Indigenous Film and Media in an International Cont

[Okwes]

Indigenous Film and Media in an International Context

Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
May 11-12, 2007

In the last decade, Indigenous film, television, radio and the
internet have become important media for diverse forms of
representations by Indigenous peoples around the world. The advent
of digital video and the increasing accessibility of filmic
technologies of all kinds, as well as familiarity with the languages
of film, have contributed to the exponential growth in Indigenous
cinemas. Indigenous films are no longer confined to short films and
documentaries, but increasingly include dramatic feature films,
animation, and experimental film-making. The success of films such
as Ofelas (Pathfinder, Sami � Norway, 1987), Smoke Signals
(Cheyenne/Arapaho � USA, 1988), Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner, Inuit �
Canada, 2001), Beneath Clouds (Gamilaroi � Australia, 2002) and Whale
Rider (Whangara -- Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2002) also signals the
possibility for Indigenous cinemas to locate audiences world-wide,
rather than being limited to local interest; the new audiences for
Indigenous films include both people from other Indigenous groups and
non-Indigenous people. Radio, television and the internet have also
seen increasing use in Indigenous communities and provide exciting
opportunities for self-representation, exploration and alliances
amongst Indigenous groups.

The organizers of this conference (a partnership between the
Department of English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
and the Culture and Expression Program of the School of Arts and
Letters, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, York
University) wish to provide a forum for discussion of a wide variety
of aspects of Indigenous film and media, from questions of
representation, identity and politics to the uses of technology to
the problems of invoking a comparative perspective on Indigenous
cinemas and other media. Contemporary Indigenous films, for example,
have opened up diverse perspectives on both contemporary and
historical Indigenous life. New film and video technologies also
make visual media more accessible to people whose issues are perhaps
not mainstream� within the political and representational spectrum
both inside and outside Indigenous communities.

At the same time, the comparative perspective seems to become in some
ways inevitable when the main venues for Indigenous cinemas are film
festivals, such as the Canadian ImagiNative festival or the Finnish
Sk�bmagovat festival or the First Nations, First Features festival
held in 2005 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. While
Sk�bmagovat features Sami film, plus the films of one other invited
Indigenous group per year, many if not most of the other Indigenous
film festivals accept films from Indigenous peoples anywhere in the
world. Yet, the relative inaccessibility of Indigenous television
and radio to audiences outside the local broadcast area suggests that
the comparative turn in the study of Indigenous cinemas does not
necessarily apply to other media.

This conference aims to open up the following questions: What issues
are newly available to Indigenous film-makers and other producers of
Indigenous media? What ideological forces operate both to open up
and to limit possibilities for representation of Indigenous lives?
What effects have new technologies had on specific areas of
Indigenous self-representation? What happens to the study of
Indigenous film, television and radio when comparative perspectives
are introduced, such as a cross-cultural exploration of Indigenous
gender issues? How are such comparative approaches
feasible/inevitable in the face of both local politics and global
pressures on Indigenous cultural production? What are the
possibilities and problems inherent in reaching different audiences
for Indigenous film and other media? To what extent does the
cross-cultural exhibition of Indigenous cinemas contribute to a
collaborative politics of resistance and self-affirmation? Paper
submissions are welcome from academic critics, film and media
practitioners and community members and activists on these questions
and any other issues relevant to Indigenous film and media.

To submit a paper, please send a one-page abstract, title and brief
(150 word) bio to the conference organizers. The deadline for
abstract submission is September 15, 2006.

Wendy G. Pearson [e-mail]

Ute Lischke [e-mail]

David T. McNab [e-mail]

Gail Vanstone [e-mail]