A Space Gallery • ACTRA Toronto • Beehive Design • Charles Street Video • Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto • National Film Board of Canada • V tape • William F. White • Native Canadian Centre of Toronto • The Brant House • WIFT-Toronto • Pattison Onestop Official Airline Carrier: Star Alliance Festival Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn Festival Restaurant: The Ballroom Hospitality: The Charlotte Room • Smoke’s Poutinerie • Café Crepe • Kind Exchange • Manitobah Mukluks • Art Gallery of Ontario • Global Village Backpackers • Super 8 Hotel Friends: DHL • SABAR • Technicolor • Niagara Custom Lab Foundations: Ontario Trillium Foundation • McLean Foundation • Dreamcatcher Fund

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http://thetfs.ca/2012/10/02/the-people-of-the-kattawapiskak-river-to-open-imaginenative-2012/

The People of the Kattawapiskak River to open imagineNATIVE 2012 PAM FOSSENCOMMENTS (0) SHARE

The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is coming to town, bringing us five days of the latest film, video, radio and new media work by Indigenous peoples. Running from October 17 to 21, 2012, it will feature 80 works from Canada and around the world, with an impressive total of 24 world premieres.

The festival opens with a free Welcome Gathering at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto (16 Spadina Road), which is open to the public. The opening night screening, later that evening at 7:00 pm, is the world premiere of Alanis Obomsawin’s documentary The People of the Kattawapiskak River, at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. And in honour of Ms. Obomsawin’s 80th birthday, there’s also going to be a special solo exhibition of her etchings, running from the festival’s opening date until October 20 at Open Studio (401 Richmond Street W, Suite 104).

Also part of the festival is this year’s International Spotlight on the Mapuche Nation of Latin America. It will include all kinds of special programming to illustrate the history and creativity of one of the largest Indigenous nations in South America.

And the festival will close with The Lesser Blessed, Anita Doron’s adaptation of Richard Van Camp’s novel, at 6:00 pm on Sunday, October 21. This story of a teenager in a remote Northwest Territories community stars Joel Evans, Benjamin Bratt, Tamara Podemski and Kiowa Gordon.

Check out the festival schedule and get on out ther to see some of the excellent film fare on offer. Tickets are available as of October 3, 2012.

What: imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival When: October 17 to 21, 2012 Where: TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West) and other venues More Info: For additional details, visit their website.

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http://www.meltingpot.spaa.org.au/events/imaginenative-2012 The Melting Pot – Events Listing

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Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative – October 2012 National Exhibition by Indigenous Artists brings Indigenous Women’s Rights to the Forefront * Also published on newz4u.net

Beneath the Surface – October 2012

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Pattison Onestop, imagineNATIVE and Amnesty International Canada co-present Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI), a national project presenting four commissioned works that celebrate and honour Indigenous women and their contributions as strong, successful and valued members of society.

The four one-minute, silent digital works were created by award-winning, Canadian Indigenous artists: Jesse Gouchey and Xstine Cook (LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY), Lisa Jackson (SNARE), Cara Mumford (WHEN IT RAINS) and Angela Sterritt (YOUR COURAGE WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED).

“I’m honoured to be selected to participate in the SSDI. It’s through art that we can express the human side of tragic social issues like this, so often lost in news coverage,” says Genie awardwinning filmmaker, Lisa Jackson. “It’s an opportunity to recognize the women at the heart of the issue and to bring an awareness of the violence against them to a broader audience.”

SSDI will play on the Pattison Onestop subway screens to over 1 million Toronto’s daily commuters and nationally on 254 digital monitors in 33 shopping centres across Canada, at the Calgary 56

International Airport, and TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

The Festival’s SSDI webpage (http://imaginenative.org/festival2012/SSDI) includes details on mall and shopping centre locations screening the SSDI, a resource page featuring artists, issues and links to organizations to find out more about the history and movement surrounding Indigenous women’s rights.

“The passion of our partners, collaborators and artists to bring attention to such an important issue to potentially over 2.5 million viewers is an unprecedented opportunity,” beams Daniel NorthwayFrank, Programming + Industry Manager. “To challenge our artists to marry artistic style and social justice is a new and exciting venture. We hope this initiative adds a strong voice and attention to the Indigenous women’s rights movement in Canada, and spurs action and awareness through creative outlets in other Indigenous communities and countries around the world, which sadly have similar experiences.”

The SSDI project started as a call by imagineNATIVE and its partners to Canada’s Aboriginal artistic community to conceive of a video piece creatively reflecting and responding to the Stolen Sisters, a term adopted by the Aboriginal community and larger social justice organizations of the struggle to find answers for the over 500 official (and arguably more) unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada.

The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative was funded by imagineNATIVE and Canada Council for the Arts, and is co-presented by Pattison Onestop and Amnesty International Canada.

About the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival - www.imagineNATIVE.org The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, now in its 13th year, is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media. Each October, imagineNATIVE presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe. The Festival’s programming, industry events, panel discussions, and cultural and social events attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, buyers, and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world’s Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of our art and culture in contemporary media. This year’s Festival runs October 17-21, 2012 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative Posted By Gail Chiasson On 15 October 2012

Pattison Onestop [1], imagineNATIVE [2] and Amnesty International Canada [3] are co-presenting Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative from October 15 to 21, 2012: four one-minute videos created by Canadian Indigenous artists: Jesse Gouchey & Xstine Cook, Lisa Jackson, Cara Mumford, and Angela Sterritt.

[4]

The national project of the four commissioned works celebrate and honour Indigenous women and their contributions as strong, successful and valued members of society.

Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative will play on the Pattison Onestop subway screens to over 1 million Toronto’s daily commuters, nationally on digital monitors in shopping centres across Canada, at the Calgary International Airport, and TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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Snare - Spotlight on Director Lisa Jackson The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) exhibit starts today as part of theimagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. SSDI is an artistic commission of four one-minute digital works made by award-winning Canadian Indigenous filmmakers.

The films celebrate and honour Indigenous women and shed light on the hundreds of unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada. zeeBigBang spoke with director Lisa Jackson about her short film Snare, which can be seen on TTC Subway screens across Toronto starting on Monday, October 15, 2012.

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Jackson’s Snare is a performance-piece that captures the brutality of violence against Aboriginal women. According to Jackson, the idea for Snare just popped into her head and she ran with it. We asked her what were some of the challenges in making a one-minute silent project.

Still from Snare. Photo by Michael Labre.

“Because the idea was fairly contained, it was all achievable from a story perspective and it was really doable in a minute and in a silent format. On the execution side, it was a lot of work, in particular the task of actually hanging the women upside down. We didn’t do visual effects to hang them upside down, we actually hung them upside down. That required stunt people and rigging. It was intense. I was also aware that I had to take care of their physical safety and their emotional safety as well.

Physically it just took a lot of time to get them up there and I could only hang them for a minute and a half at a time. Just coordinating everything to fit in those one minute increments of shooting time was challenging,” explained Jackson.

According to Jackson, only one of the women in Snare is a professional actor. The rest were chosen from an audition of over 45 women who have been touched in some way by the issue.

“Once you get into aboriginal experience, these are very shared histories, most if not all of these women have personal connections to the issues so they were bringing all of that to their performance,” said Jackson. “There was a great feeling of contribution amongst the cast and crew.”

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The cast of Snare smudging sweetgrass to begin the shoot day. Photo by Michael Labre.

“People were coming from far away. Two of the women in the film are actually from a reserve in Washington. Once the word got around that this film was happening, there was a huge amount of community help to get people to come out to the audition,” said Jackson. “I really like these women.

They have incredibly compelling faces and they were a joy to have on set. Even though it was sort of a performance piece, it felt grounded. People took the issue that it was based on seriously.”

Jackson got into filmmaking through her love of research.

“I really enjoy the research area, specifically in theme or subjects that I’m interested in. I just dig in, in a big way to find out who the characters are, what the background is, what the context is, what the story is and what the settings are. I just fill my mind with all of that stuff and usually a story or theme emerges from that,” explained Jackson.

She explains her creative process as something that changes with every project. She says almost everything she does is based in a “documentary instinct” with a commentary on social issues.

“I’ve worked on so many different types of films; for Snare it was completely based on images. I just get the pictures coming to my head and a mood. Then there’s the development of the idea and trying to execute it.”

Snare will screen on more than 300 Pattison Onestop subway platform screens across Toronto and at the TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during theimagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival from October 15 – 21, 2012.

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imagineNATIVE’s Stolen Sister Initiative Posted by Urban Native Girl on September 4,

First Contact by Ange Sterritt imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival is presenting the Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) an artistic commission and national exhibition of four, one-minute digital works by award-winning Canadian Indigenous filmmakers celebrating and honouring Indigenous women and their contributions to the Canadian social fabric.

