WHO: Howard Adler

WHEN: Sunday, September 22 from 6:30-9pm

WHERE: SAW Centre, 67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa K1N 7B9

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

For this special film screening Howard Adler, co-director of Asinabka Film and Media Festival, will curate a collection of films by Indigenous filmmakers that speak to the importance of nibi (water).

FILM PROGRAM

Nitahkôtân (I Have Arrived)
Moe Clark • 3:35 • 2014 • Music video
A hymn to nature and gratitude sung by renowned artist Moe Clark.

How to Steal a Canoe
Amanda Strong (Metis) • 4:10 • 2016 • Animation
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg artist, musician, poet and writer, who has been widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation. “How to Steal A Canoe” is a song
that on the one hand tells the story of a young Nishnaabeg woman and an old
Nishnaabeg man rescuing a canoe from a museum and returning it to the lake it was
meant to be with, and on a deeper level, of stealing back the precious parts of us,
that were always ours in the first place.

Wigwas
Karl Chevrier • 6:01 • 2013 • Documentary
Karl talks about his philosophy of life by making his canoe out of birch bark.

Tapiskwan Sipi (Tapiskwan River)
Bryan Coocoo • 5:11 • 2015 • Documentary
A poetic film that tells the history of the Tapiskwan Sipi river through the oral teachings of an elder to his grandchild.

Wapawekka
Danis Goulet • (Cree/Métis) • 16:16 • 2010 • Drama
Josh, a hip hop artist, would rather be anywhere than with his dad on a final trip to their isolated cabin on their family’s traditional Cree territory in northern Saskatchewan. As the gap between them becomes more apparent, so does the pull of a much greater force.

The Legend Of Quanja Lake
Louie Francis (Anishnabe) • 5:44 • 2018 • Documentary
In his second film, Louie Francis (The Bell Rocks) explores the origins of the tales of the great serpent that is rumoured to live under lake Quanja. Elders reveal to him that the Ojibwe people of Wiikwemkoong have always believed in this serpent and that it is, in fact, a water spirit, not a malevolent monster. Ogimaa Duke Peltier, joins Louie on a canoe trip and explains that we need to respect these beliefs, as they are a part of Ojibwe culture and ancestry. Louie also explores the large snake fossils that can be found around Quanja, establishing a possible archaeological link to the legends.

The Bell Rocks
Louie Francis • 5:55 • 2017 • Documentary
A story told by Louie while paddling a canoe. Far from being inanimate objects, rocks have many stories to tell. From boulders that ring like bells when you strike them, to skipping and balancing stones, and to the stories of how the Ojibwe defended their lands from Mohawk invaders by tricking them on rocky cliffs. |

Shipu (River)
Shanice Mollen-Picard, Uapukun Mestokosho Mckenzie • 5:42 • 2015 • Documentary
Aware of numerous environmental dangers that the Innu territory faces, two young women, passionate about canoeing, remind us of the fundamental role of the rivers. “The ancestor’s highways” as they are called in Innu culture. It is a documentary with political and poetical tones on the importance of protecting the rivers.

The Wolverine: The Fight Of The James Bay Cree
Ernest Webb • 9:05 • 2015 • Documentary
In 2014, The Quebec government holds public hearings to assess the impacts of uranium development on health, the environment and the Cree way of life in James Bay, Quebec, Canada. The Wolverine is a poetic, deeply relevant film that traces Cree culture, their relationship with the land, and the strength of their community.

Paths Without End
Christine Friday (Algonquin) • 10:45 • 2019 • Documentary
A documentary dance film that uniquely inspires our people as we witness the Friday Family as they take back their power from Shingwauk residential school and speak their truth on their traditional Family territory.

About Howard

Howard Adler is an award winning writer, artist, and filmmaker. Howard is currently the Co-Director and Programmer for the Asinabka Festival, an Indigenous film and media arts festival in Ottawa. Howard is Jewish and Ojibwa and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, North-western Ontario.

About Asinabka

Currently in our 8th year of programming, the mandate of the Asinabka Festival is to present an annual Indigenous film and media arts festival in the Nations Capital that allows independent artists – national, international, Indigenous, non-Indigenous – to share, present, and disseminate their work. Our mandate is also to present smaller-scale programming throughout the year, such as one-time film screenings, our annual National Indigenous Peoples Day event, or our annual winter “Snow-Screen” programing.

The Asinabka Festival aims to highlight works that examine Indigenous issues and topics; to support media artists and filmmakers; to promote Indigenous cultures and languages; to educate people about First Nations, Métis, and Inuit issues in Canada, and about Indigenous issues internationally; to provide a space where Indigenous peoples can tell their own stories and see their own cultures reflected back at them; to entertain, to be innovative. and to present the best in Indigenous film.