| Title |
Athabasca |
Edmonton |
Two Worlds Colliding
Running time: 49 mins.
Two Worlds Colliding chronicles the painful story of what came to be
known as Saskatoon 's infamous "freezing deaths," and the schism between
a fearful, mistrustful Aboriginal community and a police force that must
come to terms with a shocking secret. One frigid night in January 2000,
a Native man, Darrell Night, finds himself dumped by two police officers
in -20° C temperatures in a barren field on the city outskirts and finds
shelter at a nearby power station. He survives the ordeal but is stunned
to hear that the frozen body of another Aboriginal man is discovered
in the same area. Days later, another victim, also Native, is found. When
Night comes forward with his story, he sets into motion a chain of events:
a major RCMP investigation into several suspicious deaths, the conviction
of the two constables who abandoned him and the reopening of an old case,
leading to a judicial inquiry. It remains to be seen whether the gulf between
the two worlds can be bridged.
|
Feb. 3, 2006
(Athabasca) |
Feb.
17, 2006 (Edmonton)
|
Between Two Worlds
Running time: 57 mins., 50 secs.
Unknown to most Canadians today, Joseph Idlout was once the world's most
famous Inuit. The subject of films and books, Idlout was one of the Inuit
hunters pictured for many years on the back of Canada 's $2 bill. Idlout
became a symbol of his people, the heroic myth that fascinated the white
imagination. In this film Idlout's son, Peter Paniloo, takes us on a journey
through his father's life. Idlout, the great hunter, becomes a fox-fur trapper
and guide. He gets caught up in the white world, trying to improve his family's
fortunes. Finally, Joseph Idlout does not know who he is or where he belongs.
He is 'between two worlds'. Joseph Idlout could never imagined the changes
that would overwhelm his North. But he was one of its first casualties.
|
Apr. 7, 2006 (Athabasca)
|
Apr. 21, 2006 (Edmonton) |
Story of the Coast Salish Knitters
Running time: 52 mins.
For almost a century, the Coast Salish knitters of Vancouver Island have produced
Cowichan sweaters from handspun wool. Three generations of Aboriginal women
tell their tale.
|
May 5, 2006 (Athabasca) |
May 19, 2006 (Edmonton) |
Redskins, Tricksters and Puppy Stew
Running time: 55 mins.
Take complex issues like Native identity, politics and racism, then wrap
them up with one-liners, guffaws and comedic performances. The result:
Redskins, Tricksters and Puppy Stew, director Drew Hayden Taylor's laugh-a-minute
road trip through the world of Native humour. |
July 7, 2006 (Athabasca) |
July 21, 2006 (Edmonton) |
If the Weather Permits and Keep the Circle
Strong
Running time: 28 mins.
This film follows Mike Auger, a Cree Indian from northern Alberta , who
embarks on a five-month journey to Bolivia to live and work with the Aymara
Indians, Bolivia 's largest indigenous group. Through his journey, we witness
the story of one man's quest to recover his Native culture as well as discover
the striking parallels between two Native peoples.
|
Aug. 4, 2006 (Athabasca) |
Aug. 18, 2006 (Edmonton) |
The Spirit of Annie Mae
Running time: 73 mins.
This is the story of Annie Mae Aquash's journey, from a Mi'kmaq reserve
in Nova Scotia to her brutal death 30 years later in South Dakota . Annie
Mae had become a Native militant and a central figure in the American
Indian Movement, but the FBI considered AIM a threat and infiltrated
the movement. Paranoia spread and Aquash was shot dead in 1975 in Wounded
Knee . We meet her two daughters and many activists she inspired, such
as Buffy Ste. Marie. All are still trying to understand why and how this
spirited woman met such a violent end.
|
Oct. 6, 2006 (Athabasca) |
Oct. 20, 2006 (Edmonton) |
|
Inuuyunga: I am Inuk, I am Alive
Running time: 57 mins., 40 secs.
Hockey, hip hop, hunting and midnight Ski-Doo rides. Welcome to Inukjuak.
It's the final year of high school for eight teens at Innalik school
in this remote town in northern Quebec . Through an initiative of the
National Film Board, these eight students have been selected to document
this pivotal year of their lives. To teach them some basics, the NFB
has dispatched filmmakers Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin. The result
of their collaboration is Inuuvunga, a vibrant and utterly contemporary
view of life in Canada 's North. The students use their new film skills
to address a broad range of issues, from the widening communication gap
with their elders to the loss of their peers to suicide. Throughout,
they reveal an unusual and fascinating mix of southern and northern cultures.
Kids listen to hip-hop music and engage in traditional fox trapping.
A schoolroom floor is the scene of the gutting of a freshly killed seal.
Seamless and startling, Inuuvunga paints a rich portrait of coming of
age in an Inuit town and helps to dispel the myths of northern isolation
and desolation. Instead, we discover a place where hope and strength
overcome struggle.
|
Nov. 2, 2006 (Athabasca) |
Nov. 17, 2006 (Edmonton) |