This very exciting and cool digital artistic project is the first time the Festival has partnered to present a simultaneous exhibition on a national scale. SSDI will be shown throughout Toronto’s subway system, on 254 digital monitors in malls across Canada, at the Calgary International Airport, and at the TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 15 – 21, 2012. The four artists are …. *drumroll please*: 1. Snare, a stylized acrobatic tableau by filmmaker Lisa Jackson (Anishinaabe) 2. When it Rains, a spoken word dance piece by filmmaker Cara Mumford (Metis/Chippewa Cree) 3. Like It Was Yesterday, a documentary graffiti animation by artists and filmmakers Jessy Gouchey (Cree) and Xstine Cook 4. Your Courage Will Not Go Unnoticed, an animated mural piece by artist and journalist Angela Sterritt (Gitxsan/Lax Gibu) Here’s the thing. Animation is expensive right? So that’s why Artist Angela Sterritt started an IndieGoGo campaign to pay her animator to transform her large acrylic paintings into an animation film. Here is the campaign link so you can help a sister out and not only will you get warm fuzzies, you’ll also be able to see what you contributed to right in front of your very eyes on a subway platform, at the airport, or while shopping for some new jeans. Just think of how great it will feel when you can say to yourself ‘I made that happen’ while you are strolling around your city.

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Web-based and Installation New Media Works Presented at ImagineNATIVE Fest 2012 The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 17 – 21, 2012, presents an innovative and engaging collection of new media programming throughout its 2012 festivities. All FREE to the public, these include web-based works, public exhibitions and gallery installations.

“New media works by Indigenous artists remain a vital component of imagineNATIVE,” say Jason Ryle, Executive Director. “Innovation and adaptation to new technologies have been inherent in the work of Indigenous artists worldwide for centuries. We’re excited, as always, to showcase a selection of these digital, web-based and installation works at imagineNATIVE.” The Festival’s selection of web-based new media works is available now through www.imagineNATIVE.org and from October 18-21, 2012 at the Radio & New Media Lounge at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St. W).

They include two new works by Cheryl L’Hirondelle (http://spiderlanguage.net) and Archer Pechawis & Sheila Urbanoski (http://lovingthespider.net) honouring and re-imagining the groundbreaking interactive website isi-pîkiskwêwin-ayapihkêsîsak (Speaking the Language of Spiders) created by Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew. L’Hirondelle features for a second time with NDNSPAM.com along with artists Jennifer Wemigwans (Wampum Interactive), Beth Aileen Dillon (Ginebigoog Ezhi-ayaajig/The Nature of Snakes), and Leena Minifie (Sense of Home). Their work is joined by new creations by The Ullus Collective (The Picto Prophesy Project) and The Indigenous Routes Collective (Indigenous Routes).

In partnership with A Space Gallery, imagineNATIVE presents Concealed Geographies, a group exhibition featuring the works of KC Adams, Jason Baerg and Justine McGrath along with three new works commissioned exclusively for this exhibition by Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Merritt Johnson, and Nigit’stil Norbert. Concealed Geographies is on now until October 27, 2012 at A Space Gallery (401 Richmond St. W., Suite 110). An artist talk and reception takes place October 19, 5:30pm.

The Festival also presents a special sneak preview installation of De Nort, an artistic collaboration between imagineNATIVE, the National Film Board of Canada, Vtape and ITWÉ Collective (Kevin Lee Burton, Caroline Monnet and Sébastien Aubin). This interactive installation preview takes place October 17-20 at VMAC Gallery (401 Richmond St. W., Suite 452), and in discussion Saturday, October 20, 10:30am at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) is the Festival’s first simultaneous national exhibition and presented in partnership with Pattison Onestop and Amnesty International Canada. Four commissioned one-minute silent digital works reflecting on the strength and importance of Indigenous women by artists Jesse Gouchey & Xstine Cook, Lisa Jackson, Cara Mumford and Angela Sterritt will be screened on more than 300 Toronto Transit Commission subway monitors to over one million viewers daily and nationally on 254 digital monitors in 33 shopping centres across Canada. The films have an accompanying website driving viewers to a resource page featuring artists, issues and links to organizations to find out more about the history and movement surrounding Indigenous women’s rights.

Join new media artists and thinkers for Alternative New Media on Screen, an innovative and interactive screening and discussion on Saturday, October 20 at 10:30am at the TIFF Bell Lightbox ($7/FREE to students/seniors/underemployed). A selection of the Festival’s alternative and new media offerings will be presented by attending artists, followed by a lively discussion on the creative and technical processes behind their works. This screening is followed by the Alternative Audiences and Interactive Storytelling panel, moderated by Steven Loft, at 1:00pm at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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http://www.mediaindigena.com/lisa-charleyboy/arts-and-culture/go-native-again-this-fall-withimaginenative-2012 Media Indigena

Go Native again this Fall with imagineNATIVE 2012!

BY LISA CHARLEYBOY, ON OCTOBER 13, 2012

It’s that time of year again, the time when the leaves begin to fall and we reluctantly bring out our boots and heavy coats. But fall also happens to be my favourite time of year because that means the annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is just around the corner. I like to think of it as NDN country’s TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). Films, celebrities, parties — what’s not to like?

A showcase of new works by Indigenous artists at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media, the imagineNATIVE festival is celebrating its 13th year. From October 17-21, 2012, events will take place at venues across downtown Toronto — many at the beautiful TIFF Bell Lightbox — with the recently-restored Bloor Cinema hosting opening night.

“I am proud of what we at imagineNATIVE as a team have done this year,” says festival Executive Director Jason Ryle. “We’ve really put together a really strong collection of programs and events for the community. We always keep at the forefront our mandate and our responsibilities — not just to the artists, but also to the community and our audiences,” says Ryle. “I think a large part of our success has been our devotion to that mandate, and clarity and focus in terms of what we do.”

With all the artistic expression and inspiration that it offers, imagineNATIVE is one of those festivals that gets digitally inked into my calendar year after year, not only for its fantastic films and events, but also the friendships that form there.

Here are some of the highlights of the festival that I’ve selected from its exciting lineup of films, workshops, and events. Admission to the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival ranges from $7 for an individual ticket to $110 for a festival pass. Hope I’ll see you there! *** Opening Night: The People of the Kattawapiskak River 66

This year’s opening night screening offers an enriching experience in the world premiere ofThe People of the Kattawapiskak River, directed by Alanis Obomsawin. This feature takes the viewer beyond the housing and poverty headlines of Attawapiskat First Nation to get a fuller glimpse of life on this northern Ontario reserve. The Opening Night Party following the screening will be at The Brant House on King Street West, so be sure to wear your best town clothes.

Friday Night: Canned Dreams According to imagineNATIVE’s Jason Ryle, “If there was one film that I’d like to see again is Canned Dreams [by Saami filmmaker Katja Gauriloff]. It’s an incredible documentary, really masterfully made, and the content of the documentary is very current. It’s a film that we can all relate to, but it’s also something that we’ve never really considered before. I really like work that takes something everyday and completely flips it and makes us think about things that we never thought about, and that’s whatCanned Dreams does.”

Saturday Night: The BEAT The annual music night at imagineNATIVE is always a fan favourite, a night where not only film festival participants congregate, but all of Toronto’s urban Natives too. It is definitely the event where you show off your new mukluks, or that medallion beadwork you’ve been waiting to wear for just the right occasion. This year, ‘The BEAT’ concert features blues rocker George Leach and contemporary-folk singer/songwriter Nick Sherman. It is sure to be a stomping good time.

Closing Night: The Lesser Blessed A film that won many hearts during its premiere at TIFF is The Lesser Blessed, adapted from a story

by Dogrib (Tlicho) authorRichard Van Camp and starring Benjamin Bratt, Tamara Podemski, and Kiowa Gordon (of Twilight fame). This dramatic feature film, set in the Northwest Territories, is a youthful coming of age story with a hint of grit. Following the screening, the Closing Night Awards Show (hosted by actor Billy Merasty) at the Mod Club Theatre will award $25,000 in cash and prizes to many deserving artists in a number of categories.

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http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=189181

Native truths Rounding up the best First Nations flicks

By NORMAN WILNER ImagineNATIVE FILM + MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL at TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King West), to Sunday (October 21). See Indie & Rep Film. imaginenative.org.

After opening earlier this week at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, the ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival settles into the TIFF Bell Lightbox for a run of features, documentaries and shorts addressing the lives and concerns of First Nations peoples all over the world.

A particular standout is Tim Wolochatiuk’s drama We Were Children (October 18; rating: NNNN). A number of documentaries and even a feature or two have been made about Canada’s residential schools program, which removed native children from their families and sent them to Catholic- and Anglican-run schools bent on turning them into good little Europeanized drones – often punishing them brutally when they failed to follow the program.

Folding interviews into a dramatized narrative, We Were Children tells the true stories of Glen Anaquod and Lyna Hart as representative of tens of thousands of similar experiences, but it doesn’t do the sanctimonious finger-wagging so common in Canadian historical dramas; it just plunges us into the nightmarish situation with its young heroes.

I was surprised to find Katja Gauriloff’s Canned Dreams (October 19; rating: NNN) on the schedule. It’s a Finnish documentary about the international labour that produces the ingredients in a can of European ravioli: tomatoes from Portugal, beef from Poland, pork raised in Denmark and slaughtered in Romania, and so forth.

It’s a more focused version of Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s spellbinding factory farming doc Our Daily Bread, if Geyrhalter had been a sadist bent on driving the viewer from the auditorium. It also has minimal First Nations content, making its inclusion in this festival seem a bit of a stretch.

