Native artists find their voice through film

Tenacity and hard work has paid off for three Aboriginal filmmakers from Vancouver after their films won the honors in a digital short film competition hosted in collaboration with the Aboriginal People’s Television Network [APTN] and Capilano University’s Indigenous Independent Filmmaking Program [IIDF].

Twelve talented film students and past graduates of IIDF competed. Winners were chosen through online viewer votes. The winning artists are Jay Cardinal Villeneuve, who scored first place for his film ‘Reserved for Hollywood,’ Len Lindstrom, who took second for ‘Lost,’ and Judson Pooyak, who placed third for his digital short ‘Boogie.’

Villeneuve, 34, called the win “humbling.”

“I feel really good. I was completely surprised and in shock,” the soft-spoken artist said.

Villeneuve, who is a member of the Sub Arctic Cree/Métis nation, won $3,000 for his digital short. He says the competition helped to further conceptualize the film, which he says is a work-in-progress.

Villeneuve’s winning film, ‘Reserved for Hollywood,’ is a refreshing mix of tongue-in-cheek one-liners and parody. The film tells the story of three wannabe players, a producer [played by Villeneuve himself], an actor and an agent [played by Lorne Cardinal].

“It’s a parody of ourselves,” the filmmaker laughs.

“It’s a satirical look at the [film] industry from a First Nations’ perspective,” he added. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously in the show. What I wanted to do was look at the stereotype of the typical Hollywood Indian and show that with some slap stick,” Villeneuve explained.
Villeneuve plans to pitch the short to APTN as a series in the future.

“We’ve got the storyline developed and now we have to propose it,” he said, adding that he has a producer interested in the film.

While his passion is in creating feature films with neo-horror, film noir undercurrents, Villeneuve, a father of two, has also recently tried his hand at children’s films. He says family is key to his success.

“Growing up in a big family, they supported me when I was on stage or in theatre shows or playing music,” he said. Villeneuve is a drummer, both traditional and mainstream.

Len Lindstrom, the second place filmmaker, worked as the cinematographer for “Reserved for Hollywood.
“I totally feel like I won twice,” he said.

“It was always just a dream,” Lindstrom said of his aspiring film career. Lindstrom grew up on the Vancouver Island west coast First Nations community of Tseshaht. He has many short films under his belt, including one about sex addiction titled “Only Once,” and another humorously called “Where You From, Indian?”

But Lindstrom is not solely a fiction filmmaker. Creating short documentaries is also a labor of love for the 33-year-old. With his historically-inspired bio-flicks “Indian Cowboys” and “Ha-Shilth-Sa Bob,” Lindstrom is refreshingly well-rounded in his craft.

“Ha-Shith-Sa Bob” is a work-in-progress, explained Lindstrom. He said the film is homage to the Nuu-chah-nulth newspaper’s first editor, Bob Soderlund. Lindstrom plans to give the film as a gift to his community to be held in their archives when the work is complete.

Lindstrom’s film ‘Lost’ is a reflection of his childhood struggles with domestic abuse. In the film, a young girl is trapped within a dysfunctional home and witnesses her mother’s physical abuse at the hands of her step father. At the end of the three-minute film, viewers are left to ponder if the girl takes her life. It is that question mark that hovers over the film that points to Lindstrom’s personal experience with abuse.

“It is my story,” he said of the film. “I’ve seen a lot of physical abuses as a child and I didn’t know where to turn,” he said. “I didn’t have any answers [and] that’s why the film has no answers for the child,” he explained.

“It makes you think: Did she jump or didn’t she? She doesn’t know where to turn and she doesn’t want to get her father in trouble,” he said “It [abuse] happens more than people think in First Nations communities,” he said.
When asked what the most difficult part of following his filmmaking dream has been, Lindstrom doesn’t hesitate.
“It’s the poverty,” he said, referring to the financial bind most students find themselves in when pursuing higher education.

Before being accepted in IIDF, Lindstrom was enrolled for two years in Vernon College to upgrade his education. While in Vernon, Lindstrom said being away from his wife and young child was extremely difficult. He also said living in student “poverty” proved to be one of the biggest obstacles on the path to fulfilling his dream.

Lindstrom said that going from earning nearly $3,000 a month from his construction job to living off a measly $600 a month was one of the biggest challenges he has faced. But he survived and today Lindstrom is on his third year of the five-year film program in Capilano University. He is currently taking courses in cinematography, and while he enjoys directing and acting, Lindstrom said being behind the camera is where he is meant to be.

