FILM PROGRAM​
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26
​DAY ONE
World Premiere (WP), North American Premiere (NAP); Canadian Premiere (CP), Ontario Premiere (OP), Toronto Premiere (TP).
TRADITIONAL OPENING CEREMONY and CANADIAN INDIGENOUS DOCUMENTARY
WEDNESDAY - JULY 26
5 PM - 7 PM
Total running time: 85 minutes.
Followed by audience Q & A.
SHORT
O, LUNA
Directed by Virginia L. Montgomery
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Canadian Premiere (CP)
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A surreal, live-action dreamscape of ocular symbols, echoing sounds, and uncanny interspecies intimacy created by the neurodivergent video and sound artist Virginia L. Montgomery. The film investigates ecofeminist-philosophical themes of materiality, metamorphosis, and “atomic consciousness” through gesture, texture, and co-creation.
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(CP, Animation, 5:35, 2021, USA)
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FEATURE
THE NATURE OF HEALING
Directed by Faith Leone Howe
Toronto Premiere (TP)
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The spoken truth of seven courageous Elders, all survivors of the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, Canada’s first and longest-running Indian residential school. From victims to survivors to activists, their story is one of resistance, resilience, and a healing path.
From 1831 to 1996, Canada’s 139 residential schools ran in partnership between the federal government and Catholic and Protestant churches. This was sanctioned, systematic dehumanization through neglect, brutality, and child abuse in all its forms. The desired outcome, according to Duncan Campbell Scott, who, as head of the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, oversaw the schools: “I want to get rid of the Indian problem … our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question and no Indian department. That’s the whole object of this project.”
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Welcome by Leslie-Ann Coles, FeFF Director. Opening Prayer with Rowan Smith followed by Eagle Women Singerz​. Audience Q&A with Faith Leone Howe and honoured guests, Elder, Blanche Hill-Easton, Elder, John Elliott, Elder, Bud Whiteye and Grandmother's Dawn Hill, Roberta Hill, and Sherlene Bomberry and crew members, Michael Howe (executive producer/ cinematographer), Preston Carruthers (cinematographer/ editor), Alexa Perez (story editor/ additional editing) and Aidan Mitchell-Boudreau (composer). Closing Prayer with Rowan Smith followed by Eagle Women Singerz.
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Proceeds from this screening will be donated to the Mohawk Village Memorial Park, located on five acres adjacent to the Mohawk Institute, in commemoration of all the children taken and institutionalized over the course of more than 160 years.
Na-mi-quai-ni-mak Community Support Fund - NCTR
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...if you are fortunate enough to have some of the people from the film attend and have a Q and A, drop everything and attend...At the Arizona International Film Festival... This film is not to be missed! The Arizona Film Festival. Winner, Special Jury Award for Bridging Cultures THE NATURE OF HEALING, Canada
(Documentary, 1:18:48, 2022, Canada)
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