Michael Melski’s Charlie Zone (October 19; rating: NNN) takes a generic action template and makes it feel – well, if not fresh, then at least lively. Glen Gould (DaVinci’s City Hall) stars as a fallen boxer hired to rescue a young woman (Charlie St. Cloud’s Amanda Crew) from a crack den, a job that naturally turns out to be more complicated than it first appears. It’s cheaply made, but the leads’ strong performances compensate for the production’s ragged edges.

The festival closes with Anita Doron’s The Lesser Blessed (October 21; rating: NN), a dull coming-of-age drama that premiered at last month’s Toronto Film Festival.

Set in a remote town in the Northwest Territories, it’s the sort of movie that gets made because it ticked the right boxes on some Telefilm bureaucrat’s list. The hero is a sensitive First Nations teenager (Joel Evans) with a buried secret who’s infatuated with a pretty classmate (Chloe Rose) and befriended by a volatile newcomer (Kiowa Gordon). But Doron seems more interested in creating striking images than in working with her actors, and the teen stars are utterly at sea.

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http://www.thegridto.com/culture/film/imaginenative-film-media-arts-festival/

ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival BY: JASON ANDERSON Oct 17-21 at various theatres.

It’s a nice gesture that the programmers of this year’s ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival have turned their opening-night gala into a kind of minicareer retrospective. Not only is the festival screening The People of the Kattawapiskak River—the latest film by Alanis Obomsawin—but it’s being preceded by Christmas at Moose Factory, the 1971 short that started the venerable Canadian filmmaker’s career. (The films screen on Oct. 17, 7 p.m. at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.)

Beyond showcasing Obomsawin’s durability, the double-header is a smart pairing: Both films deal with native settlements on the shores of James Bay. Christmas at Moose Factory is a kind of mood piece, combining a little girl’s narration with crayon drawings to give a child’s-eye view of the community—one that still works, 40 years later, to collapse the sense of distance between the director’s subjects and a hypothetical urban viewer.

The switch at the end to actual photographs of Cree families doesn’t contradict the scribbled, two-dimensional aesthetic: If anything, it gives the film a beguiling dual vision.

The People of the Kattawapiskak River is less poetic and more methodical: It’s an overview of the housing crisis that made headlines in 2011 and the ensuing media crush that resulted in all kinds of partisan posturing in Ottawa. Obomsawin summarizes the positions and interests of the various power players and then hunkers down with members of the Attawapiskat settlement, who seem reluctant to slide into their externally prescribed roles as victims. If the film is conventionally made, it still works effectively within that framework—it’s engaging without being overwrought.

Not all of the offerings at ImagineNATIVE are so serious-minded. The genre-oriented Witching Hour Shorts program (Oct. 19, 11:30 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) is highlighted by the Swedish entry, Retaliation for a Greater Good, a concise, dialogue-free thriller centred on a very valuable (and very dangerous) book. There are even pulpier pleasures on display in Charlie Zone (Oct. 19, 9:15 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox), which concerns a down-onhis luck Aboriginal boxer hired to pluck a poor little rich girl out of a crackhouse. It’s a bit like an East Coast gloss on Taken, with a strong performance in the lead from Glen Gould, who’s got the battered tough-guy thing down pat—he looks like he can take whatever the filmmakers can throw at him, which turns out to be plenty.

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Toronto.com - Listing

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ImagineNative Festival: Drama out of trauma Published on Tuesday October 16, 2012 Jason Anderson Special to the Star When it comes to discovering the breadth and depth of aboriginal cinema, Toronto moviegoers have had no shortage of opportunities in recent months. An ambitious series that ran all summer long, TIFF Bell Lightbox’s First Peoples Cinema demonstrated the vitality and diversity of cinematic visions by the world’s indigenous filmmakers. Now the Lightbox is one of several venues playing host to ImagineNative, the city’s annual showcase of film, video and new media by aboriginal peoples.

The fest’s 13th edition begins on Wednesday at 2 p.m. with a welcome gathering at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. As for the five-day program’s on-screen component, it opens with a strong double bill of new and old works by one of Canada’s foremost documentary filmmakers.

In The People of Kattawapiskak River — which makes its world premiere on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema — director Alanis Obomsawin creates a stark but sympathetic portrait of the Attawapiskat community in northern Ontario, whose desperate housing crisis and struggles with poverty continue to be national news.

And just as Obomsawin did in Christmas at Moose Factory — her debut short from 1971, which also plays ImagineNative’s opening gala — the director expresses a keen interest in the children of the community. It’s deeply affecting to see them bundled up in blankets and sweatshirts as they contend with the cold that has little trouble penetrating their makeshift and dilapidated homes.

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Another new film at ImagineNative recounts the sufferings of earlier generations. Drawn from the experiences of two survivors, We Were Children uses a combination of first-person narration and dramatic reenactments to portray horrific abuses that occurred in residential schools in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the late 1950s and ’60s.

In fact, some scenes may be so upsetting to viewers that the festival has partnered with theTruth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to have health support workers trained to address residential school trauma on hand at the screening at the Lightbox on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Thankfully, not every event at ImagineNative requires such sensitive handling. Viewers can expect something more playful from Tweet This!, a program of short films by young filmmakers, and Unsettling Sex, a set of experimental works that includes a new video by the reliably provocative Kent Monkman.

Other moviegoers may savour the oddly serene experience of watching Tibetan herdsmen demonstrate the many uses of yak feces in a documentary with the highly appropriate title ofDung.

In another thoughtful gesture, ImagineNative has even created a program to suit busy travelers.

Visible until Oct. 21 on the 300-plus screens located on subway platforms throughout the TTC are four new one-minute videos that were commissioned by the festival’s Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative. Other programs, panels, events and exhibitions — including a show of prints by Alanis Obomsawin at Open Studio — demonstrate ImagineNative’s eagerness to venture beyond the confines of movie screens and forge new connections between artists and the people they hope to engage and embolden.

The ImagineNative film and media arts festival runs Oct. 17-21.

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Executive Reads: Jason Ryle By: Notable Posted in: Shop - Nationwide || October 17, 2012, 3:00 pm Jason Ryle is the Executive Director at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which will take place this year from October 17 though 21. Jason oversees all aspects of the organization including programming, operations, finance, and the annual Festival. He sits on the Board of Directors for Vtape, an independent video distributor, and is a script reader for The Harold Greenberg Fund, which provides financial aid to Canadian filmmakers. As an award-winning writer, Jason has written for the Smithsonian Institution and numerous publications throughout North America.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry Rohinton Mistry has long been one of my favourite authors (years before Oprah book clubbed him, I feel it's important to add). I have yet to travel to India physically but truly feel I know this beautiful country and its people through his words. There's a love and a tenderness in how he writes about the terrible circumstances that happen to good people in A Fine Balance. I read this novel when I was relatively young and its central message that life is "a fine balance between hope and despair" has resonated with me ever since.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst Nick Guest, the central character of Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning Thatcher-era novel, is someone I strongly identify with, much to my chagrin. Spending my childhood between cultures and countries often made me feel like an outsider. And like Nick Guest (his surname clearly speaking to his lot in life) I was an observer rather than a participant in certain social settings that enticed and repelled in equal measures. But unlike Mr. Guest, the travel I've done for work that has taken me around the world has given me a different, positive perspective on where I fit in (and where I don't). When I think of this book it reminds me what a powerful gift becoming an adult can be.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham I am a proud sci-fi and comic book nerd so I can't let 'proper lit' steal all the thunder. The brilliant His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman almost made the cut, but I'm choosing The Chrysalids as my final notable novel. Written sometime when the Earth was still cooling (c. 1955) this sci-fi treat is one of the rare books I re-read every few years. I'm a sucker for anything post-apocalyptic (not sure exactly what this says about me) and the 10-year-old me loved that it was set in what was once Newfoundland & Labrador. Its story of evolution, acceptance, and escaping rural life still continue to capture my imagination.

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Documental “Diez Veces Venceremos” participará en Festival “ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts” en Canadá Posted on 28 de septiembre de 2012 http://adkimvn.wordpress.com/author/adkimvn/ El Festival “ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts” es un evento cinematográfico indígena y de artes mediáticas, que se celebra anualmente en Toronto en el mes de octubre, con el primer festival en 1999. Es un festival internacional que recopila los últimos trabajos de los pueblos indígenas en la vanguardia de la innovación en el cine, el vídeo, la radio y los nuevos medios, presentando una selección de las obras de todo el mundo, que reflejan la diversidad de los pueblos indígenas e ilustran la vitalidad y la excelencia de nuestro arte y la cultura en los medios de comunicación contemporáneos.

Sinopsis Documental: Acusado de un acto terrorista y encarcelado a raíz de una protesta en apoyo de los derechos territoriales Mapuche, Pascual Pichun escapa y huye a Argentina, donde vive en el exilio político. Siete años más tarde, Pichun hace la valiente decisión de regresar a su patria Mapuche en Chile, consciente de las posibles consecuencias de su regreso a casa. Después de cruzar la frontera clandestinamente, Pichun se reencuentra con su familia, explora su territorio tradicional y se enfrenta a la invasión cada vez mayor de las empresas multi-nacionales. Diez Veces Venceremos documenta las experiencias de un joven cuya fuerza, pasión y amor por su pueblo y su territorio lo convierte en un símbolo de la resistencia Mapuche contemporánea.

