BEST OF THE imagineNATIVE FESTIVAL
* FREE ADMISSION
Introduced by curator Niki Little
Celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2009, Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival has evolved into the worlds’ largest Indigenous film festival. In October 2009, the compelling and innovative festival drew many Indigenous voices together for an international exchange. An essay handed out during the festival, Reasoning Identity: the Culture Test, questioned how public institutions can apprehend Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal identities. It examined various contemporary and historical situations in which people are influenced by public institutions. This years’ The Best of the Fest ’09 program hopes to bring these themes into discussion with Winnipeg audiences. - Nikki Little
INUKSHOP
Dir. Jobie Weetaluktuk | 2009 | Canada | 3 min
In this cinematic tribute to Inuit culture, filmmaker Jobie Weetaluktuk mixes the past with the present to create a powerful and timeless statement about the effects of appropriation on art and culture.
SHIMASANI
Dir. Blackhorse Lowe | 2009 | USA | 15 min – Navajo, with English subtitles
Set in the 1920s on a tranquil Navajo reservation, a woman faces relinquishing her traditional lifestyle for a new life just over the mountain.
SHI-SHI-ETKO
Dir. Kate Kroll | 2009 | Canada | 12 min
A young girl’s dreams are haunted by a looming fate in this exquisitely crafted portrayal of an historical tragedy.
SAVAGE
Dir. Lisa Jackson | 2009 | Canada | 6 min – Cree, with English subtitles
On a summer day in the 1950s, a young girl watches the countryside go by from the backseat of a car. She arrives to find that the end of her journey is only the beginning…
JACKPOT
Dir. Alan Black | 2009 | Canada | 52 min
For the regulars of Toronto’s Delta Bingo, happiness can be measured by five letters and 75 numbers. Amidst the cries of victory and disappointment, these hardcore Bingo players have formed a family unto themselves. Jackpot takes an intimate – often hilarious – look inside the quintessential bingo hall and reveals a beautiful portrait of human faith in the power of luck.
ABOUT CURATOR NIKI LITTLE
Niki Little is a member of Garden Hill First Nation and the Program Director at Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art. Little has recently returned to Winnipeg via Montreal and Banff wherein she participated as a Studio Assistant for Algonquin artist Nadia Myre and Visual Arts Aboriginal Administrative Work-Study at the Banff Centre for the Arts. She studied at the University of Manitoba, the National Screen Institute, and the Camberwell College of Art, London, UK and is currently enrolled in the Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art mentorship program.
