Johnny Tootall to receive wider audience

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Johnny Tootall, the latest film by award-winning filmmaker Shirley Cheechoo, has received a lot of praise since it was released last year, but not a lot of people have had an opportunity to see the film. That should all change soon, with CHUM TV set to broadcast the movie sometime within the next year and plans to sell copies of Johnny Tootall online.

The 93-minute film debuted at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto in October 2005 and has been making its way through festival circuit ever since.

The second screening was at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco in November 2005 where it picked up the award for best film, and earned stars Adam Beach and Nathaniel Arcand awards for best actor and best supporting actor respectively.

More recently, the film screened at the 2006 Alaska Native Heritage Centre Native Film Festival in Anchorage in January, the 4th Annual Native American Film Festival organized by the Friends of the Oglala Lakota held in Keene, New Hampshire in March and at the Reelword Film Festival in Toronto and the Newport Beach Film Festival in Newport Beach, California in April.

Cheechoo is a Cree filmmaker, playwright, director, screenwriter, producer, actor and visual artist from James Bay, Quebec, who now lives on M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island with her husband, Blake Debassige, a well-established local artist.

In the film the title character, played by Beach, doesn't want to take on the responsibility of being the next chief of his community so he leaves home and goes to fight in a war on the other side of the world. When he makes his way back home after a tour of duty in Bosnia, he must begin to tame his demons, both those he gained during the war and those that were waiting for him at home.

In addition to Beach and Arcand, the film also stars Canadian actor Alex Rice (On The Corner, Thunderbird) American actor Sheila Tousey (Law and Order, Ravenous) and Randi Knighton, who was discovered during an open casting call in Nanaimo, B.C.

"It's not based on a true story, however it does reflect on our culture, our traditions, especially from out west," said Cheechoo.

She believes anyone who watches the film could relate to the story in some way or other. She was inspired to direct this film "because I could relate to it myself," she said.

"The way it reflected on me was that you're at home, on the reserve and you're not accepted and sometimes you don't really accept what's going on in your community, so you leave. When you leave you find a different kind of struggle with your life. You tend to want to come home and when you do it just almost feels like everything stood still."

Cheechoo said she has experienced those struggles in her own life, one of them being the constant battle to find her identity, a problem she said was a product of the residential school experience.

"I grew up in a residential school and then I come home and I have an identity crisis," said Cheechoo. "I leave only because I think it's a better choice for me and try to make it on the outside world, only to find that I'm discriminated against on the other side as well. That makes you want to go back to your own roots and you have to find yourself and that's what happens to Johnny."

"It has its roots in many different areas," said Danielle Prohom Olson from Kitchen Sink Entertainment, who produced the film. "It is one of those stories that no matter who you are, you still find that human journey there and are able to identify with Johnny Tootall and the journey he is on."

The buzz around Johnny Tootall continues to grow, despite the fact that the film hasn't been available on DVD and hasn't played in theatres outside of the festival circuit.

"It's just been expanding and getting even more popular," said Olson. "It's proving to be quite popular, which is no wonder because it's a magical wonderful film. Shirley did a wonderful job with it and we had uch a wonderful, magical cast."

More information about the film or to find out how to buy a copy of the movie go to www.johnnytootall.com.