Argentina • 76 minutos • DVCAM Mapudungun y español con subtítulos en inglés Director: Cristian Jure Productor: Pascual Pichún Además de ser protagonista de este documental, Pascual Pichun (Mapuche) también es productor de la película. Él sigue siendo un activista, periodista y profesor de la Universidad de La Plata en Argentina.

Proyectado como una parte de: Spotlight Internacional de la Nación Mapuche II Sábado, 20 de octubre 14:00 TIFF Bell Lightbox Distribuidor: FBA UNLP Página del Festival: Imagine Native

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http://thetfs.ca/2012/10/18/imaginenative-review-toomelah/ Toronto Film Scene

18 Oct2012 THE AUTHOR

imagineNATIVE Review:Toomelah PAM FOSSENCOMMENTS (2) SHARE

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Ivan Sen’s new film, Toomelah, a look at the life and choices of a young boy in a remote community of Australia, will screen as part of imagineNATIVE 2012.

Ten-year-old Daniel doesn’t seem to have a lot of options the tiny town of Toomelah, a former outback mission. He doesn’t like school, so after a few scrapes with the other kids and his teacher, he decides not to bother going back. His parental figures have pretty much checked out, and he can’t go a day in town without someone telling him what a disappointment his father is. Friendship and guidance comes from the local drug dealer and his small posse of thugs. It begins to go to hell, with Daniel caught in the middle, when another drug-dealing gangster returns from prison to reclaim his territory.

From the opening credits of the film, over images of half-lit old athletic trophies, director Ivan Sen sets the tone. Daniel is searching for a male role model, someone to help him find his way to manhood.

Alternately bored and angry, Daniel’s search yields nothing but examples of faded and former glory.

Sen has constructed the film to evoke Daniel’s boredom and emptiness, something shared by most of Toomelah’s inhabitants. Slow moving shots pan around, but very little usually happens. As the limitless Australian terrain looms in the background, one is struck with the sense that Daniel’s life, by contrast, has nothing but limits.

Though it’s a dramatic work of fiction, it looks and feels like a documentary. Sen’s use of mostly nonprofessional (and extraordinary talented) actors from nearby communities creates totally believable characters. It’s bleak and honest, and frequently maddening.

Is Toomelah Essential imagineNATIVE viewing?

A fascinating but slow-moving coming of age film, Toomelah is essential viewing for anyone interested in films about the Australian experience.

Toomelah Screening Times Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 7:00 pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

More About This Movie Toomelah Trailer

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http://thetfs.ca/2012/10/17/imaginenative-review-my-louisiana-love/ Toronto Film Scene THE AUTHOR

imagineNATIVE Review: My Louisiana Love KRISTAL COOPERCOMMENTS (0) SHARE

Monique Verdin has a deep love for Lousiana, a place she lived as a child and returned to as an adult.

Her Father’s family is descended from the Houma Indians, and after graduating high school, Verdin moves in with her Grandmother in St. Bernard Parish to begin a video document of the “old ways” that the Houma used as a way to live off the land. As she becomes more entrenched in her descendants’ culture, she begins to look into the modern advancements that are threatening to suck her beloved Lousiana dry. As Lousiana is hit by Hurricane Katrina, then Rita and then the BP oil spill, Verdin finds 79

herself becoming an environmental activist, documenting the rapidly disappearing land and the many native people in Southern Louisiana Who are being affected. As Verdin notes in the film, “I can see how the illness of our land and waters breeds illness on our people but our love ties us to this place and makes us feel responsible to care for it.”

A truer title for a film could not have been chosen. Verdin documents her adoration and respect for Lousiana and its people, as well as her love for her family who have lived in Louisiana for over a century. In providing us with a brief history of the Southern Lousiana native settlers and her family, and in documenting their struggle to stay close to the land despite the ever-disappearing coastline, she very eleoquently communicates just why we should care about them too. This would make an excellent companion piece to 2008 Katrina documentary Trouble the Water, to get a complete picture of just how devastating the hurricane was and how much it continues to affect Louisiana and its residents. You can tell that Verdin and Director Sharon Linezo Hong have put their hearts and souls into My Louisiana Love and you’ll be hard-pressed not to fall completely in love with both the Verdin clan and Lousiana as seen through their eyes.

My Lousisiana Love screens as part of the Rising Tides: Environmental Program at imagineNATIVE 2012.

Is My Louisiana Love Essential imagineNATIVE Viewing?

Yes. Anyone who’s ever loved a place as though it were a family member will more than relate to this documentary. It’s a small but extremely affecting film that you may not have another chance to experience on the big screen.

My Lousiana Love Screening Times 

Sunday, October 21,2012 at 3:15pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox More About My Lousiana Love My Louisiana Love Trailer

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http://thetfs.ca/2012/10/18/imaginenative-2012-review-dung/ Toronto Film Scene

18 Oct2012 THE AUTHOR

imagineNATIVE Review: Dung WILLIAM BROWNRIDGECOMMENTS (0) SHARE

Director Lance No documents the lives of one family living on the Tibetan Plateau in Dung, screening at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Being resourceful is an important part of daily life on the plateau, and yak dung has become the most important piece of the puzzle. Showcasing the endless 81

amount of uses for dung, this documentary gives a very interesting look into the different ways that people use to survive.

The idea of this film may turn certain viewers off, but the final result is a visual wonder. Filmed on the Tibetan Plateau, Dung offers viewers a look at the incredible scenery that welcomes the inhabitants on a daily basis. The film also gives audiences a greater understanding of how important little things that we tend to ignore or dispose of can be.

Without yak dung, the people living on the plateau would be unable to survive. They use it to build walls, doghouses, and coolers to keep meat fresh. It helps keep the stove burning, as well as protecting it from cracking. Burnt dung ash is mixed with medicine for horses, to make it more effective and to help it last longer. They’re even able to sell it. It’s astounding what it can be used for. The only problem with the film is there is no explanation given to anything. By the end, there are a lot of questions that don’t get answered, and it would have been a much more informative documentary with some sort of narration.

Is Dung Essential imagineNATIVE Viewing?

This film lies somewhere in the middle. It’s fascinating to watch what dung is used for, although it may seem a bit disgusting to some viewers, but there’s such a lack of information in the film that it suffers.

A documentary should not only show us something we may not know, but it should also offer us information about what we’re viewing. Dung falls short in that respect, leaving viewers with too many unanswered question http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2012/10/18/attawapiskat-film-opens-imaginenative-festival-in-toronto/

Attawapiskat film opens imagineNative festival in Toronto NATIONAL NEWS | 18. OCT, 2012 BY APTN NATIONAL NEWS | 0 COMMENTS APTN National News The imagineNative Film Festival kicked off Wednesday night in Toronto.

The festival highlights Indigenous filmmaking.

Renowned filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will unveil her latest work, a film on Attawapiskat. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/18/imaginenative-opens-with-_n_1980487.html 82

ImagineNATIVE opens with Alanis Obomsawin's distinctive lens Alanis Obomsawin brought fans to their feet in Toronto Wednesday night, as the Canadian filmmaking icon helped kick off the ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival with her new doc about the crisis in Attawapiskat.

“You make me feel like I’m coming home,” she told the crowd about its warm welcome, after ascending the stage.

Obomsawin’s documentary film career has spanned four decades and more than 30 films. Her work is dedicated to Aboriginal peoples and she chronicles First Nations experiences, but her exploration of social and political issues is of interest to all Canadians. Of Abenaki descent, she has received several honorary degrees and awards, including her appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Her film Christmas at Moose Factory started off Wednesday night's screening and it definitely took the audience back. It was her first short film, created in the late ‘60s. The film presented a creative take in documenting the lives of Cree children through their illustrations, renderings, and their own voices, as the children do the storytelling from their perspective.

Presenting a distinct point of view is exactly what Obomsawin is known for and this was reiterated with the night's feature film. In her new doc The People of the Kattawapiskak River, Obomsawin offers the audience a glimpse into the previously untold story of community members from Attawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario. Last October, when Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence declared a state of emergency because of the state of housing on the reserve, the small community became the spotlight of media attention all over the globe.

That spotlight wasn’t always so friendly and many media stories focussed on the chief and council of the community, placing the blame on them rather than exploring the issues at hand.

The documentary captures the people who live in Attawapiskat, who share their stories and why they continue to live there despite some deplorable conditions. There is finally a personal touch to the tale, so vastly different than the mass media reports that emerged last fall.

Despite the seemingly gloomy feel to the film, it offered a bright light of hope and change that was felt throughout the cinema. At the end of the screening, Obomsawin was joined on the stage by Spence, NDP MP Charlie Angus, and members of the Attawapiskat First Nation. There was a celebratory cheer in the air that must have contributed to her feeling at home in a theatre where her work, once again, was being warmly received.

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CHINO KINO CINEMA, FILM INDUSTRY, MUSIC, ARTS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

2012 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Oct 17-21

The 13th imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival begins tonight with a gala screening featuring the world premiere of Alanis Obomsawin's The People of Kattawapiskak River at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (506 Bloor Street West).

