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Indigenous cinema tour to make stop in Hay River

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Melanie Jackson, a Saskatoon-based film and animation director, writer and producer best known for the television stop-motion series Wapos Bay, will be the special guest at a stop in Hay River by an Indigenous cinema tour. photos courtesy of Melanie Jackson and the National Film Board of Canada

Hay River will be the next stop on a countrywide tour featuring Indigenous films.

The Aabiziingwashi Indigenous Cinema Tour will stop in the community on Aug. 9 for a free screening of three films at the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre.

This is a scene from Wapos Bay: The Elements. The television show is a creation of Melanie Jackson, a Saskatoon-based film and animation director, writer and producer best known for the stop-motion series. Jackson will be the special guest at a stop in Hay River by an Indigenous cinema tour. photos courtesy of Melanie Jackson and the National Film Board of Canada

The tour is being presented by the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network (APTN) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

Katja De Bock, a publicist with the NFB, said that it is an initiative to bring the NFB collection of over 200 Indigenous-helmed films out to the public in mostly free community screenings from coast to coast.

"Meaning 'wide awake' or 'unable to sleep' in Anishinaabe, Aabiziingwashi uses the power of cinema as a universal language, to build new understandings and connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians," said De Bock. "The films in our Indigenous collection are directed by a variety of First Nations, Metis and Inuit filmmakers in the last few decades."

Special guest for the tour's stop in Hay River will be Saskatoon-based film and animation director, writer and producer Melanie Jackson, who is best known for her unique Indigenous stop-motion series Wapos Bay.

That Gemini Award-winning series is set in a remote northern Indigenous community.

The stop in Hay River will be Jackson's first and only planned appearance on the Aabiziingwashi Indigenous Cinema Tour.

"I'm very excited to come up there," she said, noting she has never been to Canada's North.

The screening in Hay River will feature her short film Dancers of the Grass and also the episode The Elements from Wapos Bay.

In addition, there will be a screening of Mohawk Girls from director Tracey Deer.

Melanie Jackson, a Saskatoon-based film and animation director, writer and producer best known for the television stop-motion series Wapos Bay, will be the special guest at a stop in Hay River by an Indigenous cinema tour. photos courtesy of Melanie Jackson and the National Film Board of Canada

Jackson noted she is looking forward to talking to people about Wapos Bay, which has 34 episodes and a movie of the week on APTN.

"It gives the Indigenous people or not Indigenous – whoever comes to the screenings – the ability to actually talk to one of the creators of the piece and kind of pick my brain to see my process and how they can possibly extend this into their artistic venues," she said.

Jackson will be participating in a question-and-answer session.

She noted she is often asked about the origin stories of her creations.

"It's those origin stories that I'm excited to tell," she said. "And I'm excited to hear people's feedback. A lot of the feedback that we do get is from elders."

Jackson noted that the stories on Wapos Bay often remind Indigenous people of their family and friends.

"It just brings up positive memories for them," she said. "It's also triggering in people that it's positive. It's empowering to Indigenous people because on the screen they see the puppets all have browner complexions, First Nations complexions, and the environment that they're in."

The NFB's De Bock explained the Aabiziingwashi Indigenous Cinema Tour is in its second year and has been extended for at least a third year.

"For the Wide Awake tour, anyone can book a film with us," she said. "If they hold a free community screening, then we will loan them the films for free."

When the initiative started about a year-and-a-half ago, the NFB was hoping for 150 community screenings.

"But we have now already organized around 900 screenings in a wide variety of communities all over the country," said De Bock. "Due to this popular demand, we have extended the Aabiziingwashi program for two years."

The screenings at the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre will begin at 7 p.m. on Aug. 9.

In the afternoon of Aug. 9, there will also be a workshop for youth on culture and filmmaking.