Film/TV/Videos plus Websites
Produced by / art and character design by:
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Haida)
Haida-Manga Animation
2 and a half minutes
Voice over: Lark Clark
Music: “Big City Indians” / Song: Dancing Wings
Animated short: Christopher Auchter, Trickster Animation House
This two and a half minute short animation is based on a South American tale that has been retold and illustrated by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. The art and character design is identical to the book, Flight of the Hummingbird, he published in 2008. Effectively, Yahgulanaas only uses three colours – red, black, and white. This beautiful little story tells how one of the smallest creatures is willing to be brave and do as much as she can to stop a horrible forest fire. A woman does the voice over to the beating of a drum. The rabbit character seems be jump up and down to the beat.
For teachers, this YouTube video can be shown after reading the book and having students act out the parts.
Themes: environment and drama
Grade level: primary
270 Years of Resistance
Director/Writer/Producer:
Alanis Obomsawin
Alanis Obomsawin
1993
120 minutes
Starting in July 1990, Canada’s media attention focused on a blockade that was taking place in the town of Oka. The Mohawk from Kanehsatake wanted expansion of a private golf to stop because it would destroy their ancestral burial grounds in the forest. With very little concern for the Mohawks’ rights, the Mayor of Oka sent in police to remove protestors. Such action only escalated the tensions between the two sides leaving one man killed in a shootout. More barricades were set up and the Canadian army was summoned. This documentary spans the 78-day standoff and gives background knowledge on the Mohawk treaty process. Interviews are recorded with politicians, Mohawk spokeswoman Ellen Gabriel, Mohawk residents of Kanehsatake, and local townspeople who were being affected by road closures. Behind the barricades, the Mohawk women have the impossible task of keeping the Mohawk warriors calm as well as trying to negotiate with an unresponsive government.
Themes: aboriginal studies, history, politics, civics, citizenship, media, and human rights.
Grades: secondary
Drama TV series aired on CBC, 1992–1998
60 minutes per episode
cast: Tina Keeper, Tom Jackson, Gordon Tootoosis, Trevor Victor, Wilma Pelly
A CBC produced television series that ran in the mid-1990s depicts the life of a small and isolated native community located in the sub-Artic northern boreal forest. The vast majority of characters were Dene. In this fictional town called Lynx River, the people deal with real life issues that face isolated native communities across Canada. Such issues are: lack of employment, health care, housing, authority, wealth still held by the white minority, alcoholism, and power struggles amongst themselves. But, there are also stories of community, celebration, and survival. Humour – sometimes dark – is an important part of the series.
Themes: First Nations, poverty, alcoholism, cultural preservation, economics - conflict over land settlements, and environment - natural resource exploitation.
Grade levels: intermediate and secondary
Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny
documentary2006, 52 min 05 s
Director: Mark Sandiford
Writer: Zebedee Nungak (Inuit)
Production Agency: Beachwalker Films Inc., National Film Board of Canada
"...a humbling portrait of what it must feel like to be the object of the white man's gaze. Fresh and orginal, this documentary has that rare ability to educate with wit."
Teacher Resource:
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/sg/100494.pdf
Review by Keith McPherson, coordinator of the Language and Literacy Education Research Centre at the University of B.C.: http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol14/no12/qallunaat.html
Themes: Canada, perspectives, satire, race relations, history, and social studies.
Grade level: grade 7 and secondary
Raven Tales
Animated Ravens Tales series is an interesting and adorable 20 minute short films that are perfect to educate, engage and entertain students. Each of the 13 programs is an adaptation of aboriginal folklore written, produced and performed by an all-aboriginal company of artists. http://www.raventales.ca
Themes: folklore
Grades: primary
Animated Ravens Tales series is an interesting and adorable 20 minute short films that are perfect to educate, engage and entertain students. Each of the 13 programs is an adaptation of aboriginal folklore written, produced and performed by an all-aboriginal company of artists. http://www.raventales.ca
Themes: folklore
Grades: primary
Canada's Greatest Summer Job
Director: Joseph Crawford
Produced In: 2010
Music: Eric Boucher’s Rainbow Porch
This film was commissioned to help celebrate the 125th anniversary of national parks in Canada (2010). The film was entirely shot in the stunningly beautiful Gwaii Haanas. There is only one character – a young aboriginal man who works for the national park for the summer. The first view of him is swimming in the ocean with a cedar woven hat. While he is searching for a shell, the viewer has the opportunity of seeing the richness of the ocean and shore. Next, the young man begins to run through the forest, climbing higher and higher. On his journey, we see more of the park. The camera zooms in and refocuses to allow us to see the details and wonder of nature. Finally, he reaches his destination on top of a mountain where he compares a fossil with the shell that was freshly plucked from the ocean.
The film is accompanied by atmospheric echoing soundtrack that adds the feeling that we are in mystic and wild place. At the end of the film, text announces that in 1985, the Haida Nation led a protest against the continued logging on what is now Gwaii Haanas. Gwaii Haanas aptly translates to “Islands of Beauty”.
Themes: Canada, Haida and social studies.
