Films 2005 ticket information

The Business of Fancy Dancing

FREE Screening - Courtesy of Falls Apart Productions

After drifting apart from his childhood friends on the reservation, Seymour Polotkin (Evan Adams) has gone on to great success as a poet. Along with a transition in life came a transition in lifestyles. Currently living an openly gay life in Seattle with a white boyfriend, many of Seymour's old friends feel both abandoned and betrayed. An old friend's funeral calls Seymour home, where emotions flare, bringing the once-close group to an explosive boiling point. This directorial debut of acclaimed novelist and poet, Sherman Alexie continues his exploration of contemporary Native American culture and identity. Portraying the universal dynamics of moving on and returning home, Alexie hits his target with dead-aim emotional accuracy.

Rated Contains Scenes of Substance Abuse, Language May Offend

Nayneck

Shot late at night in an abandoned parking lot in one take, Dogme-style, this video captures the energy and power of Native hip-hop group Slangblossom. Daybi (Geoffrey Pranteau) is a 24-year-old Cree filmmaker and musician from the Grand Rapids First Nation. Scoring his own films, he is currently composing the music for Moccasin Flats: The Series. Co-Director Landon Montour is a multi-talented Mohawk actor/filmmaker also starring in Moccasin Flats: The Series.

Rated Contains Course Language

The Hate

The Hate is the second video release from Native Hip Hop group, Slangblossom. "We tried to emphasize our talent as musicians with the performance aspect of the video, which is rarely seen in Hip Hop." It is also a story of a young girl who grows into a woman constantly battling the impact of "the hate".

Rated

Too Sick

Hip-hop artist Eekwol's music video for title track of her full length album, Apprentice to the Mystery.

Rated

Chiefs and Champions

Chiefs and Champions takes an intimate look at First Nations athlete Alwyn Morris, 1984 Olympic gold medalist from Kahnawake, who, besides being a world class performer in his chosen sport, has become so much more. Alwyn has gone on to become an important leader in his communities as well as role model and advocate for Aboriginal people.

Alwyn Morris and director Ann Frazier Henry will be in attendence.

Rated Contains Mature Themes

Acimowin

Acimowin explores the controversial takeover of Blue Quills Indian Residential School by Cree elders in the early 70's and their vision to control the children's education. The film examines how present-day leaders are expanding the vision established by their elders through the creation of an evolving educational environment where students can heal the damage of the past, and reconnect with their culture, community and themselves.

Rated Contains Mature Themes

Medicine Walker

As an artist, storyteller, educator, and motivational speaker, Dale Auger is one of the few who has been taught "the old ways". In this insightful documentary, he leads us on two traditional medicine walks among the boreal forests of northern Alberta with Sakaw Cree elders and artists as guides. Later, he embarks on a spiritual journey with the Haida on their beautiful archipelago in the north Pacific. In addition to the traditional wisdom he carries, this remarkable man also possesses a unique talent that allows him to communicate and perform in a style that is as informative as it is amusing. His knowledge and charm makes his journey of these two territories wonderfully humorous and entertaining.

Rated

Hank Williams First Nation

Shot on the Woodland Cree First Nation, Aaron J. Sorensen's first solo effort is truly ambitious work. Beautifully capturing the stark landscapes of northern Alberta, the story brings us into the lives of a community where quirky things happen. Hank Williams First Nation centres around Martin Fox (Jimmy Herman), who decides abruptly one morning that before he dies he wants to visit the grave of legendary country music singer Hank Williams. Reluctantly accompanying his uncle is Martin's 17-year-old nephew. Throughout their adventure, the two garner media attention as they journey to Tennessee on a Greyhound bus. The news of the duo's expedition makes it back home, uniting the colourful characters of the community. Hank Williams First Nation is an endearing look at a good-hearted and good-humored people and the unique charms and challenges that surround them.

Rated

What Is Decolonization?

A short, but poetic visual journey that puts a thoughtful, lyrical spin on the profound topic of decolonization.

