With Canada 150 celebrations focusing on Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation and the cry from Indigenous peoples to remember they have been on this land for 15,000 years, Eden Mills Community Club will be screening five National Film Board films addressing First Nations issues during the 2017-18 season.
The films, selected from the NFB’s Aaibziinwashi (Wide Awake) series, are created by First Nations artists.
The first screening, Angry Inuk, takes place on Sept. 15 at 7:30pm at the Eden Mills Community Hall. Angry Inuk, a multi-award winning feature documentary by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, was presented at the 2016 Guelph Film Festival. Seal hunting, a critical part of Inuit life, has been controversial for a long time.
A new generation of Inuit, armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, are challenging the anti-sealing groups and bringing their own voices into the conversation.
Director Arnaquq-Baril joins other Inuit activists as they challenge outdated perceptions of Inuit and present themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.
The evening will start with a short animation entitled The Bear Facts by Jonathan Wright, a funny look at the first encounter of an indigenous person and a colonial settler.
The 250 films in the Aaibziinwashi series are the stories of our land, told by First Nations, Métis and Inuit filmmakers from every region of the country, over many decades.
“Powerful, political, and profound, these films will initiate and inspire conversations on identity, family, community, and nationhood,” organizers state.
The series continues in 2018 with The Road Forward, Birth of a Family, Totem: The Return of the G’psgolox Pole and Our Nationhood.
The event is free but donations are welcome, in support of Eden Mills Community Hall.
For information visit www.edenmills.ca/canada150.
