(Source: nitanahkohe)
About the Biindigaate Film Festival
Film, art and culture play a compelling role in our lives, expressing ideas and concepts, telling stories and describing feelings. The Biindigaate Indigenous Film Festival opens the doors for you to learn and understand new and traditional perspectives through filmmakers and artists from Thunder Bay, Northwestern Ontario and around the globe.
Quick Schedule
Thursday, Sept. 27
2-4 pm – TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY OPENING
At the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
6:45 pm – WELCOMING REMARKS & RANDOM ACTS OF POETRY
At the Paramount Theatre.
7 pm – INUIT TALES
Amaqqut Nunaat (The Country of Wolves)
Director: Neil Christopher
Producer: Louise Flaherty (Inuk)
Canada | Animation | 9 min.People of a Feather
Director: Joel Heath (Inuit)
Canada | Documentary | 90 min.9 pm – GALA OPENING
At Definitely Superior Art Gallery. Highlighting seven local and regional artists. Music by Robin Ranger and Classic Roots. Refreshments provided.
Friday, Sept. 28
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM – ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL MEET AND GREET
At Definitely Superior Art Gallery with representatives Marilyn McIntosh and Sara Roque. Bring your project ideas and questions! Refreshments provided.
7 pm – STRENGTH + STRUGGLE
Liar
Director: Adam Garnet Jones (Métis)
Canada | Drama | 8 min.Parkdale
Director: Lisa Jackson ((Aamjienaang First Nation)
Canada | Drama | 15 min.Smoke Traders
Director: Jeff Dorn (Walpole Island First Nation)
Canada | Documentary | 51 min.10 pm – AN EVENING AT THE FOUNDRY
With Jason Burnstick (Juno Nominee and CAMA Award Winning Artist) and Nick Sherman.
Saturday, Sept. 29
11 am – FOR ALL AGES
SpongeBob SquarePants
Director: Christiana Latham (Gwichin)
Canada | Music video | 3 min.Horse You See
Director: Melissa Henry (Navajo)
United States | Short | 8 min.The Report Card
Director: James Paschke (Métis)
Canada | Drama | 6 min.Es-ts-i-ni
Director: Michael Bourquin (Iskut First Nation)
Canada | Documentary | 30 min.1 pm – The Uluit
The Uluit: Champions of the North
Director: Ari A. Cohen (Inuit)
Canada | Documentary | 110 min.3 pm – LIVE SCRIPT READING
“Wild Medicine” with Métis filmmaker Adam Garnet Jones. (Free)
5 pm – MAIDEN VOYAGES
Bannock
Director: Jason Hunter (Weenusk First Nation)
Canada | Documentary | 8 min.Mikomiing
Director: Leonard Sumner (Little Saskatchewan First Nation)
Canada | Documentary | 9 min.Keeping Part of My Tradition
Director: Henry Beardy (Sachigo Lake First Nation)
Canada | Documentary | 6 min.Times Up
Director: Henry Beardy (Sachigo Lake First Nation)
Canada | Drama | 7 min.Standing Bear
Director: Curtis Beardy (Pukatawagan)
Canada | Documentary | 2 min.The Indian Word
Director: David Wilson (Rolling River First Nation)
Canada | Documentary | 5 min.Maiden Indian
Director: The Ephemerals: Jamie Isaac (Sagkeeng First Nation), Niki Little (Garden Hill First Nation) and Jenny Western (Oneida)
Canada | Documentary | 3 min.Inheritance
Director: Joe E. Ironstand (Ojibway)
Canada | Drama | 10 min.7 pm – EMOTIONS IN MOTION
Rugged Guy
Director: Jason Asenap (Comanche)
United States | Drama | 12 min.Every Emotion Costs
Director: Darlene Naponse (Whitefish Lake First Nation)
Canada | Feature | 93 min.9 pm – FOR MATURE AUDIENCES
Mary
Director: Kent Monkman (Cree)
Canada | Short | 3 min.Algonquin
Director: Travis Shilling (Chippewas of Rama First Nation)
Canada | Experimental | 5 min.Kimi
Director: Danyel Fortin (Métis)
Canada | Drama | 4 min.Here I Am
Director: Beck Cole (Luritja/Warramunga)
Australia | Feature | 91 min.Sunday, Sept. 30
1 pm – EXPERIMENTAL + ECLECTIC
I Lost My Shadow
Director: Nanobah Becker (Navajo)
United States | Experimental | 3 min.Tik-A-Lee-Kick
Director: Anna-Celestrya Carr (Métis)
