Here is a brief overview of the activities for the 2009 First Peoples’ Festival
Please note that an Internet site dedicated to the First Peoples’ Festival, including the complete schedule, will soon be activated.
FIRST PEOPLES’ FESTIVAL 2009
Montréal, May 27, 2009.
The First Peoples’ Festival is a major festival of First Nations art of the Americas (and, more modestly, of other continents). This event is inspired by First Nations traditions in two ways: firstly, it is a commemoration of the huge gatherings which would take place on this island in the spring when the nomads returned from the North to exchange and trade with farmers from more temperate southern climes; secondly, in keeping with circular ways of thinking, different artistic activities are not isolated nor placed hierarchically.
The Festival takes over Montréal through a network of partnerships with major players on the city’s artistic scene; these associations give the festival an urban presence not to be ignored. Here is a brief overview of the activities for the 2009 First Peoples’ Festival:
The 19th edition will take place June 11-21, 2009.
SPECIAL MA’OHI CULTURE FROM FRENCH POLYNESIA
In partnership with: Films de l’Oeil, the Cinémathèque québécoise, the French Consulate, the CMA: Centre des metiers d’Art de Polynésie, the FIFO: Pacific International Documentary Film Festival of Tahiti.
As part of the film festival as well as during the outdoor activities in Émelie-Gamelin Park; with the participation of filmmakers and artists from the Marquesa Islands and Tahiti, among them the writer Flora Aurima Devatine, the filmmaker and reporter Axel Teikivahitinioheapto Lichtlé and a contingent of sculptor-engravers from the CMA.
OUTDOOR FESTIVAL AT ÉMELIE-GAMELIN PARK
In partnership with: City of Montréal, Loto-Québec
The most visible component of the First Peoples’ Festival is, as always, the exterior site set up over a week-end (June 19, 20th and 21st, 2009) at Émelie-Gamelin Park and the spectacular and varied performances by more than 70 artists there each year. Around the stage area loom Charney’s famous “architectural allegories” of the First Nations nature of the territory: tipis and other textile architectures mark the site as theirs and leave a symbolic imprint in Montréal’s landscape and imagination that lasts well after the Festival has come and gone. The demonstrations of traditional art and craftsmanship, Loto Québec’s Boréades de la danse, performances of song and music, the laughing crowd, friendly meetings between artists from different backgrounds and a variety of disciplines all make the Park a festive space dedicated to education and sharing.
A huge evening show, followed by a film screening, will be the highlight of these free outdoor activities.
JUNE 20, 2009
Forestare, an ensemble of 12 classical guitars (and one bass) will perform recent works by Atikamekw composer Pascal Quoquochi Sasseville accompanied by Algonquin rapper Samian and the Inuit songs of Elisapie Isaac. We also expect Richard Séguin to put in an appearance. This will be followed by a screening of the film The Necessities of Life (Canada’s nomination in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars and winner of the 2009 Jutra for Best Film) where the great Inuit actor Natar Ungalaaq (2009 Jutra winner for Best Actor) demonstrates the full measure of his incredible talent.
EXHIBITION AT THE GRANDE BIBLIOTHÈQUE
In partnership with: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
A multi-disciplinary experience of First Nations and Inuit astronomy (to celebrate IYA 2009, the International Year of Astronomy).
An exhibition of 12 specially commissioned works by 12 First Nations and Inuit artists will be inaugurated as part of the First Peoples’ Festival and will remain up until the fall.
The works are associated with poems commissioned from First Nations and Inuit authors, texts which echo the traditional astronomy of the different nations these poets are from. An evening of readings organized jointly with the Trois-Rivières International Festival of poetry will complete the exhibition.
HOMAGE TO UP-AND-COMING ARTISTS
(At Gésu, Petit Campus, Émelie-Gamelin Park and the Café l’Escalier.)
