Who’s the ‘Reel Injun’? :: at the imagineNATIVE Film Festival
TORONTO - “The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples on the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media.”
As this annual film fest wraps up its 10th amazing year, there are a number of incredible movies that are worth checking out.
The festival’s Premiere featured first a short film, ‘Tungijuq‘ featuring the incredible throat singer Tanya Taqaq. The film was beautiful & haunting as it explored the Inuit hunting traditio
n.
The full length feature film was ‘Reel Injun‘, directed by Neil Diamond (no, not that Neil Diamond), Catherine Bainbridge, Jeremiah Hayes. The movie is aptly described as: “A powerful homage to North American Native people throughout a century of cinema, Reel Injun is a retelling of the history of the Hollywood Indian. Embarking on a personal quest to deconstruct the image of the stoic Indian that dotted television screens all over the world, Cree director Neil Diamond compares his own Northern-Canadian upbringing to the vastly different portrayals he grew up knowing and loving in the movies.”
But what that description leaves out is how humourous and touching the journey is for Diamond, and for us the viewer, along for the ride; and how deeply the image of the Hollywood “Indian” permeates our cultural conscience and our present-day perceptions of diverse, vibrant yet still marginalized communities of indigenous people. The interviews with indigineous filmmakers, stand-up comedians, actors and activists, as well as Hollywood heavyweights, incorporated with historical footage support and explore the film’s narrative expertly.
Absolutely a must watch.
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