Grade level: elementary
Author: Nicola I. Campbell (Interior Salish)
Director: Kate Kroll
Producer: Marilyn Thomas
Writer: Marilyn Thomas
Director of Photography: Dan Nowak
Editor: Thomas Sabinski
Production Company: Monkey Ink Media
Actors: Inez Point, Lee Prevost, Rita Pete, Ta'Kaiya Blaney
Cello: Peggy Lee / Composer: Hal Beckett
2009
6 minutes
This dreamlike short film is based on a story by Interior Salish author Nicola I. Campbell. The viewer watches the four days leading up to the moment the little girl must leave her loving family to attend residential school. The film is beautifully shot with the sad sound of a cello playing in the background. During her final days, she collects memories of who she is and where she comes from. The film does not stray far from the original text. The actors all speak in the soft and pleasant sounding Halq'eméylem language of the Sto:lo First Nation. Translation is written at the bottom of the screen.
Themes: First Nations, residential schools, family, preservation of culture, history as well as comparing text to film.
Grade level: grade 3 and intermediate grades
Websites
Beat Nation –
Hip Hop As Indigenous Culture
Hip Hop As Indigenous Culture
Produced by Grunt Gallery
“This site focuses on the development of hip hop culture within Aboriginal youth communities and its influence on cultural production.”
This is an extremely well organized and attractive site that highlights and celebrates youth contribution to culture. Culture does not reflect one moment in time and never evolves – here, young First Nation peoples embrace their traditions but develop a relevant expression of who and what they are. On the site there is more than hip hop artists - there are writers, filmmakers, carvers, fashion designers, dancers, and visual artists.
Themes: First Nations and culture.
Grade level: grade 7 and secondary
"Haida artist Bill Reid’s creative journey towards a deep understanding of his Haida heritage and identity"
See website: http://theravenscall.ca/en
Grade levels: all grades but lesson plans provided for grade 4 & 9
YouTube hosts many different short videos that incorporate photos and film of Edward Curtis. In the late 1800s, he captured through his camera’s lens various aboriginal peoples’ way of life. It was a life prior to the years of brutal legislation that attempted to extinguish their culture and traditions.
Edward S. Curtis, photographer
2:50 min
“This film is a journey through history, where famed photographer Edward S. Curtis explains Native American cultures in his own words, and photographs. This motion picture reconstruction of his 1911-1912 magic lantern slide show illuminates a time when Native Americans were forced from their land and cultures. Curtis's documentation of Indian cultures serve as a unique footprint in time.”
This film would be a great example of considering who is telling us about history and from whose perspective. The skill of the photographer is unquestionable, however, his words were written a hundred years ago and reflect his views during American expansion into the west that caused incredible change.
Themes: First Nations, history, photography, and social studies.
Grades: secondary
4:30 min
Music: Enigma
Chanting: Sacred Spirit
This video is a montage of beautiful portraits in sepia tones of various North American indigenous groups. Curtis also documented the amazingly crafted baskets and skillfully weaved cloth. The photos are accompanied by the contemporary music of Enigma with aboriginal chanting. The mixture of electronica and chanting is well done and is not distracting to what is being watched.
Themes: First Nations, photography, art, and social studies.
Grades: elementary and secondary
3:25 minutes
A video is a short critique of the photographer’s monumental job of recording a time in history. The issue of whether Curtis had a romantic view of his subjects is up for debate. Many of the portrait photographs were stage – people wanted to wear their best and look their best. They sometimes held items of great importance. However, he was also able to capture spontaneous and cultural moments that could not have been orchestrated by the photographer.
Themes: First Nations, photography, art, and social studies.
Grades: intermediate and secondary
Photographing the North American Indian
4:12 minutes
This video allows the viewer to enter the Smithsonian and see their Edward Curtis treasures. A curator explains what are glass negatives and how the photographer developed his work. Curtis even removed certain items from his photos that he did not want in his composition such as a clock. A nice peak behind the scenes of the work carried out in the museum.
Themes: First Nations, photography, art, and social studies.
Grades: intermediate and secondary
1:30 minutes
This very short video is a snapshot on how these old photographs can ignited a desire to bring back traditions that were outlawed in Canada and the United States. For example, the Sundance ceremony was not practiced for 45 years. Looking at the photos helped people to remember their traditions and seek out elders who could run these important ceremonies.
Themes: First Nations, photography, culture, and social studies.
Grades: intermediate and secondary
The Respect To Bill Reid Pole - project
Haida artist Bill Reid and Namgis artist Doug Cranmer carved a frontal pole for the Haida House complex in Totem Park, UBC in the 1950s. However, the elements of the weather began to pay its toll of the carving and it was decided that this important pole need to be preserved. The website chronicles the relocation of a 15 metre (50 foot) totem pole from the outside to the inside of the Museum of Anthropology in the year 2000. The website is easy to navigate – there are three main sections. There is information on the background of the project, the timeline, as well as resources. From each section, there are more pages with specific information including pictures, diagrams, videos and maps.
This project was created by the Museum of Anthropology and is part of the Virtual Museum of Canada and was founded by Department of Canadian Heritage.
Themes: First Nations, totems, museums, and preservation of culture.
Grade level: intermediate and secondary
