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An independent filmmaker from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation is thrilled to be bringing an Indigenous film festival back to her home province.
“I’m grateful that it’s happening,” Tristin Greyeyes said of the Ācimowin Film Festival, Saskatchewan’s only Indigenous film festival.
Upwards of 80 films were on the bill this week at the festival, which began Wednesday and wraps up Saturday. Ācimowin means story in the Cree language.
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“Even if it’s not big, I’m glad that we did this,” said Greyeyes, whose First Nation is located approximately 100 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
Greyeyes said the festival pays tribute to a late friend.
Trudy Stewart organized Mispon, the first Indigenous film festival in the province, in Regina with Janine Windolph. That festival ended in 2016, three years before Stewart died.
“I wanted to pay homage to her,” Greyeyes said.
Windolph is also part of the Ācimowin Film Festival. Her new documentary Our Maternal Home was set to screen at the event on Saturday. The film, a National Film Board of Canada production, features Windolph venturing from Saskatchewan to Quebec with her two children and her younger sister as they trace their family history to Waswanipi, a Cree First Nation.
Windolph said Our Maternal Home was made because her teenage son had requested to go to Quebec to meet family members.
“Instead of a traditional script and shot list, we worked with family and community members in Waswanipi to curate a series of activities,” Windolph said. “Then we all went on the journey of experiencing those activities together.”
The film includes some first-time meetings.
“At the beginning of the film, we witness my children meeting their great auntie Irene for the first time, who is like another kokum to them, and she then acts as our guide, bringing us through these activities,” Windolph said.
“In this way, she is also contributing to the content and the experience of the film.”
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The award-winning film Tautuktavuk (What We See) was screened on Friday. The film is co-directed by Lucy Tulugarjuk and Carol Kunnuk, and tells a tale about a pair of sisters from Nunavut: Uyarak and Saqpinak.
After experiencing domestic abuse, Uyarak flees her territory and goes to Montreal. But once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, lockdowns prevented her from returning home.
During calls over Zoom, Saqpinak ends up revealing she has also been a domestic abuse victim, helping both sisters heal.
Tautuktavuk (What We See) won the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature Award at the Toronto International Film Festival last September. It also won the Sun Jury Award, which recognized outstanding work regardless of its length or genre, at the imagineNATIVE festival in Toronto last October.
Tautuktavuk (What We See) also received international recognition, winning an award at a festival in Sweden this past December.
Greyeyes said she would like to see the festival continue.
“We’ll see if funding comes and if it will be annual or biannual,” she said.
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