Healing message in film

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"My belief as a film-maker is that you have to be able to share and pull from inside your own experiences so that you will be able to tell the film with the passion that it needs," said Shirley Cheechoo.

Cheechoo directed In Shadow, a short film that was featured at the Native Forum during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah Jan. 15 to 25.

The Sundance Film Festival is an industry event that promotes the work of independent filmmakers from around the world. This year, the Native forum highlighted films made by Indigenous people from Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

"I think it's important that they have a Native forum at Sundance because it is such a mainstream festival. It's very important that our films get shown because our voices are hardly ever heard," said Cheechoo.

Set in Toronto, In Shadow is a 20-minute film about a young woman named Rebecca, an artist by day and a prostitute by night. Sexually abused at a young age, Rebecca must come to terms with shadows from her past in order to heal from her traumatic childhood.

Born in Eastman, Que., Cheechoo spent most of her youth in Ontario. Her film at Sundance is reminiscent of painful years growing up. Despite the somber subject matter, Cheechoo believes the film contains a message of universal healing.

"One of the things that happened to me as a child was that I was sexually abused at a residential school and I too created a friend, which was the moon. This is why I wanted to do this film, so people that have been in my place, in residential schools, or have been abused, can see it and see some hope at the other end."

This was Cheechoo's fifth year at Sundance. Her peers included Quebec's Alanis Obomsawin, who presented her documentary Our Nationhood, an examination of the standoff between the Listuguj M'igmaq First Nation and Quebec authorities. From the same province, Joseph Lazare premiered his film called Might of the Starchaser-about a group of friends that must save an entire planet from a revenge-driven alien toddler while stuck on a space station . If the Weather Permits is a documentary that ponders the future of the Inuit and was directed by Nunavut's Elisapie Isaac. Zoe Leigh Hopkins of British Columbia directed and wrote her film A Prayer for a Good Day, a tale about a young girl who prays for 'good days' for her depressed father.

The film festival, made famous by actor Robert Redford after he took the helm in 1978, helped launch Cheechoo's career. Her first film, a short drama titled Silent Tears, premiered at Sundance in 1998. Her work in later festivals includes the feature film Bearwalker, which was shot in Manitoulin Island, and two documentaries called Tracks in the Snow and Mother Earth. It was a twist of fate and Cheechoo's determination to stay true to her artistic vision that led her down the filmmaking path.

"I got into film by accident. The first film that I did was developed through the CBC, and I eventually took the story from them because it wasn't being told the way that it really happened. I didn't want to dishonour my mother because it was a story about her real life situation. So I took the script away and produced it myself. Then I just caught the bug because I've always been in a creative place."

As the first Aboriginal person in Canada to write, direct and act in a feature film, Cheechoo remains committed to her community.

"I live on a reservation called Mi'Chigeeng First Nation. I choose to live on a reservation because I really believe that our youth really need role models to show them that you don't have to leave the reserve to be successful. I want them to see that you can do things."

Cheechoo is also the founder of the Debajehmujig Theatre Group on Manitoulin Island. Her other plans include establishing a film institute there, which she hopes will bring artists from all over Canada to share their stories and techniques.

Three feature film project are on the way including one with Isuma Production and Norflicks Production titled The Tom Longboat Story.

Aside from her film work, Cheechoo's other onscreen credits include a role on the television series The Rez, Daughters of the Country and the American feature film Christmas in the Clouds. Her artwork has also been featured on UNICEF Christmas cards. As a playwright, Cheechoo's works include Path with No Moccasin, Shadow People and Your Dream is Mine.