Feast and Transformation - a festival of First Nations films from BC
- FEAST AND TRANSFORMATION FILM FESTIVAL -
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A Festival of First Nations films from the Pacific Northwest
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Date: 21-23 April, 2006 << >> Location: Chilliwack, BC
Presented by the University College of the Fraser Valley and the British Museum, together with the Royal Anthropological Institute, and with the support of the City of Chilliwack.
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BACKGROUND:
Over the years, filmmakers from around the world have visited the Pacific Northwest to document the lives and cultures of its indigenous peoples. Their works are poignant journeys into the struggles of these people and have been of central importance in the renaissance of Aboriginal culture – expressing protest as well as recovery and revealing some of the anguish and loss still so much a part of life for First Nations groups. The Feast and Transformation film festival program showcases films by three directors who belong to Aboriginal communities, and other films made through close partnership between filmmakers and Aboriginal people. An example is David McIlwraith’s The Lynching of Louis Sam, a timely feature given Washington State’s recent official public acknowledgement of responsibility for the 1884 death of the 14-year-old Sto:lo youth. The weekend event will also include discussions with some of the filmmakers and elders from several of the communities where the films were made.
The driving force behind mirroring the London festival in Chilliwack is Hugh Brody, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Studies at UCFV. An internationally recognized scholar, anthropologist, land claims researcher, policy adviser, filmmaker and writer, Brody is drawing together threads of research and experience from a diversity of cultures in order to push land claims and rights research in new directions. His work in Aboriginal communities is helping to teach a new generation to do research for themselves and their communities – teaching them to tell their own stories and to discover for themselves what is important and necessary to create sustainable communities. He has authored nine books, published 16 essays and produced five documentary films, including Time Immemorial, which will be featured at the festival.
PROGRAM:
The City of Chilliwack will host a welcoming ceremony and reception, along with two film screenings, on Friday, April 21, at City Hall beginning at 6:15 p.m. The remaining films will be shown on Saturday, April 22 (beginning at 9 a.m.) and Sunday, April 23 (beginning at 10 a.m.) at the UCFV Theatre at 45635 Yale Rd.
Download a film festival program here:
Download a Feast and Transformation Film Festival Program -in PDF format
TICKETS:
The public is encouraged to attend this world-class event. Tickets are $10/adult per day ($20 for all three days) or $5/day for elders, seniors, or students ($10 for all three days). To book tickets, please call the UCFV box office at 604 795-2814. For more information about the event itself, please call 604 864-4639 or email deborah.block@ucfv.ca .
FILM SYNOPSES: View short overviews of the subject matter covered by each film
Download the Film Synopses (in PDF format)
Themes such as ...
- HERITAGE AND LOSS
- LAND CLAIMS
- CULTURAL REVIVAL / CHASING MUSEUMS
- FILMS FROM OUTSIDE
- THE CITY: THE LAND
FILMS TO BE SHOWN INCLUDE:
Friday evening, 21 April 2006
- In the Land of the War Canoes (Dir. E. Curtis, 1914/1972, 44 min.)
- Crooked Beak of Heaven (Dir. Michael MacIntyre, 1975, 50 min.)
Saturday 22 April 2006
- Potlatch: a Strict Law Bids Us Dance (Dir. Dennis Wheeler, 1975, 54 min.)
- Lynching of Louie Sam (Dir. David McIlwraith, 2004, 52 min.)
- Blockade (Dir. Nettie Wilde, 1993, 90 min.)
- Time Immemorial (Dir. Hugh Brody, 1991, 58 min.)
- The New Collectors - part 2 (from the Ravens and Eagles documentary series, 2003, 24 min.)
- Totem: the Return of the G’psgolex Pole (Dir. Gil Cardinal, 2003, 70 min.)
- Johnny Tootall (Dir. Shirley Cheechoo, 2005, 93 min.)
Sunday 23 April 2006
- Makah, the Whale Harvesters (dir. Ralf Marschalleck, 1999, 113 min.)
- Years From Here (part 2 of Changing Ground), (Dir. John Walker, 2000, 50 min.)
- On The Corner (Dir. Nathaniel Geary, 2003, 95 mins)
- Tlina: Rendering of Wealth (Dir. Barb Cranmer, 1999, 50 min.)