Birkbeck Cinema, Saturday 20thOctober 2018: 10:00 – 17:00
Free entrance, book your tickets here.
“I think we’re really on the precipice of entering what might be the first true golden age of Indigenous cinema.” Jesse Wente, Anishinaabe writer, film curator.
Please note we are unable to reserve seats for Free events arrive early to secure your place.
12th Native Spirit Film Festival of Indigenous Cinema: Canada
Native Spirit Film Festival 2018 present a rare opportunity to see International Indigenous Filmmakers with a focus on independent films and Shorts from Canada based around the theme Activists and Architects of Change, our special guest, acclaimed director, writer, advocate for social change Jules Koostachin (Cree from Moshkekowok territory, and a member of Attawapiskat First Nation) presents her film Butterfly Monument and discusses her work in conversation with Filmmaker and Lecturer Max Carocci
*Playlist timings and sequence may be adjusted to accommodate Director Q&A.
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FILMMAKERS – click on Director’s name to learn more and connect.
10-1.30pm Session I
WAPIKONI SHORTS
Selection of Shorts from Mobile Production Team Wapikoni Mobile, Quebec. The selection of works, with their intriguing stories and cared images (both photographic and animated), is aimed at discovering dynamic Indigenous voices, unique point of views as well as incredible talents stemming straight from indigenous communities.
BATAILLES (BATTLES) Dir Karen Pinette Fontaine 2016, Innu, Canada. 4min Trailer
At nightfall, Karen decides to leave the party where a friend is in the process of losing herself. A life metaphor, this battlefield.
INNU NIKAMU: RESIST AND SING Dir Kevin Bacon Hervieux, 2017, Innu, Canada, 92′
The Innu Nikamu Native Music Festival through the eyes of its founders and musicians. A story of healing, a duty of remembrance.
PHARMALARM Dir Sera-Lys McArthur 2017, Nakota, Canada. 6min
Karen is a pharmaceutical sales representative with an expensive habit to support. Will Dr. Brule be her knight in a shining lab coat?
2-5pm Session II
BUTTERFLY MONUMENT Dir Jules Koostachin Rick Miller 2017, Cree, Canada. 29min
Butterfly Monument documents the creation a public memorial dedicated to the late Shannen Koostachin, a young Cree education advocate from Attawapiskat First Nation, Moskekowok territory. Through personal stories shared by Shannen’s immediate family we learn about who Shannen was and what motivated her passionate crusade for equitable access to education for Indigenous children and youth. The film also documents director Jules Koostachin’s efforts to lead the community campaign that made this public monument to her young relation a reality. Shannen was a trailblazer with Canada’s largest youth-led activist group when she sadly passed away at the young age of 15. Her legacy is kept active by Shannen’s Dream, a national campaign for improved First Nation schooling. The Butterfly Monument, Canada’s first public monument honouring a Cree youth is located on the traditional territories of Timiskaming First Nation, in the City of Temiskaming Shores, Ontario.
2.30pm Director Q&A Jules Koostachin and panel with Max Carocci
3pm TURNING TABLES Dir Chrisann Hessing 2018, Anishinaabe, Canada. 16min
In his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Joshua DePerry is known in the Anishinaabe community as a colourful ‘fancy dancer’ who impressively integrates contemporary dance moves at traditional pow wows. In Toronto, he is known as Classic Roots, an up-and-coming music producer and DJ who blends Indigenous sounds with modern techno and house music. His vibrant and optimistic personality is invigorating, and is particularly effective in First Nations communities, where he often works to encourage creativity and a greater sense of self-confidence in the youth. While he is deeply rooted in his identity and his community, he is ready to soar to new heights as an artist. He dreams of taking off to Berlin, the techno capital of the world, and prepares to take his career as an educator and entertainer to the next level.
TBC Skype Q&A Director Chrisann Hessing
NO RESERVATIONS Dir Trevor Carroll 2017, Ojibway, Canada. 11min
What if the moccasin was on the other foot? Political satire about Standing Rock starring Lorne Cardinal. Protests erupt as an upper-middle class neighbourhood attempts to thwart the construction of a pipeline by an Indigenous Corporation.
http://www.norezmovie.ca/festivals/
4.30pm BREATHS… Dir. Nyla Innuksuk 2016, Inuit, Arctic Canada. 5min
“The North is the place where I feel I’m completely myself.” In this evocative documentary short, Inuit singer-songwriter and humanitarian Susan Aglukark weaves together stories of artistry, family, and belonging as she explores the complex cultural shifts of the last 50 years of Inuit life. Turning her lens on the turbulence of colonial transition, director Nyla Innuksuk examines the forces that shaped Aglukark’s voice and how that voice is now being translated for a new generation of Inuit artists.
4.35pm ANAIYYUN: PRAYER FOR THE WHALE Dir. Kiliii Yuyan 2018, Iñupiaq, Alaska. 8min
The story of an Iñupiaq whaling crew, living where the vast plain of ice meets the waters of the Arctic Ocean. During whaling, their lives are interminable periods of silent observation, punctuated by moments of terror. The ice hides its dangers—desperately hungry polar bears hunting humans, massive icequakes when sheets of ice collide. Here on the sea ice, the Iñupiaq wait for the whale. When the whale does offer itself, it will take the courage and skill of the whaling crew, riding on the icy waters of the Arctic by a skinboat, to catch it. But in the long moments standing on the ice, protected from the wind inside a fur-lined parka, a timeless gratitude develops. In those moments, the patient act of waiting transforms into a prayer for the whale.
4.45pm THREE THOUSAND Dir. Asinnajaq 2017, Inuk, Canada. 14min (photo credit header image)
In this short film, Inuk artist Asinnajaq plunges us into a sublime imaginary universe—14 minutes of luminescent, archive-inspired cinema that recast the present, past and future of her people in a radiant new light. Diving into the NFB’s vast archive, she parses the complicated cinematic representation of the Inuit, harvesting fleeting truths and fortuitous accidents from a range of sources—newsreels, propaganda, ethnographic docs, and work by Indigenous filmmakers. Embedding historic footage into original animation, she conjures up a vision of hope and beautiful possibilities.
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We look forward to welcoming you!
Latest Programme updates
12th Native Spirit Film Festival 11-21 October 2018
Special thanks to Human Rights Consortium SAS, SOAS, BIMI, Bloomsbury Festival, The Crypt Gallery and XXL gratitude to the Filmmakers, Artists, Speakers and all volunteers and supporters who help promote Indigenous Cinema and make this festival happen.