Beforehand, the festival will officially launch with a Welcome Gathering, a free event held at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto.

The closing night presentation will be Anita Doron's The Lesser Blessed, which recently had its premiere at the 37th annual Toronto International Film Festival.

In addition to many other screenings, the festival will host their always-memorable music night The Beat at Lee’s Palace, and many industry events including the ROCK YOUR DOC! Documentary Pitch Competition and the DRAMA QUEEN! Drama Series Pitch Competition.

The 13th imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival continues to October 21, mostly at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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OCTOBER 16, 2012 AT 2:30 PM CU LT UR E

imagineNATIVE Turns Lucky Thirteen The annual film and media-arts festival focuses on Indigenous stories.

BY KIVA REARDON Alanis Obomsawin's new documentary, The People of Kattawapiskak River, will open the fest.

imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival Various venues October 17–21 Individual screening tickets $7 to $12 For imagineNATIVE, thirteen is no unlucky number. Established in 1998 by Cynthia Lickers-Sage, the annual festival of work by Indigenous filmmakers and artists has beaten the odds, managing to carve a niche for itself on Toronto’s busy film calendar—and a meaningful one, at that. Part of its charm is the diversity of forms and genres that it encompasses: fiction feature films, documentaries, shorts, radio broadcasts, music videos, and art exhibits. Despite being a film festival in name, imagineNATIVE’s focus has never been on the medium. It’s about the stories.

The festival begins with the world premiere of Alanis Obomsawin’s new documentary, The People of the Kattawapiskak River. An acclaimed Canadian filmmaker (whose 80th birthday coincides with the festival), Obomsawin rose to prominence with her 1993 documentary on the Oka Crisis, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. Her work has centered on Indigenous rights, with the aim of sharing the stories of First Nations people—particularly those not heard (or actively ignored) in the mainstream 86

media. For her new work, Obomsawin journeys to Kattawapiskak River, 700 kilometres north of Timmins, Ontario, in Cree territory. Around 1700 people live in this remote community. One thousand of them are in need of homes.

The documentary begins with a montage of Ministers of Parliament from all political parties tossing around the word “Kattawapiska.” By presenting politicians’ hollow cries for more housing, Obomsawin quickly establishes the disconnect between Ottawa and the very real crisis on the reserve. Tracing the Cree’s long history of disappointments (beginning with Catholic missionaries and pre-confederation heads of state, and ending in the present day), Obomsawin eschews talking to politicians. Instead, she focuses on those living and working in the Kattawapiska community. Her intimate interviews never reek of poverty porn or voyeurism. Instead, they give platforms to people who belong to demographics that are often talked about, but rarely listened to: a single father giving a tour of his condemned home; a teacher reduced to frustrated tears because her students have to choose between coming to class and adequate housing; a mother who dreams of her son becoming chief one day. Though the subject is dour, Obomsawin doesn’t sentimentalize it. Instead, she captures a pragmatic truth: to dream of the future, one needs to be able to take root in the present.

Kattawapiskak River is paired with Obomsawin’s first film, Christmas at Moose Factory, a 1971 short comprised of simple illustrations drawn and explained by children from the titular community on James Bay. It’s easy to write off the short as “cute,” but it dovetails with the themes expressed in Kattawapiskak River and Obomsawin’s other works: delving into the untold story, giving a voice to those who are marginalized.

A snow-swept scene from The Tundra Book.

The festival’s features programme offers a mixed bag. Not to linger on the bad, it suffices to say that Michael Melski’s Charlie Zone aims for Flashpoint via The Wire, but lacks the basic tension of the former and the nuance of the latter. (Though fans of the short-lived prime-time soap Whistler will recognize B.C.’s Amanda Crew.) By contrast, the documentary by Aleksei Vakhrushev, The Tundra Book, paints an illuminating (and often funny) portrait of life on the Chukotka peninsula in Russia’s Arctic Circle. After a brief overview of the Indigenous population who live in the region, the on-screen 87

text tells viewers: “So, it’s noon in Chaun tundra. -37 C. Squally wind.” Though seemingly glib, this sentence sets the tone for the film, which captures the daily existence of Vukvukai, a 72-year-old deer herder.

Kaniehtio (Tiio) Horn plays a loutish Quebecker looking for cheap rez smokes.

In the festival’s shorts programme, one of the strongest is Da Smoke Shack, a satirical look at a day in the life of a cashier selling native cigarettes. Directed and written by Kaniehtio (Tiio) Horn, the short humourously lampoons the boredom, monotony, and isolation of smoke-shack work. Horn plays not only the cashier, but also the cashier’s boyfriend and a white, loutish Quebec customer. Da Smoke Shack captures the frustrating cyclical nature of life on the reserve, concluding with the line: “Time to go home and do the same shit I did all day.” Fittingly, the short is paired with an excellent documentary on the subject of Native cigarettes, Smoke Traders.

Closing night will feature The Lesser Blessed, which, having played at TIFF, might have less pull for serious film fans. Adapted from Richard Van Camp’s novel, the film is set in the Northwest Territories.

It centres on Larry Sole (Joel Nathan Evans), a man who is bullied because of his past. The story is one of finding the balance between the present and the past.

And this is merely the tip of the iceberg. After the festival kicks things off with a welcome gathering at the Native Canadian Centre, the space will host new media and digital installations (such as Concealed Geographies, a group exhibit which examines geography through an Indigenous lens) and an exhibition of Obomsawin’s prints, which have never been displayed in Toronto before. So no matter what your style, there’s sure to be a story that speaks to you.

Images courtesy of imagineNATIVE. CORRECTION: October 17, 9:37 AM This post previously stated that the character Larry Sole is “bullied because of his native roots.” He is in fact bullied because of past (burns that cover his body, his interest in metal, etc.). The post has been edited to reflect this.

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imagineNATIVE Film Festival Opens with Tribute to Alanis Obomsawin

By ICTMN Staff October 18, 2012 The 13th imagineNATIVE Film Festival opened Wednesday with Alanis Obomsawin's documentary 'The People of Kattawapiskak River.'

The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival festival opened yesterday in Toronto, and the first screenings showcased the work of a filmmaker who’s been documenting Native stories for over 40 years.

Alanis Obomsawin, Abenaki, has made a career of chronicling the Aboriginal people of Canada in film, and the warm welcome she received upon taking the stage last night reflected the vast respect she has earned from the Native film community. “You make me feel like I’m coming home,” she told the audience, according to a report at CBC.ca.

First up was her first film, the 14-minute short “Christmas at Moose Factory,” first seen in 1971, about Native children at the Horden Hall residential school. The feature presentation that followed, The People of Kattawapiskak River, is Obomsawin’s latest, and documents the living conditions of the Attawapiskat First Nation in the north Ontario.

On October 8, 2011, the Nation’s chief, Theresa Spence, made global news reports when she declared a state of emergency. Many tribal members were living in tents or other inadequate housing, and with the onset of winter temperatures their lives were at risk.

Attawapiskat quickly became a political football, the topic of the week for talking heads and editorializers. But little was being done. This is the scene as Obomsawin sets it in her documentary. “By presenting politicians’ hollow cries for more housing, Obomsawin quickly establishes the disconnect between Ottawa and the very real crisis on the reserve,” reads a review at Torontoist. Obomsawin meets with the people, and “her intimate interviews never reek of poverty porn or voyeurism. Instead, they give platforms to people who belong to demographics that are often talked about, but rarely listened to. … Though the subject is dour, Obomsawin doesn’t sentimentalize it. Instead, she captures a pragmatic truth: to dream of the future, one needs to be able to take root in the present.”

Obamsawin’s strength as a filmmaker is capturing genuine stories from the unheard — in a June interview for Wawatay News Online, she spoke of “the art of listening.” “To this day, I never start with filming people,” she said. “When I go and see them, I bring a tape recorder and just listen for hours. … I never get tired of listening to people.”

Also published at: 89

13th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 | Posted by shael Stolberg The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival celebrates its 13th year October 17-21, 2012. Held in various venues in downtown Toronto, imagineNATIVE showcases new works by Indigenous artists at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media.

The Festival’s Opening Day Celebrations kicks off with a Welcome Gathering at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto (16 Spadina Road) on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. with remarks from imagineNATIVE, an honoured elder and traditional singers. imagineNATIVE’s popular Opening Night Gala screening returns to the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema at 7:00 p.m. followed by the Opening Night Party at The Brant House (522 King Street West).

“We’re incredibly excited about this year’s line up as imagineNATIVE once again presents innovative, beautiful, challenging and cultural works by Indigenous artists from Canada and around the world,” says Jason Ryle, Executive Director. “This year’s programming includes numerous World Premieres, art exhibitions, industry events, and social gatherings for everyone.”

Highlights of this year’s Festival include an International Spotlight on the Mapuche Nation, one of the largest Indigenous nations in Latin America. This Spotlight showcases riveting videos made by Mapuche filmmakers and addresses themes of land, culture, and resistance.