Rated

Heavy Metal

Sometimes with industry comes illness. This documentary is an affecting story of how two men set out to prove that a nearby mine is having ill effects on the environment, health and well-being of one small Native community. Health issues, deformed fish, and polluted water become symptomatic of a culture, and way of life, in peril. The film acts as a companion piece to the film One More River.

Rated

Through These Eyes

Calgary director Charles Laird revisits one of the greatest visual anthropological studies of our time and the controversy that surrounded The Netsilik Film Series in the 60s and 70s. Every school child from that era can probably recall watching the Inuit of Canada go about their daily lives before housing, stores, and other modern amenities reached their communities. Behind the scenes, the school children probably didn't see the battle both parents and politicians went through to have the films removed from the curriculum. Demonstrating a clash of values and promoting the understanding of a culture different from theirs, the adults thought the films to be destructive. This documentary captures the ugliness of racism, the beauty of a culture, and the sorrow and glory in a changing world.

Rated Contains Mature Themes, Not Recommended for Young Children.

One More River: The Deal That Split the Cree

"When we bleed, we cannot cover the cut with a $20 bill."

One More River is a moving account of the events leading up to a vote on a controversial agreement between the Cree Nation and the province of Quebec. The film follows Grand Chief Ted Moses' 80-day campaign to convince Cree communities to officially approve the deal.

The proposal, promoted to the Cree by their Grand Chief Ted Moses, would dam the Rupert River, not only resulting in monumental changes to the local environment, but dividing the community as well. Filmmakers Tracy Deer and Neil Diamond document the protests of the traditional elders, young militants, and dissident chiefs as they fight the move.

Rated

Tales of Sand and Snow

French with English subtitles

As if plucked from the pages of a mystical legend, Director Hyacinthe Combary had an amazing experience as an eight-year old boy: a sand-reading fortune teller told him that his destiny lied with the Burkinabe people and he must remain to look after their well-being. Instead, Hyacinthe ended up moving to Montreal and left his people behind. The nagging question remains: did he betray his own destiny by coming to Canada? His query was answered when he met the Atikamekw of the Wemotaci nation in the northern forests of Quebec.

Combary creates a moving cinematic dialogue between the Gourmantche of Burkina Faso, who practice the divinatory art of geomancy, and the men of the Taiga, who connect with the spirits through sweat lodges. In this journey between North and South, the filmmaker awakens, coming to the realization that his quest is truly universal.

Rated Contains Disturbing Scenes, Not Recommended for Children.

Llot/Islet

This animated short film is reminiscent of the stark simplicity of Inuit art with it's bold lines. Using figurative abstraction, director Nicolas Brault, depicts a world where whales fall out of the sky and fish turn into balloons. Inspired by his voyage in the far north, Brault brings to the screen a cautionary tale of the effects of global warming.

Rated Not recommended for young children.

Raven Tales: How Raven Stole the Sun

Join Raven, Eagle, and Frog in a land before time! Raven Tales: How Raven Stole the Sun is a multiple award-winning animated film based on the First Nations' Folklore of the Northwest coast. Raven Tales concentrates on the wild and funny adventures of Raven, the most powerful, and one might add, trickiest trouble-maker of First Nations' folklore.

Raven (Evan Adams) is joined by his brother, Eagle (Ian Reid), and the mysterious Frog (Carmen Moore). Together, they will learn the secret that will release light and life into the world, a secret that might just burn a few feathers as well!

Two Winters: Tales From Above the Earth

Tutchone with English subtitles

Inspired by a true story, this imaginative animated special tells the story of the Yukon's Tutchone people's tale of the year when winter lasted almost two entire years. In the early 1800s, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia darkened skies around the world, and indigenous peoples in northern Canada fought to survive a year with no summer. The beautifully animated film, Two Winters, depicts the struggle of a pre-contact First Nations family when animals changed their migratory routes and the sun was obscured by clouds of ashes. This story segues into an important Tutchone myth about the creation of the animals and how they, through ingenuity and determination, make an epic journey to join Winter World and Summer World.

