July 24-28: Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival comes to Ottawa for the second year!

by Asinabka Festival

The Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival – http://asinabkafestival.org – is bringing powerful and thought-provoking art and film to Ottawa for another summer. The Festival, to be held July 24-28, provides an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to tell their own stories and showcase their rich and vibrant culture in the National Capital Region.

This year, the Festival will feature a wide array of programming, including a series of films that examine deep spiritual connections to the land and the important role that women play in Aboriginal communities. The Festival will also focus on human rights and sovereignty issues raised by the Idle No More movement.

The Festival will revolve around strong programming with over 10 film screenings, including an outdoor opening and film screening on Victoria Island, film programs at the National Gallery of Canada and Club SAW, and a “Gallery Crawl” with curated art exhibitions at Gallery 101 and Fall Down Gallery.

 

Highlights of the Festival include:

• A screening of the documentary “The People of the Kattawapiskak River” that exposes the housing crisis faced by 1,700 Cree in Northern Ontario. Director Alanis Obomsawin will be in attendance and participate in a Q & A session led by Journalist Waubgeshig Rice.

• An opening night outdoor screening on Victoria Island, showing the critically acclaimed film “The Lesser Blessed” by Director Anita Doron and award winning Writer/Producer Richard Van Camp.

• A “Gallery Crawl” event including the opening of two person art exhibition “In-Digital” at Gallery 101 with the artists Jason Baerg and Christian Chapman in attendance, followed by a “Misko (Red) Party” at Fall Down Gallery with artwork by local and emerging artists, and an evening of multi-disciplinary performance with spoken word, live painting, experimental video-art, and live music.

• A weeklong video production program called “Video Works”, facilitated by Indigenous Culture & Media Innovations (ICMI), and held at the SAW Video Media Art Centre. Work produced during the program will be screened on the final night of the Festival.

• A “Late Night” film program at Club SAW titled “Fabulous Fantasies”, screening 8 short films that are quirky, humorous, dystopian, futuristic, queer, and fabulous.

 

“This event promises to be an excellent venue for advancing works from emerging and established Indigenous artists, both nationally and internationally,” stated Asinabka Co-Directors Howard Adler and Chris Wong. “Such a festival also has the potential to help Canadians better understand the realities of Indigenous peoples lives and experiences.”

This year’s Asinabka Film & Media Art Festival will feature more free programming then ever before. A large proportion of the Festival’s programming will be offered free of charge, including three film programs in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada and its “Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art exhibition”. As a result, the Festival will highlight Indigenous films not only from Canada, but also from Brazil, Russia, Australia, and the United States.

 

For more information about the Festival, please go to: http://asinabkafestival.org

For more information about the Festival, please contact Howard Adler at asinabkafestival at gmail.com or 613.889.9559

 

The Asinabka Film & Media Art Festival would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, as well as funding support from the City of Ottawa. We also thank our Festival Partners, the National Gallery of Canada, Saw Video, Gallery 101, Saw Gallery, ICMI, Wapikoni Mobile, Fall Down Gallery and Aboriginal Experiences.

 

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Here are some previews as presented by various media outlets:

http://www.mediaindigena.com/waubgeshig-rice/arts-and-culture/asinabka-artistry-ottawa-festival-back-for-second-straight-year

http://apt613.ca/asinabka-2013-brings-films-exploring-indigenous-issues-to-the-capital-algonquin-region/

http://eventfulcapital.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/special-feature-ottawa-welcomes-the-2013-asinabka-film-media-arts-festival-between-july-24-and-28/