Women Make Waves International Film Festival

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    Christmas at Moose Factory

    Alanis OBOMSAWIN 1971 Canada color 13min English DCP
    When the dreamy snowflakes and cold air announce the arrival of Christmas—the most anticipating season of the year for most children and families—the festive vibes implies the beginning of colonial ideology. This lyrical short documentary marks the beginning of OBOMSAWIN's career in filmmaking. Filmed at a residential school in northern Ontario, it is composed entirely of drawings by young Cree children and stories told by the children themselves.

    Director

    Alanis OBOMSAWIN

    "A member of the Abenaki Nation and one of the most important Indigenous filmmakers of all time, Alanis OBOMSAWIN was born in 1932 and grew up in the Odanak reserve, northeast of Montreal. She has made over 50 films during her almost-five-decade career. Also a singer, an artist, and an educator, she devotes her life to Indigenous activist movements, defending the rights of the First Nations people. In the 1960s, OBOMSAWIN was touring around North America, sharing Indigenous stories in the language of Abenaki as a singer. Since 1967, she has been working as a consultant of Indigenous cinema at the National Film Board of Canada. In 1971, her short Christmas at Moose Factory marks the directorial debut of this legendary Abenaki director. OBOMSAWIN’s films empower the characters and the subjects by letting them tell the stories in their own language. Her focus on the rights of Indigenous people, cultural heritage, and environmental consciousness makes her a passionate and productive filmmaker. Her works cover themes including cultural practices and oral histories of Indigenous people, human and non-human relationships, traditional territories, and unjust capitalist and colonialist constructs. She is often at the front line of social movements, recording the story of her people.

    Alanis OBOMSAWIN

    1971 Christmas at Moose Factory
    1977 Mother of Many Children
    1977 Amisk
    1984 Incident at Restigouche
    1986 Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child
    1988 No Address
    1993 Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
    1995 My Name Is Kahentiiosta
    2000 Rocks at Whiskey Trench
    2002 Is the Crown At War With Us?
    2003 Our Nationhood
    2005 Sigwan
    2006 Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises
    2014 Trick or Treaty?
    2016 We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice
    2019 Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger

    Director, Screenwriter: Alanis OBOMSAWIN
    Producer: Wolf KOENIG
    Executive Producer: Robert VERRALL
    Cinematographer: Ben LOW
    Animation Cinematographer: Raymond DUMAS
    Sound: Jacques DROUIN
    Sound Editor: Bill GRAZIADEI
    Re-Recording Mixer: Roger LAMOUREUX
    Music: Sinclair CHEECHOO, Jane CHEECHOO,
    Arthur CHEECHOO

    Eric SEGUIN
    National Film Board of Canada
    E.Seguin@nfb.ca

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