Canada | Experimental | 3 min.Kwoni (Stop)
Director: Caroline Monnet (Algonquin/French)
Canada | Experimental/Documentary | 3 min.Moving Slowly
Director: Tyler Hagan (Métis)
Canada | Experimental/Drama | 6 min.Awena Kena (Who Are You)
Director: Shaylene Constant (Cree)
Canada | Experimental/Documentary | 4 min.Woodcarver
Director: Ehren Bearwitness Thomas (Ottawa)
Canada | Experimental | 6 min.Always Becoming
Director: Nora Naranjo-Morse (Tewa)
United States | Documentary | 52 min.3 pm – HEALING FROM LEGACY
Cowboys, Indians and Education: Regenerating Secwepemc Culture and Language
Director: Celia and Helen Haig-Brown (Tsilhqot’in Nation)
Canada | Documentary | 30 min.Robert’s Paintings
Director: Shelley Niro (Six Nations)
Canada | Documentary | 51 min.5 pm – COLLISION OF CULTURES
The Gift
Director: Terril Calder (Métis)
Canada | Animation | 2 min.Diez Veces Venceremos (We Shall Overcome Ten Times)
Director: Christian Jure (Mapuche)
Argentina/Chile | Documentary | 75 min.7 pm – NORTHERN TALES
Awakening
Director: Jason Hunter (Weenusk First Nation)
Canada | Music video | 4 min.On the Ice
Director: Andrew Okpeaha Maclean (Iñupiat)
United States | Feature | 96 min.9 pm – closing prayers
The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) would like to call on the international community to participate in the 7th annual Sisters In Spirit Vigils on October 4th 2012 by hosting a moment of silence to honour the lives of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.
Sisters In Spirit Vigils are a movement for social change. October 4th is day where we honour the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls and support families who have been tragically touched by the loss of a loved one.In Canada on October 4th, tens of thousands of concerned citizens will be attending vigils from coast-to coast-to coast. Vigils take many forms, from a rally, to a candle-light vigil, to a workshop, to a moment of silence.We invite the international community, to stand with us on October 4th, not only to remember our loved ones and support families but to also remember that violence impacts all Indigenous women globally.“In this era of increased recognition of Indigenous rights outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Native Women’s Association of Canada is calling for unity,” declares NWAC President Jeanette Corbiere Lavell. “By taking the time out of our busy lives to mark October 4th and gather together,” she adds, “we can call on all levels of government to be accountable for the promises they make to Indigenous peoples.”Please visit us online for up-to-date information on the Sisters In Spirit Vigil movement. Registration forms for registering a moment of silence on October 4th are also available at http://www.nwac.ca/programs/2012-vigil-registration. For additional registration information contact: Jennifer Rankin, jrankin@nwac.ca Tel: 613-722-3033 x 234 Toll free: 1-800-461-4043Fax: 613-722-7687
Even if you start from the premise that some racial, ethnic or homophobic jokes are funny, the question becomes whether the laughs are worth the hurt they cause.
There may be some people (blessedly few, we hope) who would laugh at the joke that a Thunder Bay police investigator made in a murder case involving an aboriginal victim. To us, it was grotesque. But the pain and damage from such a joke massively outweigh any alleged humour in it.
A 65-year-old native man, Adam Yellowhead, was found dead – murdered – in an area frequented by people who drink mouthwash to become drunk. The lead investigator for the Thunder Bay Police Service wrote a fake press release about arresting a suspected killer, intended only for the eyes of his fellow police officers. “Fresh breath killer captured!!!” But then the investigator mistakenly sent out the fake release. Oops.
