Indigenous Film Summit 2021: How to tell Indigenous stories in film, and support Indigenous creators?
Our contributor Sara Aloe immerses us into the 4th Indigenous Film Summit (June 23-25, 2021), a hotspot for respect, inclusion, and discussion. In this article, Sara shares with us her main take aways from attending the event.
The Indigenous Film Summit is an annual event held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by Indigenous Filmmakers Association members Roger Boyer, Justina Neepin, & Charlene Moore. The event aims at bringing together Indigenous writers, directors, actors and producers of North America to create a vibrant community inspiring one another.
This year’s edition was the 4th one and the 2nd one online (read Sara’s impressions on the first online Summit), but the dates ran into a very important matter, the gruesome discovery (as for June 23rd) of remains of 1,323 Indigenous children at the site of former residential schools; for those of you who don’t know about these ‘schools’, they were ran by the Christian Church between the 19th and 20th centuries, the last one being closed down in 1997. They forced Indigenous children from their families, depriving them of their ancestral languages. The police would just come and take them from their parents and culture with the aim of them to forget their roots, their language and culture, to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Many of these children were exposed to physical and sexual abuse. Some returned home, and thousands never got the chance to return to their families, by the ‘school’ authorities claimed as fugitives gone missing. Today the truth came out. Canada can’t bury it anymore, it’s open to the public and open to the world. Sending prayers to all those little souls.
The Summit Opening began with a Prayer and Teaching by Gary, one of the Elders, and every panel began with a moment of silence for the souls of those children and for the elders who went through that hell. Gary also pointed out that this is time for reconciliation and that for the film industry there should be a space to create films about this area to open the eyes of the mainstream people who are just learning about these events and this chapter of history, learning also means unlearning and listening. Being part of the change. Tell the stories that need to be told.
Also during the opening panel I heard, among many other, this meaningful sentence by Adam Smoluk of Film Training Manitoba: “I think that one of the things about our industry, the film and television in general is that it gives us the opportunity to share our stories and contribute to the creative matter.”
During the “Eversick, The Indigenous Humor Panel” the panelists were discussing the topic of how to continue comedy in such time, and here I heard a beautiful response by Howie Miller: “Laughter is best medicine, humor helps get over things.” And by Drew Hayden Taylor: “Humor is the WD-40 of healing. Keeps us strong, keeps us going.” Another topic was what happened in the industry over 30 years. Drew recalled the 80s and the explosion of indigenous creations of those times: “The poison must be exposed so for healing to happen.” Of course by the ‘poison’ we’re talking about the oppression. It’s trauma-based content, that’s why there are so few comedies. It still needs some time and space for exposure.
“Indigenous Actors in the Industry” showcased a very important case of how difficult it is to be cast in a mainstream production. As Indigenous creators, many times they are forced in a corner, where they have to write and produce their own projects just to be able to cast themselves to have something to show in their resumes. Here it’s worth mentioning how the lockdown was used in positive to bring creative benefit as everything turned online and many platforms became more popular; many creators took their projects there and became more visible to the mainstream. Social media and podcasts are just an example.
On a personal note, I can’t wait to watch a hot and trendy North American production with more visible Indigenous cast. As doctors, lawyers and any other walk of life as they do exist in everyday society.
Dear IFS, I love the energy which is so characteristic to the event. Tolerance, diversity and inclusion. The mainstream should learn from you. Miigwetch (thank you) and looking forward to next year.
The Indigenous Film Summit (IFS) is proudly sponsored by wonderful entities who support Indigenous creators: Indigenous Screen Office, Canada Media Fund, Film Training Manitoba, Manitoba Film and Music, BIPOC TV and Film, On Screen Manitoba, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
