I'TUSTO premieres

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When arson destroyed the 'Namgis bighouse in Alert Bay, it burned at the soul of the entire community. And when the spectacular bighouse was recreated and rebuilt in 1998, powerful emotions swept across all Kwakwaka'wakw nations as they celebrated a culture and spirit that could not be destroyed.

From anti-potlatch laws to residential schools to a jilted lover with a torch for revenge, the 'Namgis First Nation has survived it all.

Being a part of this interminable spirit, film-maker Barb Cranmer spent the last two years documenting the rebuilding of a bighouse, a culture, and a community's soul in I'TUSTO - To Rise Again.

Hot on the heels of her documentary T'Lina: The Rendering of Wealth, Barb Cranmer has continued to explore the essence of 'Namgis life.

Originally titled Out of the Ashes, We Will Dance Again, I'TUSTO tells the story of how the deliberate burning of a bighouse sent shockwaves through an entire community, and the recognition that the bighouse played a central role in the lives of the 'Namgis people who immediately launched their project to rebuild.

"The bighouse has always been an important place for our people," said film-maker Barb Cranmer. "When it was burned down I felt anger and disbelief. I just couldn't understand how someone could do something so terrible."

Although the arson was a horrific event, Cranmer realized it "was still a story that needed to be told."

After a year of fundraising for the project, a year shooting the footage and archival material, and another four months spent editing, I'TUSTO - To Rise Again was premiered in Alert Bay on May 6 to an appreciative audience.

More than 400 people jammed into the bighouse to witness I'TUSTO's premiere, and enjoy the feast, songs and dances hosted by Barb Cranmer for the film's opening.

"It's so nice to premiere this film at home," said Barb, speaking over the sound of a large, crackling fire in the centre of the smoky bighouse. "There's no narrator in this film. It's made up of interviews which allow our people to tell our own story, which is something that is very important to me as a Kwakwaka'wakw film-maker and as a person who is always looking to portray the truth through film."

I'TUSTO begins with the 'Namgis creation story. It deals with the potlatch and the building of the Gukwdzi bighouse in 1965. Then the fire that destroyed Gukwdzi in 1997, and the building and opening of I'TUSTO in 1999, retracing the cultural significance of these bighouses to the way of 'Namgis life.

Although the premiere showed only one version of I'TUSTO, three were made: an English version that appeared on Can West Global television on May 27t, a Kwakwa'la-language version that will be shown on APTN, and a 80-minute documentary on the bighouse's spectacular re-opening available on video.

Cranmer, who became involved in film-making in the early 1980s by making historical videos for the U'MISTA Cultural Centre, went on to study film at Capilano College in 1989 before working as a production assistant, and then writing and co-producing her own projects starting in 1993.

"I got into film-making because I always saw our image being cast in a negative light, and I was getting really tired of seeing us portrayed that way," she said. "We can tell our stories ourselves, and through APTN and several First Nations film festivals, more doors are opening to allow us to do that. You never see enough positive films on First Nations, and I hope to change that."

The 54-minute documentary produced by Nimpkish Wind Productions uses the true story of I'TUSTO as the beams of the film, combined with the interviews of Elders and community members as the magnificently detailed carved poles, and archival photos and footage as the planks to produce a wonderful film that shows the brilliant centre-fire of an entire culture.

"The film gives a good account of what happened here and gives viewers an idea of how important the bighouse is to us, and how devastated we were when it was estroyed," said Barb's uncle, 'Namgis Chief Bill Cranmer.

In the film, a story is told of an Elder looking at the burned remains of the bighouse and seeing the spirits of those since past walking out the door of the bighouse into the forest behind.

The Washing of Tears - about the residential school system.

Laxwesa Wa: Strength of The River - about the West Coast fishery.

Qatuwas: People Gathering Together - about the rebirth of the canoe culture on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

T'Lina: The Rendering of Wealth -about the traditional eulachon fishery.

I'Tusto - To Rise Again - about the loss and rebuilding of the 'Namgis bighouse in Alert Bay.

Next project - a documentary on traditional Chilkoot weaving.