Awesome Short Films by Aboriginal Filmmakers
Holy crap, I really suck at keeping up with this blog thing lately. I've been super busy with the kids' finishing school for the year, two projects that I'm working on with other people and my first radio story on CBC, which was pretty darn cool to do. I have seen a bunch of movies, mostly at the cheap theaters and on DVD, but I can't write about them right now, for some reason. So I will write other things, for a change.
I have a few ideas for my next project. One with the working title, "Happy Birthday", which stems from a story I told a friend about my crappy birthday date a few years ago. She thought it was very funny, and that had me thinking that maybe other people could laugh at my crappy date, too. This is a short comedy and I will begin writing the script very soon. There will be two main characters, male and female, and I already have an idea for who I want as the male. I'm taking that crappy date and adding more elements to make it more comedic. This project will be done by the end of December. I won't give much away, but it's already written in my head.
On National Aboriginal Day, I went to see the Mispon screenings of some comedy shorts from Manitoba at a Sask filmpool screening at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. They were very good and inspired me to want to get more projects done. Pookums by Shane A. Belcourt was very well done and cute. It was about a young woman who gets a job dogsitting a very finicky dog with a very finicky owner when things go awry and wacky hijinks ensue. I also really liked Rezurrection by Keesic Douglas. It was a reality TV spoof about a young, aboriginal yuppie new age-y type couple wants to redecorate their home. They hire a pair of guys who push them out of their house Trading Spaces style and bring in a team to "rez up" their place. Funny, funny shit. See these two films if you can.
I also really got into the First Stories: Saskatchewan films. I got the pleasure of getting to know all four filmmakers, Cory Generoux (The Power of a Horse), Janine Windolph (Life Givers: Honouring our Elders and Children), P.J. Swiderski (O Mother Where Art Thou) and Tessa Desnomie (ati-wîhcasin). They had a screening on CBC that night (June 21) and on SCN right after. I highly recommend seeing this program when it runs on SCN, if you can. I love that our voices are getting out there more and more. It's all work that makes you proud to be Aboriginal, too. Of the four I could identify with Swiderski's "Oh Mother Where Art Thou" the most. He completely nailed that feeling of every kid that has been "adopted out" (interracially adopted). You love your family so much and wouldn't have changed a thing in your life, but didn't quite feel like you totally belonged. You knew they loved you as their own and it didn't matter to them that you were brown, but you were fully aware that you were different. I loved the shot of his family photo where it begins with him and zooms out to reveal he's the dark one among a sea of smiling pale faces with fair hair. I could TOTALLY relate to that. Great job and congrats to all four filmmakers. They are all people you will be hearing a lot from in the future.
First Stories will be run again on SCN and the show also includes the Manitoba First Stories, which are also excellent. I loved Lorne Olsen's Apples and Indians, a hilarious look at one aboriginal man's struggle with identity, and also Ervin Chartrand's Patrick Ross, a beautifully shot film about a young ex con's art and musings while he creates that art. See the above films if you can, I highly recommend them.
More ramblings to come......
I have a few ideas for my next project. One with the working title, "Happy Birthday", which stems from a story I told a friend about my crappy birthday date a few years ago. She thought it was very funny, and that had me thinking that maybe other people could laugh at my crappy date, too. This is a short comedy and I will begin writing the script very soon. There will be two main characters, male and female, and I already have an idea for who I want as the male. I'm taking that crappy date and adding more elements to make it more comedic. This project will be done by the end of December. I won't give much away, but it's already written in my head.
On National Aboriginal Day, I went to see the Mispon screenings of some comedy shorts from Manitoba at a Sask filmpool screening at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. They were very good and inspired me to want to get more projects done. Pookums by Shane A. Belcourt was very well done and cute. It was about a young woman who gets a job dogsitting a very finicky dog with a very finicky owner when things go awry and wacky hijinks ensue. I also really liked Rezurrection by Keesic Douglas. It was a reality TV spoof about a young, aboriginal yuppie new age-y type couple wants to redecorate their home. They hire a pair of guys who push them out of their house Trading Spaces style and bring in a team to "rez up" their place. Funny, funny shit. See these two films if you can.
I also really got into the First Stories: Saskatchewan films. I got the pleasure of getting to know all four filmmakers, Cory Generoux (The Power of a Horse), Janine Windolph (Life Givers: Honouring our Elders and Children), P.J. Swiderski (O Mother Where Art Thou) and Tessa Desnomie (ati-wîhcasin). They had a screening on CBC that night (June 21) and on SCN right after. I highly recommend seeing this program when it runs on SCN, if you can. I love that our voices are getting out there more and more. It's all work that makes you proud to be Aboriginal, too. Of the four I could identify with Swiderski's "Oh Mother Where Art Thou" the most. He completely nailed that feeling of every kid that has been "adopted out" (interracially adopted). You love your family so much and wouldn't have changed a thing in your life, but didn't quite feel like you totally belonged. You knew they loved you as their own and it didn't matter to them that you were brown, but you were fully aware that you were different. I loved the shot of his family photo where it begins with him and zooms out to reveal he's the dark one among a sea of smiling pale faces with fair hair. I could TOTALLY relate to that. Great job and congrats to all four filmmakers. They are all people you will be hearing a lot from in the future.
First Stories will be run again on SCN and the show also includes the Manitoba First Stories, which are also excellent. I loved Lorne Olsen's Apples and Indians, a hilarious look at one aboriginal man's struggle with identity, and also Ervin Chartrand's Patrick Ross, a beautifully shot film about a young ex con's art and musings while he creates that art. See the above films if you can, I highly recommend them.
More ramblings to come......
posted by trudyrox at 1:51 AM
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