Island film maker heads to T.O.

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May turned out to be a tumultuous month for Manitoulin film maker Shirley Cheechoo. Amid all the excitement of premiering a new film at an American festival, she learned that she has been accepted into the Canadian Film Centre established by Norman Jewison.

"I am the first Aboriginal director to be accepted," she revealed. "I tried once before but it didn't happen. Then suddenly the program director called and now I will be living in Toronto from July to December."

With the good news also comes the challenge of acquiring sponsors for her tuition and living expenses in Southern Ontario, she said.

"It is a great opportunity and a great honor to get in," she added. "It will open a lot of doors for us as First Nations film-makers. It will give us a chance to share our culture and to educate the producers, actors, directors and other professionals in the field about the way we live as people."

Her presence at The Canadian Film Centre may help to dispel some of the stereotypes of Aboriginal people perpetuated by Hollywood, she believes.

Cheechoo hopes her success will have a positive effect on First Nations youth as well. "It will open up doors and other opportunities for young people," she said.

For now she is looking forward to networking with other film-makers and lining up resources for future projects. The new contacts may help to ease the isolation Northern artists often experience.

Once the session is over, Cheechoo plans to bring the knowledge home to share. She has already set up the Weengushk Film Institute in M'Chigeeng and a board of directors is in place.

Meanwhile, she has also premiered a third documentary film at the Windsong Film Festival in Indiana. Mother Earth (Pikutiskwaau) accompanies her two previous documentaries commissioned by the Cree School Board of James Bay. The educational videos, Tracks in the Snow and Dancing River, produced in Cree and English, are used to help students learn more about their culture.

The films were a labor of love that took her back to her roots, she says. The 52-minute video Mother Earth, which premiers at Windsong, took about a year to complete. Tracks in the Snow premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001.

When she's not developing plans for documentaries or a television series, Cheechoo is an artist and playwright as well. The theme of much of her work is survival. At the Sudbury Authors' Festival held May 8 she read an excerpt from Path With No Moccasins, which is based on her life experiences.

For anyone experiencing difficulty in advancing their projects, she advises: "If you have a dream don't let anyone stop you from doing it. Just keep on knocking on doors and they'll eventually open."