imagineNATIVE: New Waves

Scared by Nature
Director: Trevor Solway (Siksika, Blackfoot Nation)

Ara Marumaru (The Shadow) 
Kawenna´here Devery Jacobs, Ken Are Bongo, Richard Curtis, 8 min

A young mother, desperate and alone, makes a difficult decision to abandon her newborn daughter. Haunted by her decision, she must do everything she can to get her baby back. Ara Marumaru was created as part of the third Native Slam, bringing international Indigenous directors together in a 72-hour film challenge.

Kawenna´here Devery Jacobs is a rising film and TV actress (Rhymes for Young Ghouls) who has also recently turned her attention to directing. Her shorts Stolen and RAE have screened at imagineNATIVE. Ken Are Bongo is a producer and director working in Lakselv, Norway, whose filmmaking focuses primarily on Sámi storytelling and the Arctic region of his homeland. Richard Curtis is a Rotorua-based filmmaker and member of the Steambox Collective. His film, Ahi Kā (2014) has screened at festival internationally.

Shin-Chi's Canoe 
Allan Hopkins, 15 min

A young boy, Shin-Chi, attends his first year at Indian Residential School armed with a gift from his father to give him strength. His older sister attempts to return on her own terms, while trying to shield her younger brother from the harsh reality of the school.

Allan Hopkins is a writer, director and producer with over fifteen years of professional experience. He is proud member of the N’quatqua First Nation, located in Lil’wat traditional territory. In 2017 he wrote and directed a feature comedy called Indian Road Trip.

Onyota'a: Ka Khale Tsi'tkalù:to (Oneida and Toronto)
Kanatahawi Schuyler, 5 min

This self-reflexive work utilizes a split screen to examine ways of life for people of the Onyota'a:ka both in the city of Toronto and on the Oneida Nation settlement.

Kanatahawi Schuyler is a filmmaker and arts administrator. Her first short film Love Kills premiered at the imagineNATIVE film festival in 2009. Schuyler is currently in pre-production for another experimental short film There IS Light.

Mahiganiec (Baby Wolf) 
Jacqueline Michel, 5 min

A grandmother sits around the campfire telling her grandchildren about a young girl who was raised by a wolf. When the young girl is found by a woman, the worlds of wolf and human collide.

Jacqueline Michel did her first documentary as a part of the Wapakoni workshop in 2014. She is a playwright and a comedian. This is her debut into drama.

Ba'o - The Cannibal Giant 
Nick Dangeli and Devonia Laliberte, 7 min

A young girl sits with her grandmother around the campfire where she learns cultural stories.

Nick Dangeli is a recent graduate (June 2018) of the Indigenous Independent Digital Film Program at Capilano University. Early in his childhood, he liked to tell stories and at age 15 he used his iPhone and entered one of his films into the international short competition at the 2013 Celphim Festival at McGill University and he placed second in the Canadian division.

Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes) 
Amanda Strong, 18 min

Biidaaban, a young, Anishinabe maple harvester, defies the rules of time, space and gender in this compelling and beautiful stop motion short, told through different times and dimensions. Biidaaban carries on the tradition of harvesting maple syrup in present time in urban Ontario with help from her friends, including Sabe, an ancient shapeshifter.

Amanda Strong is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on filmmaking, stop motion animations and media art. She is currently based on unceded Coast Salish territories also known as Vancouver. Strong is the owner/director/producer of Spotted Fawn Productions Inc. (SFP). Under her direction SFP utilizes a multi-layered approach and unconventional methods that are centered in collaboration on all aspects of their work.