Languages of Sovereignty – Program 1, Short Films
A special edition of Indigenous Film from BC & Beyond
in line with the United Nations declaration of 2019 as
the International Year of Indigenous Languages
Tuesday, August 27 | 6:45 PM | VIFF Vancity Theatre
Shorts program running time: 93 min
Co-presented with the VIFF Vancity Theatre
Followed by a post-screening dialogue on film and Mother Tongue with select directors and other guest speakers in attendance.
Light catering by BigHeart Bannock. Cash Bar.
All welcome to screening and dialogue (age 19+). Tickets on sliding scale. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Curated by Sonia Medel and Sarah Shamash
POWER TO THE PEOPLE (Trailer)
Directors: Denis Paquette & Carmen Henríquez
Canada | 2019 | Cree | 21 sec
A preview to the thirteen-part documentary series, “Power to the People,” hosted by Melina Laboucan-Massimo of the Lubicon Cree Nation. Melina sets out on a journey to Indigenous communities who are leading the way to a post-carbon world. The series will be broadcast in Canada on the Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN) with a tentative launch date of January 2020.
SYLIX SONG
Director: Helen Haig-Brown
Okanagan, BC | 2010 | nsyilxcən | 1.47 min
Sylix Song is one of the thirteen films created for the Our First Voices omnibus, which pay tribute to the efforts being made to revitalize Indigenous languages for future generations.
BAKUËBOM BOMPISËN TËKIKBO (KIDS BLOWING THIN REED)
Director: Damë Bëtxun Matis
Co-directors: Chawa Wassa Matis, Kaxë Mentuk Matis, Shapu Sibo Matis, Dani Matis, Damba Matis, Chawa Atsa Matis, Tumi Rieli Matis
Matis/Rio Branco (Javari) | Brazil | 2018 | Matis | 12.29 min
Somewhere in the Brazilian Javari, in the Matis people’s territory, young people are filming the children of the village imitating how the adults hunt monkeys with blowpipes.
WAMIN (LA POMME)
Director: Katherine Néquado
Atikamekw Nation | Montreal, Quebec | 2017 | Atikamekw | 2.43 min
Wamin means apple in Atikamekw. Red on the outside, white on the inside. It’s an insult to people who leave their communities to go and live in the city. A young Atikamekw woman shows that living outside her reserve does not make her any other person than who she really is.
HANT QUIJ CMAA CÖIIPAXI AC (THE CREATION OF THE WORLD)
Director: Antonio Coello
Mexico | 2019 | Cmiique Iitom (Seri) | 10 min
The creation myth is adapted into an animated short film made by Seri Indigenous children and elders.
GONAWINDUA
Directors: Giuliano Cavalli & J.M. Suárez
Kogi Nation | Colombia | 2012 | Kogi | 13.41 min
Kankuémaku, an old wise ancient Kogi, gives a vital mission to Cenkui, his young apprentice. The mission consists of making a payment (spiritual work) to cancel debts with nature on the black line (the sea). Its path is the manifestation of the water route from the purity of the hills to the sea, a route that has been manipulated by the white man who has gradually been irresponsibly populating the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, considered by the Kogis to be the heart of the universe.
TARINAKUSUN: QUECHUA IN SEATTLE
Director: Chaska Rojas-Bottger
USA/Peru | 2015 | Quechua Chanka | 6 min
A documentary about a small and dispersed Quechua diaspora community in Seattle and the challenges it faces trying to keep and revitalize the maternal language.
VISHITIRI (THE VISIT)
Director: Patricio Quinteros Allende
Iquique | Chile | 2018 | Aymara | 13 min
Tita, a 9-year-old girl of Aymara origin, lives in an abandoned village in the Andean mountain range. A couple of strangers come to see her on her birthday and this visit awakens in Tita lost memories. These strangers may have a lot to do with her past, her present, and her future.
ᎤᎧᏖᎾ ᎠᎴ ᎠᏴᏓᏆᎶᏍᎩ (UKTENA AND THUNDER)
Director: Joseph Lewis Erb
USA | 2017 | Cherokee | 8.48 min
David Crawler narrates a very old Cherokee story of two boys who feed a small, starving snake. It grows up to be a large Uktena that fights Thunder.
SHIPIBOS KONIBOS (MONKEY MEN, FISH MEN)
Director: Róger Neyra
Shipibo-Konibo | Peru | 2019 | Shipibo and Konibo | 9.37 min
A journey deep into the Peruvian jungle that takes us into the world of the Shipibo Nation. The main character, grandmother Alejandrina, shows us her physical and spiritual relationship with the jungle, her sacred connection with Ayahuasca and with sacred plants and animals.
I AM HITKOAK
Directors: Adine & Tabitha
Inuit, Nunavut | Canada | 2018 | Inuinnaqtun | 7 min
Hitkoak describes her youth: the food she ate, the toys she grew up with, and the values she learned from her elders. Now, she passes them on to the young people in her community.
AND THAT IS HOW THE RIVERS CAME TO BE
(Y así aparecieron los ríos)
Director: Miguel Aráoz Cartagena
Kukama | Peru | 2018 | Kukama | 3.16 min
An animated oral story that takes us back in time to the moment when a mighty Kukama God created the Amazon’s rivers with his bow and arrow.
CITY SPEAKS
Director: Lisa Jackson
Squamish | British Columbia | 2010 | Skwxwú7mesh sníchim | 1.45 min
City Speaks is one of the thirteen films created for the Our First Voices omnibus, which pay tribute to the efforts being made to revitalize Indigenous languages for future generations.
KUMBARIKIRA
Director: Leonardo Tello
Kukama | Peru | 2013 | Kukama | 4.58 min
A few years ago, some elders took to the airwaves of Radio Ucamara with an early morning talk show, Kasita Kumitsa, which means “I want to speak.” The effort to revive Kukama got a boost with “Kumbarikira,” a music video in which Kukama children sing a traditional song about a bird and rap — their own creation — about how cool it is to speak Kukama.
