imagineNATIVE: The Future

Hamilton Artists Inc. is pleased to continue its partnership with imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival in 2020.

 

Daniel Fortin. Puktew Muin (Fire Bear). Film still.

Screening Series:
THE FUTURE

Presented in partnership with imagineNATIVE.

Saturday, June 27, 2020 at 6:00 pm until Tuesday, June 30, 2020 at 6:00 pm
Online Screening 
Screening time: 62 minutes (14+)

Artist Talk with Rebecca Thomassie: June 30, 6:00 pm
Online via Facebook Livestream

THE FUTURE features short-format experimental films by Daniel Fortin, Trevor Gould, Taran Kootenhayoo, Chris Grant, Bretten Hannam, Rebecca Thomassie and Conor McNally. All seven films will be available for flexible online viewing for 72 hours, starting at 6 pm on  June 27 until 6 pm on June 30. The link to watch the films will be released at the start of the event. Watch the films in your own time and tune in for the artist talk with filmmaker Rebecca Thomassie via Facebook livestream, which will culminate the screening program. In partnership with imagineNATIVE, THE FUTURE shorts program is hosted as part of Hamilton Artists Inc.’s ongoing Screening Series, presented every summer between June and September.
 

imagineNATIVE is the world's largest presenter of Indigenous screen content. imagineNATIVE's Festival, Tour, and year-round initiatives showcase, promote, and celebrate Canadian and international Indigenous filmmakers and media artists and create a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples, cultures, and artistic expressions. The imagineNATIVE Film + Video Tour is one of imagineNATIVE's largest initiatives outside of the annual festival, bringing Indigenous-made film and video works, community engagement activities, and youth workshops to communities across Canada.

 

 

 

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Program:

Puktew Muin (Fire Bear)
Director: Daniel Fortin (Métis)
 

 

Apaja'simk - The Return
Director: Trevor Gould (Mi'kmaq)

D.I.Y
Director: Taran Kootenhayoo

XO Rad Magical
Director: Chris Grant (Mi’kmaq)

Wildfire
Director: Bretten Hannam (Mi'kmaq)

Names for Snow
Director: Rebecca Thomassie (Inuit)

IIKAAKIIMAAT
Director: Conor McNally (Métis)

Hamilton Artists Inc. would like to thank imagineNATIVE for sharing this collection of short films with audiences in Hamilton and the surrounding area. For more information on the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival, please visit: imaginenative.org/
 

 

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About the Films:

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Puktew Muin (Fire Bear)
Daniel Fortin, 8 min

While listening to their uncle retell the Mi'kmaq story of Skus and Muin, two precocious children begin to imagine themselves as the lead characters of the tale. Filled with whimsy and playfulness, ‘Puktew Muin’ is an adorable reinterpretation into the boundless imagination of a child.

A multi-faceted Indigenous artist, Daniel Fortin has spent a decade learning most aspects of T.V. and Film. His short films have screened internationally including at WAFF, imagineNative, Montréal First Peoples Film Festival, Regina International Film Festival and Whistler Film Festival.

Apaja'simk - The Return
Trevor Gould, 10 min

Glooscap, the creator of the Mi’kmaq people, sends his brother, Marten from the spirit world to see how his people are doing. Confused by the younger generation, Marten is taken to an older woman in the community who shares the history of their people. She tells him the youth will lead them out of the wilderness.

Trevor Gould, a Mi’kmaq from the Paqtnkek Mikmaw Nation in Nova Scotia, is known as a Powwow singer, MC and Director, evolved in the musical DRUM! For 10 years. This is his first foray into film.

D.I.Y
Taran Kootenhayoo, 5 min

Adam, a skateboarder, meets an unexpected stranger Joe, a Cree man who shares a traditional song which inspires him to get back to his roots.

Taran Kootenhayoo is an aspiring actor and playwright. He has written and directed two short-films, this is his directorial debut at imagineNATIVE.

XO Rad Magical
Chris Grant, 2 min

‘XO Rad Magical’ is a personal lyrical poem about the daily struggle of living with schizophrenia. This psychedelic and hypnotic film shows that there is beauty in the brains of those who are at war with themselves.

Christopher Gilbert Grant is a young Mi’kmaq artist from the Pabineau First Nation who is living with schizoaffective disorder. He studied Fine Arts at Mount Allison and animation technique at the New Brunswick Community College, and his work was featured in Young Ancestors, a 2014 group show at Fredericton’s Beaverbrook Art Gallery. In 2018, he mounted a solo exhibition called Disposing Sanity: Life After the Psych Unit at the Bathurst Heritage Museum.

Wildfire
Bretten Hannam, 12 min

Stalked by his abusive father, a two-spirit teen runaway and meets a rebellious Mi'kmaw drawn to his journey. A deep bond begins to grow as he learns Mi'kmaw language and culture from his new companion.

Bretten Hannam is a two-spirit filmmaker of Mi'kmaw, Ojibwe, and Scottish ancestry living in Kespukwitk, Mi'kma'ki (Nova Scotia). His films deal with themes of community, culture, language, and tradition with a focus on Two-Spirit and LGBTQ identity. He co-wrote the short CHAMPAGNE which premiered at the TIFF. Cinema Politica commissioned Wildfire in the genre of Indigenous Futurism.

Names for Snow
Rebecca Thomassie, 5 min

Rebecca Thomassie teaches her daughter the different names for snow in Inuktitut in this uplifting tale of cultural perseverance.

Rebecca is an emerging Inuit filmmaker who centres her work around Inuit culture.

IIKAAKIIMAAT
Conor McNally, 9 min

A young woman recounts her time in foster care and how the trials and tribulations of life in care affected her artistic practice.

Conor McNally is a filmmaker based in Amiskwaciy (Edmonton, Treaty 6). Bypassing formal film training, Conor creates works through a combination of instinct, and hands-on trial and error as well as a community of friends that contribute in massive ways. He is a proud father and member of the Métis Nation of Alberta.
 

 

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Watch the documented artist talk below:

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The Inc.'s Screening Series is made possible through project support by the Canada Council for the Arts, Incite Foundation and Hamilton Community Foundation.