By Ralph Lucas – Publisher
(September 1, 2014 – Toronto, ON) The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) kicks off in 4 days and we will be there to cover as many Canadian films as we can. Many are World Premieres, which gives us a chance to comment on them long before they open in theatres, although there are a few that are slated to open as soon as next month. Today, we’re going to look at a few of the features from Indigenous filmmakers.
The festival’s Indigenous Screen Office supported 19 Indigenous films, seven of them Canadian. “Indigenous storytellers have a wealth of stories to share with the world, and we are thrilled to welcome both Canadian and international Indigenous filmmakers to this year’s festival,” said Kerry Swanson, CEO.
TIFF has always been a great foundation for Indigenous directors. Some of the films that come immediately to mind include Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, which was named Best Canadian Feature in 2001 and its director, Zacharias Kunuk being named Best Director. One year earlier, Tracey Deer was honoured with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award when her feature Beans screened at the festival.
This year look for Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas’s Aberdeen, a drama set in Treaty One Territory in modern-day downtown Winnipeg. It centers on the indomitable Aberdeen, an Indigenous climate change refugee that has been forced from her home due to flooding and must adjust to big city life along with overcoming intergenerational cycle of trauma that has been tearing her family apart for 5 generations. Aberdeen stars Gail Maurice (Bones of Crows), Billy Merasty (Acting Good), Liam Stewart-Kanigan (Orphan: First Kill), Ryan Black (Dance Me Outside), and Jennifer Podemski (Reservation Dogs). Aberdeen screens on Sunday and Monday, September 8 and 9.
Seeds, the feature directorial debut of Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) actress Kaniehtiio Horn, who also stars in the comedy, is a story about an influencer who protects her aunt’s cache of seeds from a home invasion.
Journalist, filmmaker, and award-winning Anishinaabe author, Tanya Talaga brings The Knowing to the festival. Based on her own book, and inspired by her mother’s appeal for her to find out what happened to her great-grandmother. This begins a quest to find the truth of what happened to the women in her maternal family, revealing a story intertwined with Canada’s Indian Residential School system. This is a television series and as mentioned, one of those productions that will have its public debut shortly after the festival when CBC and CBC Gem broadcast The Knowing on September 25. But there is nothing like the experience of viewing compelling content on a big screen and The Knowing will screen at TIFF on Thursday and Friday September 12 and 13.
Pictured below is a promotional still from the feature doc, So Surreal: Behind the Masks, written and directed by Neil Diamond and Joanne Robertson, it delves into the captivating story of Indigenous masks and their profound impact on Surrealist art. Part caper, part road trip, part spiritual journey, So Surreal: Behind the Masks traces the journey of Indigenous masks from Turtle Island (North America) to European Surrealist collections, influencing the work of iconic artists like Max Ernst, André Breton, and Joan Miró. From New York City’s high-end art fairs to Yup’ik territory (Alaska), and from the lands of the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw on BC’s Northwest Coast to the streets of Paris, Neil uncovers the dramatic efforts to return a stolen ceremonial mask to the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw people, shedding light on the complex world of repatriation. So Surreal: Behind the Masks is Produced by Daniel Morin and Executive Produced by Catherine Bainbridge, Ernest Webb. It screens Tuesday and Thursday, September 10 and 12 at TIFF and this is a World Premiere.
In TIFF’s Short Cuts programme, look for the World Premieres of award-winning filmmaker and animator Amanda Strong’s, Inkwo for When the Starving Return. It was adapted from a story by Richard Van Camp about an indigenous youth’s battle with an ancient evil. Also, Welima’q, which was directed by multidisciplinary writer and artist Shalan Joudry, and Anotc Ota Ickwaparin Akosiin, directed by Catherine Boivin. Within a 90-minute programme of shorts, Rhayne Vermette returns to TIFF with a new animation titled A Black Screen Too, which might be a considered a sequel to her Black Rectangle. If you’re familiar with National Film Board greats Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren, this new 2-minute film is full of echoes from their earlier work.
We hope to add more of these films to our database in te next few days. Click here for more about TIFF 2024.
Ralph Lucas is a former broadcast executive and award-winning director in high-end corporate video production. The founder and publisher of Northernstars.ca, online since 1998, he began writing about film and reviewing movies while in radio in Montreal in the mid-1970s.
