Activist films dominate festival

The organizers of Dreamspeakers Film Festival announced its line-up of the 23 shows it will feature June 7 to 10 during the annual event in Edmonton. Headlining is the feature film Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis, a fictionalized account of the summer of 1990 in Oka, Que. when the largest deployment of Canadian troops since the Korean War moved into the town to dismantle blockades set up by Mohawks who were protesting plans to build a golf course on a Native burial ground.

Attending the launch on May 24 was Indian Summer director Gil Cardinal, who spoke about the timing of the screening with a similar standoff unfolding between Native peoples of the Six Nations in Ontario and the town of Caledonia. He said the situations were different and yet the same. While the land claims are different the opportunities to solve the disputes have been mishandled by government, Cardinal said, so both situations have been inflamed into major crises.

Another feature on the agenda is Johnny Tootall, a film directed by Shirley Cheechoo and starring Adam Beach, who plays Johnny, a soldier discharged from the Bosnian War who returns home plagued by demons. His estranged brother, played by Nathaniel Arcand, is leading a revolt in the community to save sacred land.

There is an unofficial theme to the Dreamspeakers this year, said festival president Murray Jurak. Many of the 23 films shown will be about activism.

For example, a U.S. film called Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action profiles Native American activists fighting to protect Indian lands, preserve sovereignty and ensure the cultural survival of their peoples. The Kaipara Affair is from New Zealand and concerns efforts made to obtain government support to deal with the depletion of seafood in Kaipara Harbour, a natural resource vital to the people there. The Ghost Riders, also from the U.S., documents the annual 300-mile journey on horseback held in remembrance of the massacre of Lakota at Wounded Knee in 1896. Trespassing is a film that focuses on the battle surrounding nuclear storage and the controversy of land rights, uranium mining, nuclear testing and the disposal of nuclear waste.

But it won't be all stand-offs and tales of advocacy. The Last of the Mohicans: The 1920 Classic Myth is a black and white silent film that has been re-scored by award-winning Mohican composer Brent Michael Davids. Drag in the 'Peg is an eight-minute glimpse into Winnipeg's Aboriginal drag society. Pigeon Pow Wow is a three-minute film that shows the natural movements of pigeons set to the traditional beat of the drum.

Spirit Doctors is a film directed by Marie Burke that discusses Native spirituality and the ongoing debate around the ethics of documenting sacred ceremonies. Gang Aftermath is an edgy, unequivocal look at street gangs from an Aboriginal perspective.

The Dreamspeakers festival will feature a youth day on June 8 and for the first time Dreamspeakers is hosting a film industry trade fair on June 9 featuring industry professionals.
The event will be topped off with a gathering to celebrate the legacy of those who helped establish an Aboriginal presence in culture, film and arts around the world. The Aboriginal Walk of Fame honorees this year are Gil Cardinal in the director/writer category, Alanis Obomsawin in the producer/director category, Tantoo Cardinal in the actress category, Bert Crowfoot in the communications/multi-media category, and Barry Barclay in the director category.
For a complete list of films and the screening schedule, go to www.dreamspeakers.org .