NDNs & DOGs Hybrid Documentary 91-94

INDIANS & DOGS (1991–1994)

Hybrid Multimedia Performance Restoration (4K)

This 4K restoration is a hybrid reconstruction of my multimedia performance work Indians & Dogs, originally created and presented between 1991 and 1994.

The work combined theatre, performance art, music, video, computer graphics, animation, and Indigenous storytelling at a time when multimedia performance was still emerging as an artistic form.

The late Grace Mirehouse, educator and Administrator of the Native Education Centre in Vancouver, immediately recognized the work as an allegory of Contact—a perspective that has remained central to my understanding of the piece ever since.

What happens when two civilizations come into sustained contact, and how do people respond to the pressures, promises, and losses that follow?

Through the contrasting characters of Danny Dog and Willy Frencheater, Indians & Dogs explores the tensions between Indigenous traditions, assimilation, resistance, memory, identity, and the social realities that emerged through Contact.

This restoration also serves as a historical document of early Indigenous multimedia performance in Canada, bringing together theatre, music, video, animation, and digital imagery into a single performance language. Looking back today, I see the work as part of my continuing exploration of Indigenous storytelling across stage, screen, music, and new media.

This reconstruction features the late Jimy Sidlar, the late James Nicholas, Anthony Favel MacNab, Kim Soo Goodtrack, and myself. The 1994 production was directed for the stage by the late Lisa Sazama.

It should also be noted that artist Rick Harry created the Kanesatake Installation that appears in the original 1991 Neo-Nativists performance at Pitt Gallery in Vancouver.

The original production was edited using the technology available at the time. Source material consisted of C-VHS, VHS, S-VHS, and Hi-8 videotape. Editing was completed on a Sony S-VHS editing deck capable of insert editing and basic two-channel sound. Hi-8 camera footage was transferred through a G-Lock device into a Commodore Amiga system equipped with a 64 MB hard drive. The completed signal was then assembled back onto the Sony deck for final editing. Audio capabilities were limited, and most sound work was completed through a basic mixer.

Computer graphics, titles, and animation were created using the Commodore Amiga platform, including Brilliance, with graphic work by Anthony Favel MacNab, additional computer graphics by Kim Soo Goodtrack, and animation created by myself. For its time, the Commodore Amiga was an extraordinary creative tool, allowing me to combine animation, computer graphics, title design, music composition, and video into one integrated artistic process.

For this restoration I repaired visual glitches where possible, reprocessed the audio using Adobe Audition, and rebuilt the project in Adobe Premiere Pro to create this hybrid version. When I eventually secure a professional Hi-8 playback deck and improved capture equipment, I hope to undertake a complete digital restoration from the original tapes.

This version was completed in time for the birthday of Jimy Sidlar's grandson, to whom I had previously sent the restored audio recording of the performance.

Whether viewed here or on Indigenous media platforms, my hope is that Indians & Dogs continues to find new audiences. Indigenous-focused platforms provide an important home for Indigenous stories and communities, while YouTube allows the work to reach viewers around the world. Together, they help preserve and share this piece of Indigenous multimedia theatre history with future generations.

With respect and gratitude to everyone who helped create this work, and in memory of those collaborators who are no longer with us.

— Donald Alfred Morin