First international Indigenous film festival takes place online

The festival runs from August 31 to October 5, 2020. Vision Maker Media

Text by: Lina Taghy Follow

5 mins

From August 31 to October 5, 2020, Vision Maker Media, a non-profit organization committed to representing Native Americans in the United States, will host an International Native Film Festival for the first time. The festival will take place entirely on the web, and will offer a selection of 33 films, with the aim of introducing native culture to the whole world.

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Youth, environment and history, LGBTQA + or even women's emancipation… The international indigenous film festival focuses on very contemporary themes through the prism of native culture, too often muzzled. “  We've been neglected and ignored for centuries ,” says Francene Blythe-Lewis, executive director of Vision Maker Media , “ but we are an integral part of this company. We live every aspect of it. We also contribute to the history of the world  ”.

On the Vision Maker Media website, the figures speak for themselves: only 0.4% of television series and films feature a character from a native people in their cast, according to a study conducted by the non-profit organization IllumiNative. The stereotypes conveyed about these populations are still very entrenched. It is about this traumatized, forgotten culture that Vision Maker Media wants to talk about: “  Getting to know the native culture better offers the possibility of evolving in a more respectful world , underlines Alana Stone, project coordinator at Vision Maker Media, taking an interest in to stories and telling those stories must be able to create a common awareness of American and world history.  "

The organization produces and finances media content produced by natives or interested in indigenous populations. Vision Maker Media usually holds its own film festival every spring, but the Covid-19 pandemic has forced organizers to adapt: It's a very good thing to go digital. It is a way of anchoring oneself in modernity, of anchoring oneself in the present and in current changes. This allows us to increase our contribution in the United States and around the world, to have native populations recognized  , ”explains Francene Blythe-Lewis.

A festival that opens up internationally

Feature films, short films, documentaries, animated films, all genres are offered during the festival. Among the selected, a French: Pierre Garcia-Rennes.

His short film “  Oh Corbeau! Oh Raven !  » Will be broadcast as part of the festival, in the youth category. This Franco-Quebec animated film, already selected for the Berlinale, highlights tales and native American orality, as the director explains: “  These tales bear the history of native peoples, and at the same time, they speak of universal things, such as morality, nature, family or love. They look at the world that is overwhelming and beautiful.  "

On September 28, it will be possible to watch on the Vision Maker Media platform, “Oh Raven! Oh Raven! », An animated short film based on a legend of the Oji-Cri nation, directed by the Frenchman Pierre Garcia-Rennes. Pierre Garcia-Rennes

In Quebec, Pierre Garcia-Rennes observed violence against native peoples: “  I realized that there is no place, anywhere in the Quebec system, for people from native peoples. North Americans, whether in education, in politics, in culture. If only by the violence of their exclusion from political debate, it is a form of colonization that continues.  "

U do very touching selection "

For this young director, seeing his short film broadcast during the festival is a fair return to the film's basics. It's a selection that is very touching because it comes from the origin of the film. The film does not belong to me, it does not belong to anyone, but this story still has origins and that she can return to it is a very beautiful gift.  "

With the switch to the web, the festival is growing and intends to develop around the world. “  Broadcasting the festival on the web allows us to reach a much larger and more international audience, we already have 9,000 people registered to watch the films on the platform ! " Expresses enthusiasm Alana Stone.

The theme chosen this year is "COMMUNITY", or "community and unity", a theme that fits particularly well to the new format of the festival: "  Our theme was relevant for a local festival, because we had planned partnerships and meetings. , but CommUNITY now symbolizes an international movement of sharing and unity,  ”concludes Alana Stone.

The festival begins on August 31. Each week, a category and its films will be published, but the festival also offers conferences and virtual meetings with the directors. To access the movies during the six-week festival, simply register for free on the website of Vision Maker Media.

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