Rated

A Tattoo on My Heart: The Warriors of Wounded Knee 1973

The Siege of Wounded Knee 1973 forever changed the lives of Indian people who took part and captured the imaginations of those who watched this gripping story unfold on television and in newspapers across America. It was the culmination of an awakening that had begun with the formation of the American Indian Movement, the takeover of Alcatraz Island, and the occupation of BIA headquarters in Washington D.C. A Tattoo on My Heart: The Warriors of Wounded Knee 1973 tells this dramatic and emotional story in the words of those men and women who struggled for survival inside the bunkers and ravines at Wounded Knee.

Rated Contains Mature Themes

Dancing on the Edge

An engaging true story of triumph, Dancing on the Edge showcases the tale of an Apache man who attends a Survivalist Convention, sponsored by Soldier of Fortune magazine, where he discovers himself to be the solitary Native American. As an outsider he enters the Knife Fighting competition where he becomes a true hero figure not concerned with the overwhelming odds against him.

Rated Contains Violence

Prayer for a Good Day

A young girl constantly prays for good days while guiding her father through the numbness of his existence. When she discovers what appears to be the key to her father's happiness, she provides him with the source of an endless good day. Zoe Hopkins has recently attended the Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program.

Rated

Two Cars One Night

This simple, but compelling story about a tender childhood friendship, was not only nominated for a 2005 Academy Award, but won awards in New Zealand for best editing, best performance, best technical contribution and best script, as well as honors at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival.

Rated Contains Coarse Language

Suckerfish

A moving portrait of a parent whose struggle with addictions played a balancing act with her love for her estranged daughter, this experimental documentary deals with a daughter's rediscovery of her deceased mother through long forgotten letters.

Rated Contains Mature Themes

Dress Up

A dramatic urban short about aboriginal teenagers getting ready for a night on the town. But these girls aren't headed for the nightclubs; they're preparing for a night on the corner turning tricks. Originally shot on Super 8 film, this story portrays Vancouver's duality, showcasing not the popular tourist town, but the seedy streets of the Downtown Eastside.

Rated Contains Mature Themes

El Rey De Zinacantan (The King of Zinacantan)

Spanish with English subtitles

A ring that possesses the "spirit of money" is found by a young Indian from Zinnacantan. The ladinos (Spanish speaking people from San Cristobal) and the devil try to get, by any means, the wealth of the Indian. From the indigenous point of view, it recreates an old tzotzil tale explaining why the Mayan people from San Lorenzo Zinacantan remain poor.

Rated

From Cherry English

A powerful dramatic short which deals with the loss of language. Told in vivid detail, a young Native man is bereft without a tongue and must seek help from the ancestors. "I wrote this piece because I was so pissed off at my own generation," says Mi'kmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby. "It started out as a bad joke. Whenever anybody used to ask me to how to speak Indian I'd just say, 'Get drunk and speak bad English.' My standard old joke is what became the punch line of the whole story."

Rated Contains Disturbing Content

American Indian Graffiti

Set in contemporary Oklahoma, American Indian Graffiti is an ensemble drama about the intertwining lives of four Native Americans. Stephanie is an eighteen-year-old girl who learns that her mother tried to abort her when she was born. Her friend, Rachel, must overcome the agony of losing her mother and brother in a drunk driving accident. Steve is an artist who has lost his vision and is at a dilemma when he learns he may never create again. Barry, after causing a tragedy in this past find comfort in his loneliness until one day his life is disrupted by an eight-year-old girl who may be his chance at redemption. It's a story about these things: friendships that falter, dreams that come true, families that fall apart, and the struggle to survive.

Rated Contains Coarse Language and Mature Themes

Dhakiyarr vs. the King

In 1933, Dhakiyarr, a tribal leader of North Australia's Arnhem land, was jailed after spearing a cop he mistakenly believed was assaulting his wife and tresspassing on his land. Dhakiyarr was the lawman in his society, and he saw killing the intruding police officer as part of his duty to protect. This documentary revisits the cultural misunderstandings that took place between the native Yolngu tribe and the Australian government.

