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The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
By David Salvador The 9th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival wrapped up in Toronto with an awards presentation honouring a number of accomplished Native filmmakers. For Best Dramatic Feature, the award went to Before Tomorrow, an Inuit film directed by Marie-Helene Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu that narrates a story of the first contact with Europeans from an indigenous perspective. The film also picked up the Best First Feature Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. Following the success of Atarnajaut: The Fast Runner, a release for this film is anticipated. Best Documentary Award went to Club Native by Tracey Deer, which is about the price paid by four Mohawk women from the Kahnawake reserve (outside Montreal) for "marrying out" of their nation. Free viewing of this film should be available at the NFB’s Mediatheque later on in the year. Also honoured during the festival was the distinguished documentary filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin, creator of Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. The closing night screening was Older Than America by Native American director Georgina Lightning, who doubled as director and actor in her haunting film about the legacy of abuse and torture shared by Indian Boarding and Residential Schools in both the United States and Canada. The strength of Native women was a theme that emerged in many films during the festival. Emerging talent was evident in many of the short films that were featured, including Divercity by Shaneeka Melanson, A Small Thing by Adam Garnet Jones, and 1, 2, 3 Knockup by Ariel Smith. imagineNATIVE was a true multi-media and new media arts festival, with art and video installations in galleries such as Bailey Fine Arts, Trinity Square Video and A Space Gallery. Artistic Director Danis Goulet related the origins of the festival as a project of VTape, the artist-run distribution centre, which has led to incredible growth in the past several years with audiences doubling in size. Looking forward to the 10th anniversary celebration next year! For more information, please visit www.imaginenative.org     |