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By Windspeaker.com staff
Urban Shaman Gallery is joining in the celebration of Canadian film and Canada’s 150th anniversary with a movie night on April 19.
Enjoy extraterrestrials, the transformation of a boy into a salmon, the secret world discovered by a medicine man, and be moved by many other films during 60 minutes of work by Indigenous filmmakers at the gallery.
The event is part of National Canadian Film Day 150, presented by REEL Canada. It’s a “massive one-day celebration of Canadian cinema” that will take place across the country with movies broadcast on television, online, and with more than 1,700 screenings in cinemas, libraries and in public squares from coast to coast to coast.
Events will be held in every province and territory—most free—and will include Canadian film talent. Highlights will include a “star-studded interactive webcast for high school students and a pop-up drive-in.
Urban Shaman will present an evening of all animation shorts, screened at the main gallery at 203-290 McDermot Ave. in Winnipeg.
The Short Animation Films by Indigenous Artists Program at Urban Shaman Gallery will include:
ᑐᒃᑐᒥᑦ/TUKTUMIT
Ippiksaut Friesen (Inuk) 2014
4 min.
The film explores the way traditional hunting in Nunavut has evolved so that it can continue to play a vital role in contemporary Inuit culture.
ABORIGINALITY
Dominique Keller, Tom Jackson (Cree) 2007
5 min.
A young boy is transported through his television set to the scene of a traditional Indigenous hoop dance, encountering his family’s cultural heritage in a new way.
BIRCHBARK
John Hupfield (Anishinaabe) 2008
4 min.
Symbols of traditional knowledge come alive and find themselves inside the pages of a book.
DANCERS OF THE GRASS
Melanie Jackson (Métis/Saulteaux) 2009
2 min.
Stop-motion animation breathes life into a traditional dance.
EMPTY
Jackie Traverse (Anishinaabe) 2009
5 min.
Set to a song by Little Hawk, this animated story is a daughter’s starkly honest tribute to her estranged mother.
FIGHTING CHANCE
Alexandra Lazarowich (Cree) 2011
9 min.
An Indigenous youth with a family history of residential schooling, 13-year-old Joey is arrested and put into a group home where he gets a chance to turn his life around.
THE GIFT
Terril Calder (Métis) 2011
2 min.
This stop-motion tale explores the historical question of whether smallpox-infected blankets were given by European settlers to Indigenous populations unwittingly, or as a deadly “gift.”
MIA’
Amanda Strong (Métis), Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Wuikinuxv-Klahoose) 2015
8 min.
A young Indigenous street artist struggles to return home after being transformed into a salmon.
THE ORPHAN AND THE POLAR BEAR
Neil Christopher 2014
9 min.
Producers: Neil Christopher, Louise Flaherty (Inuk)
In this adaptation of an Inuit legend, a neglected orphan is adopted by a polar bear Elder and, under the bear's guidance, learns the skills he will need to survive.
TRADITIONAL HEALING
Raymond Caplin (Mi’kmaq) 2013
3 min.
A woman’s sacred healing dance causes a miracle to occur in an otherwise bleak and devastated environment.
THE VISIT
Lisa Jackson (Anishinaabe) 2009
3 min.
The charming “true” story of an encounter between extraterrestrials and a Cree family.
WALK-IN-THE-FOREST
Diane Obomsawin (Abenaki) 2009
3 min.
A medicine man walks in the woods and discovers an intriguing secret world.
To find out more about National Canadian Film Day 150, visit canfilmday.ca and to receive more about the Urban Shaman event, email info@urbanshaman.org or call the Urban Shaman Gallery at 204-942-2674 or visit http://www.urbanshaman.org