Creation of Fragments, a contemporary ballet by Ojibway-Cree choreographer Lara Kramer. The work draws its inspiration from the traumas experienced by the artist’s mother, kidnapped by the State during the period of the concentration camps that were residential schools. At Église du Gésu, June 11, 12 and 13. The premiere of Fragments will take place on the anniversary of the Canadian government’s official apology.
Show by Innu singer-songwriter Mike O’Cleary on the occasion of the launch of his first CD, at Petit Campus, 57 Prince Arthur street East, June 17th at 9 p.m. Doors open at 8 p.m.
The Maison des cultures nomads presents the evolving show Nomadic Rhythms during which young First Nations artists will welcome onstage up-and-coming multicultural artists, at Émelie-Gamelin Park on the Loto Québec stage, June 20th at 7 p.m.
Mélisa Pash (June 20th and 21st) and Don Amero (June 14th and 15th) will perform at the Café l’Escalier, at 10 p.m.
EXHIBITION: Sur la carte/On the Map
In partnership with: Canadian Guild of Crafts, CIEM: Centre d’image et de l’estampe de Mirabel)
Exhibition-sale of new works by young Mohawk engravers (Dakota Bonspille, Félix Drolet, Jason Montour, Kyle Bonspille and Nadia Myre) who have worked at CIEM, and of Alec Lawson Tuckatuck, Inuk sculptor from Kuujjuaraapik, at the Canadian Guild of Crafts, June 4-27th, 2009.
FILM FESTIVAL
(At the NFB, the Cinémathèque québecoise, the Simon Bolivar Centre and at Kateri Hall in Kahnawake)
Film and video screenings and meetings with the directors.
An international panorama and world-class competition, with more than 70 works shown each year. World premieres and first-screenings in Montréal, including: the opening film, La terre des hommes rouges (Italy-Brazil 2008), L’Éveil du pouvoir (Canada 2009), The Only Good Indian (USA 2008), Donald McGraw et le Cercle des chefs (Canada 2009), Los Herederos (Mexico 2008), Professor Norman Cornett : « Depuis quand ressent-on l’obligation de répondre correctement au lieu de répondre honnêtement? » (Canada 2009), El Juicio de Pascal Pichun (Chile 2007), Corumbiara, They Shoot Indians, don’t they? (Brazil 2009), Rain of the Children (New Zealand 2008), River of No Return (Australie 2007), Gugara (Poland 2008). And the official launch of the distribution of No More Smoke Signals (Switzerland 2008).
AT THE MCCORD MUSEUM
Awards ceremony, June 20, at 4 p.m.
Numerous film awards, including the now prestigious Teueikan and Rigoberta Menchu Prizes (for which laureates receive statues by Mattiusi Iyaituk), as well as the Mainfilm Jeune Espoir Prize. President of the 2009 jury: Richard Brouillette. Also, the awarding of the Dr. Bernard Chagnan Assiniwi medal.
AT THE FIRST NATIONS GARDEN (Botanical Garden of Montréal)
(Major partner: Nature Museums Administration of the City of Montréal)
Ceremony on June 21, The National Day in Solidarity with First Peoples, including the Solstice of Nations ritual, in which embers of the June 21st fire are handed over to the organizers of Québec’s national holiday to light the bonfire on the Plains of Abraham on June 23rd.
AND STILL MORE: the university conference First Nations Perspectives on the Americas with a much-anticipated talk by Steven Leuthold (author of Indigenous Aesthetics), the exhibition Abénaki féminin at the Maison de la culture Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension, and the return of the Soirée des contes coquins (an evening of naughty stories) and the Petite Ecole des langues autochtones (the Little Schoolhouse of First Nations Languages.)
SUPPORT FOR THE AFN-QL PETITION
Terres en vues/Land InSights joins the campaign led by the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador for Canada to end its pathetic pariah state status on this issue and reconcile itself with the international community by becoming a signatory to the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It will be possible for festival-goers to sign a petition to this effect on the sites of festival activities.
