FREE ADMISSION!

The Cinema Lounge series was created to spark a dialogue about Canadian cinema and help combat the onslaught of Hollywood publicity that saturates most film media coverage in Canada. Through this series the Cinematheque invites deeply respected artists in the Canadian film community to select and write about a work or works from the vast and rich body of Canadian cinema that has impacted them as an artist. This unique series contributes to a larger public debate on the awareness and thematic concerns addressed by Canadian film.

STEVE LOFT INTRODUCES: A WINDIGO TALE
DIR. ARMAND GARNET RUFFO | 2010 | CANADA | 92 MIN

Filmed on Six Nations Reserve in Ontario and in the Ottawa Valley, the film tells a powerful story of intergenerational trauma and healing. Harold, a Native grandfather, desperate to save his troubled grandson Curtis from a life on the street, shares the dark secrets of their family and community. In an isolated village, an estranged mother, Doris, and daughter, Lily, must reunite to exorcise the voracious Windigo spirit tied to a painful past.

Steven Loft is a Mohawk of the Six Nations. He is a curator, scholar, writer and media artist. In 2010, he was named Trudeau National Visiting Fellow at Ryerson University, where he is continuing his research in Indigenous art and aesthetics. Formerly, he was Curator-In-Residence, Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Canada, Director/Curator of the Urban Shaman Gallery, and Aboriginal Curator at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. He has written extensively on Indigenous art and aesthetics for various magazines, catalogues and arts publications.