Filmmaker entrusted with her people's stories

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It was only a few years ago when I first saw a Chilkat blanket dance. When it joined the women's procession on the ancient dirt floor of the bighouse, it almost floated above the other shawls. It wasn't creased. It didn't swing. It didn't bounce. It swayed with an amazing elegance. The thick, soft wool showed an amazing spread of colors and designs as all eyes watched its flowing, warm movements around the centre fire.

Film-maker Barb Cranmer has captured this warm elegance in her latest project GWISHALAAYT- The Spirit Wraps Around You, which focuses on the lives of six extraordinary people who have dedicated their lives to the tradition of Chilkat and northern geometric weaving.

"For thousands of years, art and spirit have been woven together in the magnificent aprons and blankets that depict the ancestral history of the Tlingit and Tsimshian Nations," said Cranmer, a 'Namgis (Alert Bay) film-maker with more than a half-dozen films to her credit.

"The unique journey of self-discovery made by each of the artists is captured in intimate interviews at work and on their lands. We witness the intricate, sacred blankets emerging through age-old techniques, from the gathering of cedar bark, dyeing of wool and weaving, to their integral role in the ceremony," she said.

The history of Chilkat and northern geometric weaving goes back thousands and thousands of years to the Tsimshian people of the Skeena River. It is said that a young woman and her grandmother were living in a small village suffering through a food shortage. The young woman stopped eating so the other villagers would have a bit more to eat. As a result of her fast she had a vision of weaving, and started threading a piece of wool through a cedar-bark dance apron.

The weavings extended up and down the coast through marriage and across generations with the knowledge handed down from mothers to daughters and nieces.

Today, there are only 15 weavers left, practising a craft that some anthropologists have wrongly proclaimed lost.

GWISHALAAYT-The Spirit Wraps Around You profiles six of these weavers, offering a rare and valuable insight into the complex process of Chilkat weaving.

One blanket can take years to make, carrying with it a living history that embodies the dances and ceremonies they were made for.

Shot on location in British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska, GWISHALAAYT-The Spirit Wraps Around You presents a stunningly visual connection between lands, culture, and the family lineages of these fascinating weavers.

"I have been involved in film and video for 15 years, and the inspiration for my work comes from our own people's rich history," said Cranmer, who in the past few years has won numerous international awards for her work, and has developed a solid reputation as one of the top First Nations filmmakers in North America.

Writing, directing and co-producing Gwishalaayt hot on the heels of I'tusto-To Rise Again (2000), T'lina-A Rendering of Wealth (1999), Qatuwas-People Gathering Together (1997), and Laxwesa Wa-Strength of the River (1993), Cranmer continues her valuable role of telling First Nations' stories from a distinctly First Nations perspective.

"Our First Nations communities have entrusted me with these stories to bring to the wider public," said Cranmer, who first learned of the Chilkat weaver's circle from her sister who brought home a video of the group's bi-annual meeting in Alaska.

"As Namgis, we're connected to Chilkat weaving through my great-great-grandmother who came from up north," said Cranmer. "The telling of our stories from our perspective and giving voice to our Native communities is critical, and I feel privileged and honored to share this inspiring story."

GWISHALAAYT-The Spirit Wraps Around You will be shown on both APTN and Vision within the next few months.