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A festival full of sparkle

Montreal, July 11th, 2023. Luminous glass confetti fall as ceilings give way to open air under the thrust of Aboriginal arts.
Come and meet the rising stars who affirm that arts, culture, creativity and struggle are all part of the same liberating impulse.
Aaju Peters will be on hand to open the festival on August 8th: the indomitable defender of the rights of the Inuit
people will be at the Imperial Cinema, while Twice Colonized, the film that recounts her life as a woman and activist, will have its Montreal premiere, following its acclaimed release at the Sundance Film Festival. Opening the competitive selection of Aboriginal cinema.
Preceding her on Montreal soil will be Witi Ihimaera, New Zealand’s greatest living writer, the initiator of indigenous literature in his country, Aotearoa, and around the world. Five films based on his work will be shown in his presence, including the famous Whale Rider and screened for the first time in Montreal, Lee Tamahori’s Mahana. The visit culminates in a literary evening at the McCord Museum on August 11th.
Ellen Gabriel, another activist artist, arrives with a film, When the Pine Needles Fall, to remind us that the women of Kanehsatake still have much to say in terms of resistance.
Moe Clark (Metis from Canada) and Victoria Hunt (from Australia), the Weather Beings duo, will be on the big
Quebecor stage to kick off a series of memorable shows on the Place des Festivals. They will be followed on
subsequent days by Soleil Launière, Joseph Sarenhes, Supaman, Shawnee Kish and Laura Niquay. If the Place des Festivals had a ceiling, we’d be announcing that it’s about to fall apart! The same stage will host the Nuestroamericana Friendship Show on Saturday 12th, a fraternal and festive gathering of Montreal’s diversity and First Nations and on Monday 14th, the creation of a new show entitled Femmes puissantes, featuring women of all generations from the First Peoples of Guyane (Lokono, Teko, Wayapi, Paykweneh, Wayana and Kali’na) and Canada (Mi’gmaq and Madawaska).
And day time entertainment on the same Place des Festivals with crabs, drumming, traditional dances, an
archaeological tent, meetings, story readings, round tables and more. What’s more, from August 9th to 13th, Niitsitapi director Ahnahktsipiitaa’s (Colin Van Loon) virtual reality film This is not a Ceremony will be on view in the NFB Space located in the Îlot Balmoral adjacent to the Place des festivals. Also at NFB Space, film screenings will be held on August 9th and 10th, as well as two master classes on August 14th.
In the visual arts, Aboriginal artists will be on show: large-format photos by Mohawk photographer Martin Loft on Ste-Catherine Street, works by Alan Syliboy (Mi’gmaq) and Luke Parnell (Haida-Nisga’a), at La Guilde and the Grande Bibliothèque, old maps with Aboriginal place names, accompanied by poems by Maya Cousineau Mollen.
In the contemporary classical section, a grand tour of the chamber music ensemble from the Orchestra of Native
Instruments of Bolivia, with a repertoire of contemporary composers.
And, thank you Vans, a skateboard ramp for young Aboriginal festival-goers.
The festival takes place in Montreal from August 8th to 17th, 2023.
About the First Peoples’ Festival :
A flagship event for the artistic creation and cultural renaissance of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the world. A place for creation, encounters and discoveries, this multidisciplinary event unfolds over ten days in August.
The Place des Festivals, with its giant Dpi, becomes the beating heart of an intense artistic activity that radiates
throughout the city. First Peoples’ cinema is in the spotlight, memorable concerts get the crowds going, and living
Aboriginal art is presented in a wide variety of forms and expressions.

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