Films and videos

Speech and stories are the two faces of immemorial memory. This transmitted memory is what will remain of the present in the long cycle of the history of peoples, the share of eternity linking us to the ancestors, the opportunity to leave a lasting footstep for posterity.

The films in our 2013 selection share the ability to pay a conscious role in the long haul of a narration whose upstream and downstream components are lost in the arcanes of time. A powerful current, the very identity peoples draw upon for inspiration, sweeps our fragile craft along through the years.

Thus, Paroles amérikoises, the opening film, gives centre stage to poets meeting in Ekuanshit. Rita Mestokosho has convened them on the banks of Ulamen Shipi, a majestic river soon to be caged by dams. And the singular writing of great Niitsitapii (Blackfoot) writer James Welch will come to life on the screen in Winter in the Blood, the closing film.

Listen to stories of origins (Fuimos gigantes), of unimaginible sea crossings (Point de fuite), the exploits of largerthan- life contemporary heroes (Xingu, Inacaya), or humble artesans who carry the continuation of our world on their shoulders (Karitonytch) and memories of dark times (L’Enfance déracinée). Catch a few bars of ancient melodies amidst the remains of disappearing languages (Survival Prayer), a few notes and a few more songs that find new life and are passed along (Mitchif, Congo Square), gaining strength and becoming demands (Diez veces venceremos); accounts of patient struggles (Polvo, La Belleza/Nosilatiaj) or decisive battles (Gold Fever), a lasting memory of people demanding their place in the present (Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth). All these many voices join forces to form a powerful chorus. Here is an opportunity to see and hear a torrent of voices expressing the tumultuous saga of First Peoples.