Police are known for their gallows humour. But then – how did this police force respond to the accidental publication? With what seems to have been a pro forma internal inquiry. The officer in question acknowledged he wrote the release. He didn’t mean anything by it. It wasn’t meant as a racial thing. The police chief and then the mayor, who sits on the civilian board overseeing the force, accepted the officer’s word. Case closed. No apology necessary.
And now the police are angry about a human rights complaint about it all from three first nations, represented by the Toronto lawyer Julian Falconer. The police say the natives have broken faith with them. Now that’s funny!
He didn’t mean anything by it. The officer gave the same childish defence that the Toronto Blue Jay shortstop Yunel Escobar used this week after wearing, in Spanish, the phrase “you are a faggot” in a strip of black tape under his eyes during the game.
But think of it from the view of the aboriginal community, or of anyone not connected to the police service. Wouldn’t any outsider reasonably believe the police are treating an aboriginal murder victim, and maybe aboriginal life, a bit shabbily, as if it’s not worth a whole lot? And wouldn’t this make aboriginal people, including the family of Mr. Yellowhead, feel terribly alone?
This isn’t about political correctness. All too often, silence still greets truly hurtful jokes – the socially correct silence that emboldens people like the Thunder Bay police officer and Yunel Escobar. Words mean something. Words have power. The word sorry has a great deal of power, as a start.
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(via keiraboogit)
Are you a resident of Canada? If yes, I could use your help! I’m one of several cartographers working to publish an atlas on global food issues, and the map I’m drawing is on food accessibility in Canada, particularly for rural indigenous communities. I need Canadian residents to fill out a brief, 8-question anonymous survey (linked above), to help me collect data on food prices. I’ve listed some info on the project, the map, & myself below, but don’t be shy to message if you’ve got questions or suggestions.
My hope for the map is that it helps to magnify some of the struggles indigenous communities are dealing with in terms of food accessibility (see links below). I get to have considerable leeway with the presentation, so know that there will be not only a description of how these food accessibility issues are produced, but also highlights of indigenous activist groups, as well as a list of relevant politicians with contact info. I’m anticipating that the majority of people purchasing the atlas will be activists and academics, though I’ve been told there has also been interest in the project on behalf of food policy advocates and policymakers; if done well, I think this map (and the project as a whole) has the potential to draw considerable attention to some pretty major issues.
The Map: this map will use census information to show varying income levels and per capita indigenous populations throughout Canada, alongside cities weighted in size based on cost of sample basic groceries. That’s where I need your help—the survey collects information on how much groceries cost in your area. The goal is to illustrate the often unfairly high prices rural indigenous communities pay for their food; the map was in part inspired by the activism of peoples in Northern communities in this regard (see Feeding My Family for more info).What Info You’ll Be Providing: The survey is totally anonymous. All that’s asked is province & city, & the cost of 1 loaf of bread, 4 servings of greens, 4 servings of chicken, 1 gallon of milk, and 1 gallon of juice. Just to make it clear: you don’t have to have indigenous ancestry to participate. Quite the opposite—the wider the scope of the survey, the more accurate the map will be.
The Project: Food: An Atlas is a book of maps of issues on food production, consumption, accessibility—if it’s about food, it’s in there. This project is headed by cartographers in UC Berkeley’s Geography department, though the contributing cartographers come from a wide range of locations and backgrounds.
Who I Am: I’m a freelance cartographer and artist, and an entering graduate student in an American Studies program. My undergraduate degree is in Geography, from UC Berkeley. I’m from an isolated community in the upper reaches of coastal Northern California, and am a strong activist on rural and indigenous issues.
Again, feel free to message me if you have any questions about me, the map, or the atlas. And please please signal boost—like I said, the wider the sample, the more accurate (and powerful) the map will be! Thank you!
(Source: nitanahkohe)
