6^th international conference - Revisioning the Americas through Indigenous Cinema

The 6th international conference Revisioning the Americas through Indigenous Cinema will bring together about fifteen scholars, students, filmmakers, producers, and other profesionnals of Indigenous cinema, as well as cultural actors from local communities in order to generate a conversation around the film and media practices and productions of First Peoples.  

Since it was created at the Interdisciplinary Research Group on the Americas (GIRA) in 2009, the conference has aimed to interrogate the roles of Indigenous film experiences and visions in what are and what can become the Americas in a perspective of resurgence and decolonized futures. Held as part of Présence autochtone Montréal First Peoples Festival (http://www.presenceautochtone.ca/en), it has aimed to create bridges between academia and the world of Indigenous cinema in order to generate theoretical reflections on these multidimentional practices and productions (film, media, television, web), as they are embodied and understood in the contexts in which they emerge.

In 2018, we will examine community-based filmmaking and language revitalization, methodologies and politics of Indigenous film and media, archives and encounters at the core of transamerican collaborations, as well as self-representation, expressions of sovereignty, and the unsettling of colonial narratives. The conference, which includes short film screenings Māori et Pasifika, will end with a keynote on māori cinema as a tool of resurgence.

The 6^th conference is organized from Queen’s University, in partenership with Terres en vues and in collaboration with the Kanien'kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa (KORLCC). Thanks to the strong support provided by the Concordia University Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, it is held at Concordia University. The conference also benefits from the genenous support of the Department of French Studies, the Faculty of Arts and Science and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Queen’s University, as well as of a Queen’s Research Initiation Grant.  

PROGRAM

*** With Whispered Translation (English-French) ***

2 locations at Concordia University:

• EV 6.720: Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV Building) 6^th floor, room 720 (1515, Ste-Catherine West).

• VA 114: Visual Arts Building (VA Building), room 114 (1395, René Lévesque West)

WEDNESDAY 8 AUGUST

Where: Concordia University, room EV 6.720

9:00am: Opening Words by Elder Vicky Boldo (Concordia University) and Words of Welcome by the organizing committee, André Dudemaine (Terres en vues), Mélissa Gélinas (Concordia University) et Isabelle St-Amand (Queen’s University).

9:30am: Keynote by Konwennénhon Marion Delaronde (Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa, KORLCC): “Creating community led programming and being part of a growing collective attitude shift towards a positive identity and re-normalization of Kanien’kéha language usage in Kahnawà:ke”.

10:30am: Break

10:45am: Interview: “Creating and Producing Community Film and Media: “Tóta tánon Ohkwá:ri” and “Tewawennakará:tats”. » With: Tekahentóntie Cook (puppeteer and writer) and
Tharonhianén:te Barnes (puppeteer, writer and director of his own short films). Moderated by Konwennénhon Marion Delaronde (KORLCC).

12:15pm: Lunch

1:45pm: Mixed panel: “Methodologies and Politics of Indigenous Film and Media”. With: Stephan Agluvak Puskas (NFB), Sipi Flamand (Wapikoni mobile), Lorna Roth (Concordia University), and Ezra Winton (Concordia University). Moderated by Isabelle St-Amand (Queen’s University).

3:15pm: Break

3:30pm: Mixed panel: “Archives and Encounters: Collaborations within Indigenous Festivals and Medias across the Americas and beyond”. With: Yves Sioui Durand (Ondinnok), Odile Joannette and François Laurent (Wapikoni mobile), Claudine Cyr (Revisioning the Americas) and Jean-François Côté (UQAM).  Moderated by Stéphane G. Marceau (Institut national de la recherche scientifique – Urbanisation Société Culture)

5pm: Supper.

Where: Concordia University, room VA 114

6pm-7 :30pm: Short Film Screenings Māori and Pasifika: part A. Presented at Montréal First Peoples Festival by Deborah Walker-Morrisson (University of Auckland, NZ).

THURSDAY 9 AUGUST

Where: Concordia University, room EV 6.720

11:30am-12:15pm: Interview with Julie O’bomsawin (Kassiwi Media): “Contemporary Indigenous Audiovisual Production. » Moderated by Mélissa Gélinas (Concordia University).

12:15pm: Break.

12:30pm: Mixed panel: “Self-Representation, Expressions of Sovereignty, and Challenges to Settler Narratives”. With: Caroline Monnet (filmmaker), Julie Burelle (University of California San Diego) and Mélissa Mollen-Dupuis (Wapikoni mobile) and Lucy Tulugarjuk (Arnait Video Productions). Moderated by Gabrielle Marcoux (Université de Montréal).

2:00pm: Break and change of room

Where: Concordia (VA 114)

2:30pm: Short Film Screenings Māori and Pasifika: part B. Presented at Montréal First Peoples Festival by Deborah Walker-Morrisson (University of Auckland, NZ).

3:45pm: Break

4:00pm: Keynote by Deborah Walker-Morrisson (University of Auckland, NZ): “Māori Cinema as Resurgence: Waterways, Place-Based Ancestral Philosophies and Stories”.

5:15pm: Conclusion of the conference.

(Mixed panel = university-community panel)

Concordia University (EV Building) 6^e étage, salle 720, 1515, Ste-Catherine Ouest.

Concordia University (VA Building), salle 114, 1395 René Lévesque Ouest.