Rated Contains Mature Themes

Stryker

Focusing on one Stryker (Canadian slang for a prospective gang member), a 14-year-old Aboriginal from a northern reserve arrives in the city serving as a catalyst in a brutal turf war between two rival street gangs in Winnipeg's North End. Omar, the mixed-blood leader of the "Asian Bomb Squad", dominates the 'hood with his crew of Filipino enforcers. His nemesis, Mama Ceece, is the girl-thug leader of the "Indian Posse" who has just been released from jail, determined to regain control of her neighborhood.

Rated

The Visitors

A light hearted look at Aboriginal and non aboriginal relations from first contact to the present and compresssed into 4 and a half minutes!

Rated

Stolen Spirits

Recreating some of the raw experiences of many of the children of Canada's native peoples who attended Residential schools, this documentary with docu-drama elements makes it an effective, realistic and hard hitting story. Although dealing with an emotionally sensitive topic, it manages to leave viewers with uplifted spirits.

Rated Contains Mature Themes

Good Night Irene

Irene, a Seminole senior citizen spending the day in the waiting room of a Native hospital, interacts with two young Seminole men, one a construction worker, the other a ""punk kid". As time stands still in the hospital waiting room, the group shares poignant moments and bonds through their interaction.

Rated Contains Coarse and Sexual Language

Black Cloud

Black Cloud is an inspirational story about a young Navajo, Native American boxer, who is growing up in a violent household and is struggling to come to terms with his family and his heritage, while fighting his way for a spot on the US Olympic boxing team.

Black Cloud gives one the hope that you can do anything you put your mind to, as long as you believe in, and surround yourself, with those who believe in you. The movie covers many emotional bases from romance, to inspiration, to sadness, and delivers many insights about reservation life and the challenges of Indians who wish to rise above the difficulties they face.

Rated Contains Violence Scenes

Shirley Cheechoo Retrospective

Shirley Cheechoo is an internationally renowned filmmaker of Cree descent who is also an actor, playwright, and visual artist. She has won first prize awards for her works at numerous film festivals including Montreal's First Peoples Festival, the Santa Fe Film Festival, and the American Indian Film Festival of San Francisco. In 2002 Cheechoo was named Independent Filmmaker of the Year at the Arizona International Film Festival.

"I am drawn to films that have certain honesty to them. Since my mom told me stories as a young child I always wanted to be a storyteller. I am a writer, I write in order to direct. I write the script on paper and then I write while I am directing the film and then I write again as I sit and edit. You are writing throughout the whole process. I think that with this form of filmmaking the film finds itself and its audience. I want to make films that tell a story about life itself."

This retrospective of Shirley's dramatic works pays homage to her intense, brilliant, and unfaltering gaze at human frailty and the capacity for great strength.

Bearwalker

This suspenseful drama, set on a fictional Canadian Cree reserve on Manitoulin Island in 1976, is the haunting story of four sisters (one of whom is played by Cheechoo) who constantly struggle to overcome oppression, racism, police corruption, violence, and murder. It is also a story of family love, where combined loyalty and tough resilience help combat the spiritual and human forces of destruction.

Bearwalker (aka Backroads) won awards including Best Director, Best Film, and Best Actress at the Reel World Film Festival, the Reel Island Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Festival. It was the Official Selection-American Spectrum at the Sundance Film Festival, was voted third most popular film at the Vancouver International film Festival and received honorary mention at the Lake Placid Film Festival.

Rated

Silent Tears

In her debut directorial film, Silent Tears, Cheechoo chronicles the events of one harsh winter trip with her parents to a northern trap line when she was eight years old. The trip was both devastating and heartbreaking but, she says, it was also a time when she lost her innocence, and gained her strength.

Rated

Shadow in Deep Water

While researching sacred plants in Peru, Shirley is drawn into the spirit of the medicine and decides to participate in the traditional ceremonies. She takes us on a journey both inward into the deepest part of herself and outward into the power of the universe. This is her story of inward healing.

Rated Contains Mature Themes