NAN Decade for Youth members and Deputy Chief receiving award for Four Directions Project
NAN Press Release ...
NAN DEPUTY GRAND CHIEF AND DECADE FOR YOUTH COUNCIL TO RECEIVE AWARD FOR YOUTH INITIATIVE
April 17, 2009
THUNDER BAY, ON: Nishnawbe Ask Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald will accept an award at the 2009 Cowichan Aboriginal Film Festival Youth FX Awards Ceremony for her short film co-production with the NAN Decade for Youth Council, titled The Four Directions Project, a NAN youth-empowering initiative in which she mentored four youth directors: Catherine Cheechoo, Brent Wesley, Serene Spence and Jocelyn Formsma.
“I am honoured to be recognized together with these four youth filmmakers who codirected The Four Directions Project,” said Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald who developed the initiative to bridge the arts and youth portfolios at NAN – both of which she is responsible for. “Story-telling through this film has provided a new medium through which our young people can share their stories and heal through that process. This is empowering, and this was the goal of the project.”
Archibald, who co-directed the film, will be recognized Friday at the Fifth Cowichan International Aboriginal Film Festival held April 16-19 in Duncan, British Columbia.
The Four Directions Project explores cultural rebirth, healing, and hope against the backdrop of the four sacred directions and themes of song, dance, prayer, and dreams.
Stories and poems by NAN First Nation members Catherine Cheechoo, Serene Spence, Brent Wesley and Jocelyn Formsma are featured in the six-minute film shot mainly in Thunder Bay and Moose Factory. It was previously screened at the Weeneebeg Film Festival in Moose Factory in March 2007 and at the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in October 2007.
“Working through film provided an opportunity for our young people to express themselves in new and exciting ways,” said Archibald. “I am sure the experiences portrayed in this project will resonate with young people not only in Nishnawbe Aski, but right across the country.”
The Four Directions Project was the first project in a NAN initiative to empower youth through film. A second project, a music video featuring the original music by Dwayne Moonias, was recently filmed in Thunder Bay and is currently in post-production.
Archibald hopes these projects will lead the way to future First Nations film training for young people throughout NAN.
The Cowichan International Aboriginal Film Festival is organized by the Cowichan Intercultural Festival of Film & Arts Society and celebrates indigenous film and art, featuring an international slate of films, art, and dance.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation is a political territorial organization representing 49 First Nation communities in James Bay Treaty 9 and Ontario portions of Treaty 5 – an area covering two thirds of the province of Ontario.
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For more information please contact Michael Heintzman, Media Relations Officer – Nishnawbe Aski Nation (807) 625 4906 or (807) 621 2790 mobile.