New Media and digital arts continue to exert a strong presence in our lives and at the Festival, including the World Premiere group exhibition, Concealed Geographies co-curated by Suzanne Morrissette and Julie Nagam. This exhibition, held at A Space Gallery (401 Richmond Street West, Studio 110) from September 22-October 27, 2012, examines geographical places from Indigenous perspectives. imagineNATIVE is also proud to present De Nort, a stunning interactive digital work that provides a unique glimpse into life on a reserve. This World Premiere work is the first commission offered in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada’s NFB Interactive. imagineNATIVE also celebrates a living legend with a rare solo exhibition of prints by acclaimed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. Never before presented in Toronto, a small collection of etchings made by Alanis over the last 30- years will be presented and available for sale at Open Studio (401 Richmond Street West, Studio 104) from October 18-21, 2012. imagineNATIVE continues its popular The Beat concert on Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 9:00 p.m. at Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor Street West), and the Closing Night Awards Show on Sunday, October 21, 2012 at 9:00 p.m., hosted by actor Billy Merasty, where over $20,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded to 13 outstanding filmmakers and artists.

The Festival also offers numerous artist talks, a FREE Industry Series of workshops and panels, screenings and exhibitions.

Admission to the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival ranges from $7 for an individual ticket to $110 for a Festival Pass, in addition to many FREE events and screenings. There is truly something for everyone of all ages at imagineNATIVE! For more information, visit: www.imaginenative.org

http://www.northernstars.ca/News/01210220843_imagine.html#.UNE-4G-zj_h 90

http://thinkinganddreaming.ca/2012/10/18/the-people-of-the-kattawapiskat-river/

Thinking and Dreaming The People of the Kattawapiskak River Posted on October 18, 2012by fearlessanalyst

I sit here in my large, comfortable, well-heated home, almost trembling with reverberation from seeing Alanis Obomsawin’s film, “The People of the Kattawapiskak River” at the ImagineNative film festival in Toronto. Every Canadian needs to see it.

It’s late, and I’ll soon hit the sack, unworried about a fire starting in the night from improper wiring or an overheated makeshift stove. I don’t have to worry about the approaching winter with 40 below zero cold but little insulation in my “temporary” ‘emergency’ trailer. And I don’t have to worry about feeding or clothing my children, or whether they soon will lose our mother tongue – and our traditional survival skills, like snaring a rabbit.

I don’t have to worry that when I wake up tomorrow my neighbour’s adolescent boy may have died of alcohol poisoning or suicide. Or in the final analysis, of boredom, and deep feelings of inadequacy, chronic depression, despair.

And to realize that most of this misery is the result of cruel and ignorant exploitation by my ancestors’ governments and churches. I feel shame, to the point of tears, whenever I am reminded of the residential school history.

You cannot, for example, take a young boy far away from his family and everything that is familiar and safe then, while he is already suffering from loneliness and homesickness, subject him to the additional cruelty of abuse, and expect him to become a strong, confident, emotionally healthy man who can lead his people to success and happiness. You are more likely instead to drive him to drink, a life of nightmares and terrible memories, misery, and early death.

“The answer” is not self-flagellation. We can’t undo the crimes that were done. What wecan do is everything in our power to make amends including all the help and support that will ever be needed. There are many smart, impressive indigenous people trying to fix the wounds, in creative ways, but they need all the help they can get, because it was an emotional “bloodbath.” We owe at least this.

And Restitution. We should all be talking about this.

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http://tracingmemory.com/2012/10/19/i-heart-imaginative/

Tracing Memory I heart ImagiNATIVE October 19, 2012 Last night, I attended the opening night screening at ImagiNATIVE, the indigenous film and new media festival in Toronto. In short, it was awesome. Alanis Obomsawin’s first film, Christmas in Moose Factory (1971) and her most recent film, The People of the Kattawapiskak River (2012) were screened. I feel I could write a lot about these two films, about how well they communicate so many things that are often so hard to express, about family life, about challenges and resilience, about colonialism and injustice, but also about optimism and hope. But, these days, most of my writing is targeted toward the dissertation, so instead, I will simply say that they are two wonderful films that I hope people get to see. To read a review, check out Lisa Charleyboy for the CBC. The festival has also integrated artwork into Toronto’s urban landscape. While waiting for the subway after the film, I saw that the public transit’s screens were showing artwork dedicated to raising awareness about and paying respect to the many indigenous women who are missing or have been murdered and whose cases remain unsolved. The art project is called the Stolen Sisters Initiative.

ImagiNATIVE is on until Sunday.

Check it out!

More information on the Stolen Sisters Initiative from the artintransit website: National Exhibition by Indigenous Artists brings Indigenous Women’s Rights to the Forefront Pattison Onestop, imagineNATIVE and Amnesty International Canada co-present Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI), a national project presenting four commissioned works that celebrate and honour Indigenous women and their contributions as strong, successful and valued members of society.

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The four one-minute, silent digital works were created by award-winning, Canadian Indigenous artists: Jesse Gouchey and Xstine Cook (LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY), Lisa Jackson (SNARE), Cara Mumford (WHEN IT RAINS) and Angela Sterritt (YOUR COURAGE WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED).

“I’m honoured to be selected to participate in the SSDI. It’s through art that we can express the human side of tragic social issues like this, so often lost in news coverage,” says Genie award-winning filmmaker, Lisa Jackson. “It’s an opportunity to recognize the women at the heart of the issue and to bring an awareness of the violence against them to a broader audience.”

SSDI will play on the Pattison Onestop subway screens to over 1 million Toronto’s daily commuters and nationally on 254 digital monitors in 33 shopping centres across Canada, at the Calgary International Airport, and TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

The Festival’s SSDI webpage (http://imaginenative.org/festival2012/SSDI) includes details on mall and shopping centre locations screening the SSDI, a resource page featuring artists, issues and links to organizations to find out more about the history and movement surrounding Indigenous women’s rights.

“The passion of our partners, collaborators and artists to bring attention to such an important issue to potentially over 2.5 million viewers is an unprecedented opportunity,” beams Daniel Northway-Frank, Programming + Industry Manager. “To challenge our artists to marry artistic style and social justice is a new and exciting venture. We hope this initiative adds a strong voice and attention to the Indigenous women’s rights movement in Canada, and spurs action and awareness through creative outlets in other Indigenous communities and countries around the world, which sadly have similar experiences.”

The SSDI project started as a call by imagineNATIVE and its partners to Canada’s Aboriginal artistic community to conceive of a video piece creatively reflecting and responding to the Stolen Sisters, a term adopted by the Aboriginal community and larger social justice organizations of the struggle to find answers for the over 500 official (and arguably more) unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada.

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Kalül Trawün_Reunión del Cuerpo viaja a imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival en Toronto Jue, 10/18/2012 - 04:06 |

que se teje

Kalül Trawün_Reunión del Cuerpo viaja a imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival en Toronto

Esta obra fílmica de Francisco Huichaqueo expuesta y rodada entre el 17 de diciembre y el 15 de enero en la Sala de Arte MNBA Mall Plaza Vespucio, correspondiente al proyecto Museo Sin Muros viaja invitada al festival de Toronto imagineNATIVE Film Festival. En Kalül Trawün el artista aborda la temática del mestizaje y la relación entre el Estado y los pueblos originarios desde una postura distinta a la polaridad del nosotros y los otros.

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Desde 1998 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival es un festival internacional emplazado en Toronto que promueve y difunde las creaciones más recientes de artistas indígena en la vanguardia de las innovaciones en cine , video, radio y nuevos medios. La programación del festival, las charlas y talleres atraen y conectan a los cineastas, artistas mediales , compradores, programadores y profesionales de la industria de todo el mundo.

La diversidad de los trabajos en el festival es un reflejo de la diversidad de los pueblos nativos el mundo y deja de manifiesto la vitalidad y excelencia de sus creaciones.

ImagineNATIVE está comprometido con la lucha en contra de estereotipos y mitos en torno a los pueblos indígena y es a través de esta plataforma que pretende mostrar sus perspectivas únicas e historias particulares .

Kalül Trawün_Reunión del Cuerpo fue exhibida en el MNBA como obra en proceso, y su resultado, una pieza audiovisual homónima, consideró como elemento fundamental el registro de los visitantes a la muestra montada en la Sala de Arte Mall Plaza Vespucio en la comuna de La Florida. Esta propuesta se realizó de acuerdo al planteamiento de la curadora María José Rojas, perteneciente a la agrupación Kinoki, dedicada a la investigación de los lenguajes audiovisuales experimentales. Dicho colectivo hace énfasis en el distanciamiento cultural entre chilenos e indígenas y pone especial atención a las diferencias de los procesos creativos de los artistas influenciados por origen cultural. Este es el caso del artista Francisco Huichaqueo.

Kalül Trawün_Reunión del Cuerpo se plantea como una instancia de diálogo entre el artista y el espectador, a la vez que entre la cultura chilena y la mapuche, conversaciones de los que Francisco Huichaqueo forma parte hace algún tiempo. Reconocido en el ámbito del cine indígena por su trabajo sobre la problemática e identidad mapuche, ésta propuesta se inserta en el circuito nacional e internacional del video arte, la animación y el cine ensayo.

