Cranmer wins another American Indian film award

Page 10

There's a quiet revolution taking place in Aboriginal filmmaking, and Barb Cranmer is busy behind the camera bringing life to history and trying to bridge the cultural gaps between Native and non-Native society.

On November 20, Cranmer's most recent film, T'Lina: The Rendering of Wealth, won best documentary at the American Indian Film Festival held in San Francisco. It is the fourth "best documentary" win for Cranmer and her production team at Nimpkish Wind during the past six years.

In October, T'Lina premiered to a sold-out crowd at the Vancouver International Film Festival and will have its broadcast premiere on Vision television Dec. 1.

Written and directed by Cranmer and Cari Green, T'Lina (pronounced gleet-na) chronicles the historic importance of the eulachon or "grease" fishery to mid-coast Nations and the contemporary threats to the survival of the species in the dwindling, cultural fishery.

From a studio in Vancouver, where she's busy editing her next film, Cranmer talked about T'Lina.

"The idea grew out of my first film in 1993. I was telling the story of the salmon and I wanted to tell the story of the eulachon too, but it was just too big a story. I had to separate the issues . . . T'Lina is also trying to make a stand on environmental issues . . . Thousands of years of culture will be gone if the eulachon are lost," she said.

Fishermen in the film implicate clear-cut logging with its resultant habitat degradation and by-catch losses in the commercial fishing industry as primary causes for diminishing returns of eulachon near Alert Bay.

"I'm not doing a science-based documentary," she explained. "I'm trying to make films with a cultural point of view. There are too many unanswered questions about why the eulachon are declining."

In a departure from traditional documentary filmmaking, the story of the eulachon and its importance in cultural rites like the potlatch is told not by narrators but through personal interviews.

"I don't use narration in my films," said Cranmer. "I let the people tell their own stories and I think that's very important. It's the voice of the people and the voices of those who've passed down their knowledge. It was important to me to record the stories of our Elders before we lose them."

In the film, Cranmer's grandfather Arthur Dick emphasizes the historical importance of taking care of the river.

"You've got to be very careful what you do in the river," he said. "The old people were very strict about it. They said we belong to the river."

Cranmer said the most challenging part about shooting the film, which took three weeks in a spectacularly beautiful area (Dzawadi) in Knight Inlet, was the lack of eulachon.

"We were really concerned that the fish weren't going to show. In previous years there were enough fish to make grease for 30 families. This year there was only enough to make grease for one family," she said.

From concept to final cut, T'Lina took Cranmer almost two years to complete.

She began her filmmaking career by working for other people in the industry during the early 1980s. By the early 1990s she was confident enough to found her own production company, Nimpkish Wind. She measures her success by the number of projects that she's been able to fully fund through co-production efforts with broadcasters, Telefilm and the National Film Board.

Currently she's editing a documentary on the resurrection of the Namgis Bighouse which was torched by an arsonist in Alert Bay in 1997. Out of the Ashes, We will Dance Again, chronicles the phoenix-like rebirth of the historic building and its opening ceremonies. CanWest Global will air the feature-length documentary in early 2000.

Cranmer talks about her latest project between edits. That project, We Weave Our History is the story of six weavers who are bringing to life the traditions of Chilkat weaving.

"I was amazed by their stories, and I'm very excited about the project. Weaving is an art form that belongs to the peple. The weavers want people to go back to their roots and recognize their spiritual-cultural connections," she said, adding that she'll begin shooting in May.

Cranmer said there's nothing easy about filmmaking other than enjoying the films and the recognition she gets for her work.

"It's great to have my work recognized by my peers and to go to the film festivals where you can talk with other filmmakers. We're trying to change negative stereotypes . . . It's hard for the outer society to understand who we are."

Her advice for emerging filmmakers: "Know who you are first. Knowing who you are makes you stronger when you face the world."