Judson Pooyak said he is a jack-of-all-trades in the film industry.

“You have to be multifaceted and get your name out there,” said the ambitious 33 year old, who has worked as an actor on the popular television series ‘North of 60’, as well as dabbling in music, producing and directing.
Pooyak says his heart is in producing, adding that acting is not really his forte.

“I wasn’t interesting in being a puppet, [and] good gigs are few and far between,” he said of his history as an actor.

Like Lindstrom, Pooyak tapped personal inspiration to create his third-place winning digital short film, “Boogie.”
“It’s about a man getting back to his own groove in life,” the laid-back Pooyak explains of his work. “It’s personal,” he continued. “I found that there are things I was struggling through and when I let go I [realized] I had to get back to what made me happy,” he said.

The film delivers a simple yet profound message. ‘Life is short; be good to one another.’

Pooyak said the film was shot in one day on a small budget of $300 provided by APTN.

Sean Rickner, director of marketing at APTN, said the ‘Short Cuts’ competition featuring Capilano University IIDF students is a wonderful way to encourage youth to get involved in film.

“I think it’s great to showcase young Aboriginal talent and encourage them into film,” he said.

“It was great to be a part of.”

The winners were chosen by the public as viewers watched the films online and voted for their favorites. Online voting took place from mid December until the end of January. Winners were announced in February.
“We got quite a few hits,” Rickner said of the online downloads to view the short films. “And in terms of votes we had over 2,300 voters,” he added.

“We had some fantastic stuff. I hope people can realize these ways of telling stories,” he said of filmmaking.

Since IIDF began 10 years ago at Capilano University, there has been growing pains regarding the program’s curriculum. But program coordinator Doreen Manuel has transformed the two-year diploma program to a three-year degree program and she is passionate about informing First Nations bands about the importance of media and filmmaking.

Manuel said she even mailed postcards, program brochures and documented student testimonials to community education departments, band offices and friendship centres across Canada hoping to gain interest in the program.

“I’ve done nothing but talk and talk about the importance of getting people interested in the industry,” she said.
“When I first started we had a serious problem with enrolment,” said Manuel. “I’d lose 30 per cent [of prospective students] right off the bat because they can’t get funding,” she explained. Manuel suspects that’s because those in the industry rely heavily on contract work and not full-time hours, some communities are leery of promoting filmmaking as a viable career choice for their members.

“There’s not the nine-to-five steady work,” said Manuel. “But a lot of people in the industry own their own homes,” she said, adding that contracted directors can typically make $500 per day while cinematographers can expect $300 a day.

Asked how she feels about her students’ contest win, Manuel gushes.

“I think it’s great! I had a strong feeling that Jay [Villeneuve] was going to win. It was so well-written and it was cute and funny,” she said.

“Len’s show surprised everybody,” she continued. “It was written well and he did it about a pretty heavy and serious topic,” she added. Manuel predicts that the issues in Lindstrom’s film [suicide and abuse] resonated with residential school survivors as well.

“Judson’s film was cute and funny and it had a good message,” she said. “It was about keeping upbeat and that is Judson’s personality,” she added.

“I was so happy with every one of them,” Manuel said, pointing to the remaining nine film students that competed. “Everyone had a different message and everyone came to the table,” she said.

Manuel explained that the IIDF program is unique as it is created specifically for Indigenous filmmakers and run by Aboriginal industry professionals.

“It’s role-modelling when you learn a craft from your people,” she explained.

When asked what advice they would give to future young Aboriginal filmmakers, the contest winners say confidence and support is important.

“Find the good support and family network to help you get through-Healthy friends,” said Lindstrom, adding that he has been sober for eight years
“Once you get into it you can do it,” he assured. “I don’t regret anything.”
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“You defiantly have to believe in yourself,” said Villeneuve. “If you want to be a filmmaker then I think you have to live it,” he said. “You have to be what you want to be.”

“You have to be multi-faceted and get your name out there for yourself,” said Pooyak. He advises aspiring filmmakers to “keep creating and making good friends.”
“It’s all who you know,” he said. “Be good to yourself so you can be open to inspiration.”

“Come here to Hollywood north,” added Villeneuve. “And if you have something to say, then say it,” he urged.
Manuel said she is working on creating a pitch to APTN for another film contest later this year. She said the entire project cost $50,000 and was completely funded by APTN.

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