Independent Aboriginal filmmakers organize

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About 40 independent Aboriginal film, video and new media producers met on June 8 and 9 to create an organization that will allow them to present a united Aboriginal front in dealings with various organizations related to the film industry in Canada.

Filmmakers from all over Western Canada paid their own way to attend the two-day meeting at the Native Education Centre in Vancouver.

Carole Geddes, a filmmaker from Teslin, Yukon, was asked to be the interim president of the Aboriginal Media Industry Professionals Association (AMIPA). The group's next step is to organize a general meeting of Aboriginal media professionals, with representation from across Canada, she said.

Geddes emphasized that all Aboriginal filmmakers are invited to join AMIPA.

"In Nunavut, there is an association that started recently and we would like to form linkages with them but we have not gotten hold of them yet," she said. "I would like people to know that this association idea is one that is truly national, including central Canada, Eastern Canada as well as the North."

There wasn't a lot of action in the first month after the organizational meeting. Geddes said the executive members are volunteers and they have to fit the work into already busy schedules.

"It just takes a while to get the wheels in motion. The thing is, some of us are doing all this work on kind of a volunteer basis. I'm doing a lot in terms of outreach, trying to reach the national cultural institutions in order to get more support," she said. "There is a growing number of Aboriginal producers, both film and video, but this group is quite marginalized and because of that at this point in time, not able to pay the kind of dues that would support any kind of central institution. We need it, but it's kind of a chicken and egg argument. We really need this organization in order to establish a real foothold in the industry, but we do not have the dues. We cannot collect the revenue in order to support the kind of work that needs to go on."

While AMIPA is willing to look at funding sources in the early days to get around that problem, Geddes said, "the entire philosophy behind our organization is to be self-supporting. But in the very short term we are seeking assistance from cultural institutions in order to make that foothold."

Aboriginal Business Canada, Industry Canada and Heritage Canada are seen as possible benefactors for the short term.

Tracey Jack of Penticton, B.C. is the group's vice-president. Loretta Todd, Woodrow Morrison, Delores Smith and Jordan Wheeler are the executive members.

During the Vancouver meeting, the members narrowed their immediate goals to three main objectives and revealed them in a July 8 press release.

One, "to create a meaningful voice for lobbying and consultation with relevant cultural institutions (public and private) in Canada regarding their policies and programs."

Two, "to create ways to share information between Aboriginal professionals in film, television, and new media."

Three, "to assist in opportunities for both training and professional development for those entering the field and those already involved."

Most people in the field say there has been a rapid growth in the number of active Aboriginal producers during the past decade. They also feel that the only way to gain an equal place in the industry is to unite and lobby as a single entity.

Windspeaker was contacted before the meeting by several producers who told us they and their colleagues feel they're being marginalized and not taken seriously by the private and public bodies that make film and video production possible in Canada. They also said there was a considerable amount of anger and disappointment with the Aboriginal People's Television Network (APTN). Western producers, especially, feel they aren't getting their share of access to the Aboriginal television network.

Many point to APTN board members, some of whom are also film and television producrs whose work appears on the network, and raise the issue of conflict of interest.

Windspeaker requested accreditation to attend the meeting well in advance. That request was rejected by the meeting organizers, who said the members would not feel free to speak their mind with the press in attendance.

The producers hope their organization can be built into a force as strong as the Canadian Independent Film Alliance, a powerful lobby group representing mainstream producers.

Telefilm Canada and the department of Canadian Heritage provided some money to pay for the organizational meeting.

"It was a very well attended meeting, very tense at times," said Tracey Jack. "But we all got on the same page."

Jack said AMIPA representatives plan to meet with the Heritage Canada standing committee in not too distant future.

Jordan Wheeler, a Saskatchewan-based AMIPA executive member, admitted there was some dissatisfaction within the group with APTN. But he said that was a minor problem when compared to others.

"APTN was spoken about, definitely. There were frustrations expressed," he said. "But it wasn't the focus of the meeting, in my mind. It wasn't why the meeting was called in the first place. In my mind the more pressing issues were changes that were already taking place with Telefilm policy, changes taking place with Heritage Canada in terms of Canadian content. The Broadcast Act is up for some changes. There's a Canadian Broadcasters Association task force. And there's never been a voice for Aboriginal people in the film, television and now new media industry to lobby for our interests when those decisions are being made that affect our livelihood."

More than 100 Aboriginal professionals are making their living at film and video production in Canada, he said, yet Aboriginal people always seem to be pushed to the margins of the business.

"We've been there for a long time. Some people underestimate how long. Look at all the westerns that Hollywood did. They depende on Indians way back then," he said, laughing.

He said the main problem is that Aboriginal artists aren't getting their fair per capita share of the funding. He admitted that carving out that share will take awhile.

Wheeler also said that northern filmmakers who produce work in their traditional language have a better chance of getting funded the way things are set up right now. That means southern producers who lost their language through no fault of their own are left out in the cold.

"The language component for money from Telefilm pretty well meant that most of the southern producers couldn't access because most of the southern producers don't have their language -unfortunately they don't have their language," he explained. "It's difficult to do a show in a language because of that and also you need people that really do know the language and there aren't that many in terms of the actors and the writers and all the people involved. I think the Mohawks deserve their own shows, as do the Crees, the Mi'kmaq and everybody else. But we also need to access the larger audience and unfortunately or fortunately, the English language is the common denominator."