En MENCER, su obra anterior recién exhibida en el Primer Festival Indigena de Buenos Aires, Huichaqueo construye íntegramente la estructura e historia del film en base a imágenes presentadas en sueños y bajo la lógica onírica. En sus obras anteriores como Fuego en el Aire, Antilef La caída del sol y Che Uñüm_ Gente Pájaro, la presencia de los sueños era importante, pero el proceso se veía más matizado por preocupaciones estéticas de la academia occidental. Con el recrudecer del conflicto entre el Pueblo Mapuche y el Estado Chileno, surge con él una fuerte sensación de distancia, a veces inabordable, entre ambas cosmovisiones y nociones de bienestar, poder y desarrollo. Dentro de este contexto, y respondiendo al llamado de líderes indígenas de crear puentes entre las dos culturas y de sacar provecho de los estudios y conocimientos de los Mapuches cuyo destino ha sido el de 96

ir a la Universidad, y teniendo la convicción que este proceso de reconocimiento e independencia sólo se puede iniciar una vez que entendamos nuestras formas de ver y comprender el mundo, Francisco Huichaqueo decide dar una visión interna del proceso de creación de una obra audiovisual con herramientas creadas y explotadas por el mundo occidental pero bajo la inspiración y energía creadora de un Mapuche como forma de aportar a este reconocerse y respetarse como Otro.

Partiendo desde el supuesto de que la creación es un proceso en el que se está involucrado individualmente, pero también se está en contacto con una energía grupal, tribal y ancestral, entendiendo por esto que hay un conocimiento y sentido de pertenencia traspasado desde generaciones anteriores por vía de la sangre y de los sueños que entrega la orientación del trabajo, esta obra audiovisual será filmada dentro de la galería con presencia del público y posible participación de quienes estén dispuestos a entrar en una dinámica creadora con el equipo de filmación. Los personajes ejecutan acciones performáticas reaccionando a la energía y pulso del momento y de la situación, partiendo de cierto estímulo dado por el director a manera de susurro inspirador. No existe guión previo ni instrucciones propiamente tales, los márgenes de esta acción están dados por el contexto de la situación, por la relación con el público y con el director, de esta forma no podemos hablar de actuación y el resultado de la acción y de la filmación, en consecuencia, es imprevisible. Esta improvisación le otorga poder al performer, pero también al público asistente que, con su presencia, influye en el resultado de la obra. A través de este mecanismo se quiere vivenciar esta experiencia de la forma en que se hace un ritual, una ceremonia grupal, donde el espectador se convierte en parte de la tribu, experiencia fundamental en la concepción de la sociedad Mapuche, aportando a la creación de una imagen de la cultura indígena más allá del estereotipo folklórico difundido por la cultura occidental.

Enlace con sitio del festival: 97

http://imaginenative.org/festival2012/node/1871

Contacto: María José Rojas

mjrojas@kinoki.cl

Sinopsis: Esta obra da cuenta de una experiencia llevada a cabo en una galería de arte perteneciente al Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes instalada dentro de un centro comercial en la cuidad de Santiago. Se trabajó en conjunto a una familia en torno al concepto de la reunión Mapuche y el paisaje social actual. Las acciones corresponden a improvisaciones dentro de un marco general dado por el propio director dentro de el concepto del trawün mapuche. La participación del público durante la filmación es una clara manifestación de solidaridad e identificación con la lucha del pueblo Mapuche por sus derechos y dignidad.

Título: Kalül Trawün_ Reunión del Cuerpo Dirección: Francisco Huichaqueo.

Cámara: Francisco Huichaqueo, Paulo Fernández, Fernando Mendoza.

Edición Francisco Huichaqueo.

Duración: 25:min.

Formato: Video HDV. Música: Rodrigo Contreras; Ignacio Fernández.

Dirección de arte: Pablo Mansilla, María José Rojas Curatoría: María José Rojas.

Interpretes: Malen Aniñir, Valentina Caniuñir, David Aniñir, Carolina Kabrapan, Rodrigo Contreras.

Vestuario: María Jose Rojas, Carolina kabrapan, Francisco Ríos.

Locación: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Santiago.

Financiamiento: KINOKI, IACCTIS, CONADI y Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.

2012

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http://www.elespectadorimaginario.com/noticias/filmes-mapuches-se-destacan-en-la-programacionde-imaginative/

Filmes mapuches se destacan en la programación de Imagine Native 17/10/2012

Por Pablo Gamba

Cuatro

filmes

de

realizadores

mapuches figuran en la programación del Festival de Cine y Artes de los Medios Imagine Native, que se realiza desde hoy hasta el 21 de octubre en Toronto, Canadá.

El festival dedica una sección especial a las películas de ese pueblo originario de Suramérica, en la que figuran los filmes Wallmapu, dirigido por Jeannette Paillán; Kalul Trawun, dirigido por Francisco Huichaqueo, y En el nombre del progreso, dirigido por Danko Mariman, de Chile, y Diez veces venceremos, producido por Pascual Pichún, de Argentina.

El programa también incluye Tatuushi, dirigida por Jorge Montiel, del pueblo wayuu de Venezuela; Silvestre Pantaleón, dirigida por Roberto Olivares, del pueblo maya de México; Narcisa, del colectivo indígena Cineminga de Colombia, y Entre dos aguas, dirigida por Ludovico Pigeon, de los pueblos que hablan quechua de Perú.

Vaya a la página web de Imagine Native Foto: Kalul Trawun

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http://www.artes.uchile.cl/noticias/85842/francisco-huichaqueo-estreno-pelicula-enfestival-de-canada

El pasado sábado 20 de octubre:

Francisco Huichaqueo estrenó película en festival de Canadá En el marco del ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival de Toronto, el profesor del Departamento de Artes Visuales estrenó "Kalül Trawün_Reunión del Cuerpo", pieza audiovisual en la que aborda la temática del mestizaje y la relación entre el Estado y los pueblos originarios.

"Quise construir una película en la galería, donde la ambientación y los escenarios fuesen una instalación de arte contemporáneo. Para ello, la Sala de Arte funcionará como un set, representando también el encierro y la reducción del cuerpo mapuche, como si fuese una especie de cárcel", señalaba Francisco Huichaqueo en diciembre de 2011 sobre Kalül Trawün_ Reunión del Cuerpo, propuesta expositiva que calificó como una obra en proceso y con cuya inauguración dio inicio al rodaje de la pieza audiovisual del mismo nombre que realizó íntegramente a partir de las escenas que grabó durante el periodo de exhibición de dicha muestra.

Así, entre el 17 de diciembre y el 15 de enero pasados, este profesor del Departamento de Artes Visuales obtuvo las imágenes que dan forma a su nueva producción, una propuesta que consideró como elemento fundamental el registro de los visitantes a esta exposición que fue montada en la Sala 100

de Arte que el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes tiene en el Mall Plaza Vespucio y que, bajo la curatoría de la artista María José Rojas, se planteó como una instancia de diálogo entre el artista y el espectador, a la vez que entre la cultura chilena y la mapuche, problemáticas que Francisco Huichaqueo ya había abordado en trabajos anteriores.

"No existe guión previo ni instrucciones propiamente tales, los márgenes de esta acción están dados por el contexto de la situación, por la relación con el público y con el director", explica María José Rojas respecto a cómo se trabajó en Kalül Trawün, agregando que "esta improvisación le otorga poder al performer, pero también al público asistente que, con su presencia, influye en el resultado de la obra.

A través de este mecanismo se quiere vivenciar esta experiencia de la forma en que se hace un ritual, una ceremonia grupal, donde el espectador se convierte en parte de la tribu, experiencia fundamental en la concepción de la sociedad Mapuche, aportando a la creación de una imagen de la cultura indígena más allá del estereotipo folklórico difundido por la cultura occidental".

Kalül Trawün_ Reunión del Cuerpo se estrenó el pasado 20 de octubre en el ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, festival internacional que no sólo promueve y difunde las creaciones más recientes de artistas indígenas que trabajan en cine, video, radio y nuevos medios, sino que además, y a partir de los trabajos que allí se presentan, busca dar cuenta de la diversidad de los pueblos indígenas del mundo así como de la vitalidad y excelencia de su arte y cultura.

Texto: Isis Díaz López / Periodista Facultad de Artes Fuente: Comunicado de prensa Fotografías: Cortesía de Francisco Huichaqueo Lunes 22 de octubre de 2012

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Documental indígena “Entre Dos Aguas” será proyectado en Canadá 28TH SEP 2012 Corto documental de CHIRAPAQ Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Perú, competirá con lo mejor del arte audiovisual indígena del mundo.

Película explora el impacto negativo del cambio climático en los pueblos andinos y amazónicos del Perú.

El corto documental “Entre Dos Aguas”, producido por CHIRAPAQ Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Perú, competirá con audiovisuales indígenas de nivel internacional en la 13ava edición del ImagineNATIVE Film+Media Arts Festival que se realizará en Ontario, Canadá, del 17 al 21 de Octubre. Esta será además la única producción audiovisual indígena de Perú presente en el Festival.

“Entre Dos Aguas” expone las dificultades que enfrentan los pueblos indígenas del Perú frente al cambio climático: desde el incremento de las lluvias, pasando por el derretimiento de los glaciares hasta la pérdida de la biodiversidad.

