In this case though, there is a huge silver lining. For the first time, the festival will be accessible to anyone around the world.
“The importance of hearing Indigenous stories from Indigenous voices cannot be understated. Supporting these films and their filmmakers, and listening to those voices are an important part of reconciliation."
ImagineNATIVE Festival is a film, media and arts festival that is will be fully online this year. It will be available worldwide from October 20–October 25.
ImagineNATIVE is usually held live in Toronto, but not this year, because, well, you know—COVID-19. In this case though, there is a huge silver lining. For the first time, the festival will be accessible to anyone around the world.
Camie Augustus is a Professor of Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies at VIU and believes the ImagineNATIVE Festival should not be missed by anyone.
“ImagineNATIVE Film Festival is my favourite film festival for so many reasons. I like that all films are Indigenous-directed films, and that they come from all over the world. I have seen so many excellent films at this festival,” she said. “The importance of hearing Indigenous stories from Indigenous voices cannot be understated. Supporting these films and their filmmakers, and listening to those voices are an important part of reconciliation. We cannot claim to be moving toward reconciliation if we aren’t listening to Indigenous peoples—their stories, their ideas, their perspectives—in a genuine way.”
A few of Professor Augusts’ top picks for this year:
- Inconvenient Indian is a documentary directed by Michelle Latimer based on Thomas King’s popular book The Inconvenient Indian. It is is one of the movies that’s receiving a lot of attention.
- Monkey Beach is a feature-length film directed by Loretta Todd, and another film based on a very popular book of the same name by Eden Robinson
- Caribou and the Polar Bear directed by Zacharias Kunuk, a short film (which ImagineNATIVE is well-known for). Kunuk directed the highly acclaimed Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), so I’m excited to see this new piece by him (Anatarjuat is currently available on CBC streaming app for free—highly recommended)
You can buy event tickets, day passes or multi-passes on their website. Don’t miss out!
Editor
Kaleigh StuderKaleigh Studer is a third-year Creative Writing Major and the new Arts Editor of the Navigator. She grew up in Nanaimo and loves all the opportunities the west coast has to offer. Mountain biking, swimming, traveling and brewery hopping are some of her favourite activities with friends. After living in Berlin for two years her passion and a keen eye for art and culture grew. She is excited to be searching out local stories and events taking place in Nanaimo.
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