A través de las voces de los afectados, el corto dirigido por Ludovico Pigeon, concluye que pese a que los pueblos indígenas son los que menos han contribuido en causar este fenómeno, sí son los más afectados.

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La película fue realizada gracias al apoyo de la organización indígena Tebtebba, aliada de CHIRAPAQ para promover la participación activa de líderes y pueblos indígenas frente a este problema desde el quehacer político así como el medioambiental.

El ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival celebra los últimos trabajos de artistas y agrupaciones indígenas en la vanguardia de la innovación en cine, video, radio y nuevos medios de comunicación.

Cada año, presenta una selección de los trabajos más atractivos y distintivos de los pueblos indígena de Canadá y el mundo.

Es hoy considerado como uno de los festivales de arte audiovisual indígena más importantes del mundo y un evento imprescindible en el escenario cultural de Canadá.

La presencia de CHIRAPAQ en este espacio ha sido posible gracias el apoyo de David Hernández Palmar, realizador indígena Wayuu de Venezuela.

Desde hace ocho años CHIRAPAQ promueve la formación de comunicadores indígenas, así como la difusión del cine y video indígena en nuestro país, como estrategia para el reconocimiento de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas. Esta labor la realiza como miembro del Grupo Impulsor de la Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Cine y Video de los Pueblos Indígenas CLACPI. Para mayor información sobre el festival visite www.imaginenative.org

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Obras audiovisuales Mapuche se presentaron en Festival de Cine y Nuevo Arte ImagineNATIVE de Canadá Posted on 28 de octubre de 2012by adkimvn

(Toronto – Octubre, 2012) Cada año, el festival Canadiense de cine y nuevo arte imagineNATIVE se enfoca en artistas indígenas de alrededor del mundo. Este año fue el turno de la nación Mapuche, con las premieres internacionales de En el Nombre del Progreso, de Danko Mariman, Diez Veces Venceremos de Cristian Jure, la presentación de Wallmapu, de Jeannette Paillan y Kalul Trawun de Francisco Huichaqueo.

Las cuatro obras audiovisuales presentadas, proporcionan una mirada general de las realidades de los Mapuche en la sociedad contemporánea Sudamericana y su cultura. Ademas de mostrar los filmes, estos fueron acompañados de un panel en el que los cineastas invitados charlaron acerca de los problemas que representa ser un cineasta indígena en América Latina.

Las Obras Audiovisuales en el programa especial de imagineNATIVE incluyeron: En El Nombre Del Progreso * Premier Internacional* Director: Danko Mariman 104

Quien define la noción de progreso? Para muchos Mapuche vivir en la región de la Araucanía en el sur de Chile, el concepto capitalista – y la búsqueda agresiva – del progreso está en oposición con sus formas de ver la vida. Producida con financiamiento exclusivo de Mariman, este es un documental con una perspectiva cien por ciento activista.

Wallmapu Director: Jeannette Paillán Cubriendo más de 400 años de historia, Paillan da una visión general de esta misma desde la perspectiva Mapuche, desde los tiempos del primer contacto con los españoles Esta explicación compleja de la colonización y continua resistencia en territorio Mapuche es la esencia de Wallmapu.

Kalul Trawun Director: Francisco Huichaqueo A través de un lente innovador, Huichaqueo documenta una pieza de arte performance montada en un centro comercial de Santiago. Un paisaje evocativo de sonidos es tejido con escenas del documental así como con imágenes poéticas que en conjunto le proporcionan una voz a la lucha Mapuche por su tierra y sus derechos culturales. Esta pieza de performance, puesta en escena por una familia, está basada en el concepto Mapuche de Trawun o unión refleja una fuerte creencia en la conexión de el cuerpo físico con el mundo natural.

Diez Veces Venceremos * Premier Internacional* Director: Cristian Jure Acusado de actos de terrorismo y encarcelado después de una protesta a favor de los derechos sobre el territorio Mapuche, Pascual Pichun escapa a Argentina, donde vive en exilio político. Siete años después, Pichun toma la valiente decisión de regresar a su tierra natal en Chile, teniendo en cuenta las consecuencias potenciales de su viaje. Diez Veces Venceremos documenta la experiencias de un joven, cuya fuerza, pasión y amor por su gente y territorio lo hace un símbolo de la Resistencia Mapuche contemporánea.

Panel Industria Creativa de imagineNATIVE Junto con los estrenos mundiales, se realizó un panel ante la industria creativa indígena internacional – moderada por Rodrigo Ardiles de la Comisión Fílmica Lacustre de la Araucanía, en los Studios del TiFF Lightbox. La temática de la presentación “La experiencia de Filmar en territorios indígenas en América Latina”.

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http://www.yepan.cl/canada-mapuche-spotligth-en-el-inaginenative-2012/

Canadá: Mapuche Spotligth en el InagineNative 2012 POR ADMIN – 19 OCTUBRE, 2012

Danko Mariman y Francisco Huichaqueo en el Estreno Mundial de Realizadores Mapuche imagineNATIVE 2012 – Toronto, Canadá

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imagineNATIVE FESTIVAL CONTEST Get Engaged with the ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival!

Press +1 and the13th Annual imagineNATIVE Festival want to see you at the weekend happenings in Toronto.

Win a Double guest pass to the Festival for October 20th and 21st!

Head over to our FACEBOOK PAGE and tell us what you're most excited to see at imagineNATIVE. Just leave us a comment or post on our Press+1 Facebook page with your answer.

A winner will be picked randomly from our entrants on October 19th, 2012.

You can enter on our FACEBOOK PAGE HERE

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imagineNative Wraps with Awards (October 22, 2012 - Toronto, Ontario) The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival marked a triumphant close to the world’s largest festival honouring indigenous filmmakers.

Awards and honourable mentions were offered up at a special presentation last night hosted by award-winning actor Billy Merasty, at Toronto’s Mod Club. The documentary, My Lousiana Love won the coveted Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award.

The 60-minute film traces photographer Monique Verdin's quest to find a place in her Native American community as it reels from decades of environmental degradation. It's a look at the complex and uneven relationship between the oil industry and the indigenous community of the Mississippi Delta.

"We had more sold-out screenings at our festival than ever in its history," said a beaming Jason Ryle, Executive Director of imagineNATIVE. "The attendance to not only the films, but all our events this year, were phenomenal. There is nothing more fulfilling than bringing the many talented and creative Indigenous artists from Canada and around the world right here to our Festival for everyone to see, and from the looks of our growing audience, they like it too."

Following is the complete list of awards: Shaw Media Mentorship Program Jules Koostachin NFB/imagineNATIVE Digital Media Partnership In the Similkameen Tyler Hagan Drama Pitch Prize This is Skye Eva Thomas and Roxanne Dodge Documentary Pitch Prize Pull Out Your Guns Sarah DeCarlo

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BEST MUSIC VIDEO Sides Director, Mosha Folger BEST EXPERIMENTAL Her Silent Life Director, Lindsay McIntyre BEST CANADIAN SHORT DRAMA A Red Girl’s Reasoning Director, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers BEST SHORT DRAMA Throat Song Producer, Stacey Aglok MacDonald BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY – HONOURABLE MENTION Language of Love Director, Marie Clements BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY Songline to Happiness Director, Danny Teece-Johnson BEST RADIO Trailbreakers: Cindy Blackstock Producer, Angela Sterritt BEST NEW MEDIA Sense of Home Artist: Leena Minifie THE CYNTHIA LICKERS-SAGE AWARD FOR EMERGING TALENT Scar Director, Tiffany Parker BEST INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE PRODUCTION AWARD Throat Song Producer, Stacey Aglok MacDonald THE ELLEN MONAGUE AWARD FOR BEST YOUTH WORK Le Joie De Vivre Director, Jérémy Vassiliou BEST DRAMATIC FEATURE Charlie Zone Producer, Hank White THE ALANIS OBOMSAWIN BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD HONOURABLE MENTION Young Lakota Executive Producer, Heather Rae THE ALANIS OBOMSAWIN BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD My Louisiana Love Producer: Monique Verdin

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Charlie Zone big winner at imagineNATIVE festival October 22, 2012 by Etan Vlessing

http://playbackonline.ca/2012/10/22/charlie-zone-big-winner-at-imaginenative-festival/

Writer/director Mike Melski’s First Nations crime drama Charlie Zone was the big winner at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival on the weekend, taking the best dramatic feature prize.

Melski’s second feature sees Glen Gould as a washed-up boxer hired to abduct a runaway from a crack house in Halifax’s notorious Charlie Zone neighbourhood.

Charlie Zone producer Hank White picked up the imagineNATIVE trophy for Melski’s follow-up to Growing Op. Other award winners included Sharon Linezo Hong’s My Louisiana Love, produced by Monique Verdin, taking the Alanis Obomsawin best documentary award, with Young Lakota earning an honourable mention.

Other winners: Mosha Folger’s Sides for best music video, Lindsay McIntyre’s Her Silent Life for best experimental film, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ A Red Girl’s Reasoning for best Canadian short drama and Danny Teece-Johnson’s Songline to Happiness for best short documentary.

Read more: http://playbackonline.ca/2012/10/22/charlie-zone-big-winner-at-imaginenativefestival/#ixzz2FcfiDLJ2

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