Her citation read, "Through her multifarious artistic work and public activism, Obomsawin has been one of Canada’s most passionate and visible advocates for Indigenous peoples. “It’s the same thing,” Obomsawin quietly insists. She has appeared at the Guelph Spring Festival, theNational Arts Centre in Ottawa, the Place des Arts in Montreal, the Mariposa Folk Festival (where she was [30] In March 2017, she received the inaugural Prix Origine at Montreal's Bâtisseuses de la Cité Awards, for her work on Indigenous issues. François Néwashish was the only one in his family from the Atikamekw community of Manawan not to go to residential school. There she learned Abenaki history, legends, and songs, and she would remember her time on the reserve as idyllic. the Toronto Film Critics Association’s Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award, which recognizes filmmakers “whose work has in some way enriched the understanding and appreciation of film in their native country.” The prize required her to choose an emerging In 2009, she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. She moved with her family from the reserve to Trois-Rivières when she was nine years old. Cut off, speaking little French and no English, Obomsawin held fast to the songs and stories she had learned on the reserve. Alanis Obomsawin. [31], In November 2016, she received the Clyde Gilmour Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association, which called Obomsawin "a significant architect of Canadian cinema and culture. [2] She has one child, Kisos Obomsawin, born in 1969. After noticing her in the CBC Telescope feature in 1966, Wolf Koenig and During this period she lived with her mother's sister Jesse Benedict and her husband Levi who had six children of their own. Bob Verrall, producers at the National Film Board (NFB), hired Obomsawin as Alanis Obomsawin, Director: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. of a complex and evolving story. 1975 | 14 min. Obomsawin and her parents then left Odanak for Trois-Rivières, where they were the only Native family. I was so touched. "[32] Also in 2016, she received two of Quebec's highest honours when she received the prix Albert-Tessier for contributions to the cinema of Quebec in November,[33] and was named a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec, in June of that year. We are the children of the earth, and of the sea.”. "[51] ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival presents "The Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award" every year for achievement in documentary film . Her award-winning films address the struggles of Indigenous peoples in Canada from their perspective, giving prominence to voices that have long been ignored or dismissed. Alanis Obomsawin was born in New Hampshire on Abenaki Territory. [24], In October 2020 she was named the 13th laureate of the Glenn Gould Prize. [14] In the spring of 2009, Obomsawin was honoured with a special retrospective at Hot Docs and received the festival's Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award. federal government under-funded Indigenous children in Canada. and Trick or Treaty? The impact of Obomsawin's career on documentary and Indigenous film has been highlighted by the creation of two awards in her name. Théophile Panadis, her mother's cousin, initiated her into the history of the Abenaki Nation and taught her many songs and legends. Mother and child imagery is prominent in her work, which also combines material from her own dreams with animal spirits and historical events. Obomsawin was born in New Hampshire on Abenaki Territory. [13], In 2010, she completed a short drama When All the Leaves are Gone, about her experiences attending public school in Quebec. Alanis Obomsawin. The film had its world premiere at TIFF and garnered wide Alanis Obomsawin is one of Canada’s most distinguished documentary filmmakers. (2002). Trick or Treaty? She also managed her own stage at the Mariposa Folk Festival in the 1960s. (University of Toronto Press, 1999), 76–93. 9. [15][16], Obomsawin's recent credits include Gene Boy Came Home, about Aboriginal Vietnam War veteran Eugene Benedict. [40], In 2010, she was named to the Playback Canadian Film & Television Hall of Fame. In, Wuttunee, Winston, and Zuzana M. Pick, and Paul Williams, "Alanis Obomsawin". ... Jordan River Anderson's family … Alanis’s early years were filled with stories of her ancestors and Abenaki histories and folklore. (2014), which profiles the struggles of Indigenous leaders in attempting to negotiate with the federal government. Her father was a guide and a medicine maker, and “Feeling this kind of similar superiority. She has also chaired the board of directors of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal and served on the Canada Council’s in schools and prisons, at music festivals and on television. Indigenous unit, Studio One, and an advisor for New Initiatives in Film, a program for women of colour and Indigenous women in the NFB’s women’s unit, Studio D. She has served on the board of directors for Aboriginal Voices, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), the Public Broadcasting Association of Quebec, National Geographic International and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in Vermont. Separated as part of Canada’s Sixties Scoop, in which 20,000 Indigenous children were removed from their families and placed into foster care or adopted into white … word, she begins in English: “From earth, from water, our people grew to love each other in this manner. "[2] Her best known documentary is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, about the 1990 Oka Crisis in Quebec.[3]. and Gene Boy Came Home (2007). [1] Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues. [41] A retrospective her work was also held from May 14 to 26, 2008 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. to be an Indian, to be a native person in this country. Marie’s gentle narrative of her remarkable early childhood demonstrates a deep connection to culture, land and family that continues to endure. “So I hope that they get to come and see it.”. her mother ran a boarding house. Obomsawin also received a fellowship from the Ontario College of Art, an Honorary Doctor of Letters from York University, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Concordia University, an Honorary Doctor of Literature from Carleton University, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario (October 2007), Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of British Columbia (May 2010),[48] Honorary Doctor of Laws from Dalhousie University (April 2016),[49] as well as an Honorary Doctor of Laws (June 2018). About the director: Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki Nation, is one of … Her work was exhibited at the Maison Lacombe in Quebec in 2007. Obomsawin has chaired the Board of Directors of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal and sat on the Canada Council's First People's Advisory Board. Production program. Alanis Obomsawin was born on August 31, 1932 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. Also that year, Obomsawin was named a Grand Officer of the National Order of Québec and received the Prix Albert-Tessier, the to receive that honour. As a performer Obomsawin has toured Canada, the United States and Europe performing for humanitarian causes in universities, museums, prisons and art centres, as well as at folk art festivals. Photo credit: Cosmos Image. Cinema Politica has awarded the "Alanis Obomsawin Award for Commitment to Community and Resistance" since 2011 and "was inspired by Ms. Obomsawin's awe-inspiring and unstoppable dedication to social justice and political documentary. In March 2001, Obomsawin received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. I’m always worried I might cry.”. After moving to Montreal in the late 1950s, having learned English during a two-year stay in Florida, she performed as a singer and a storyteller, making appearances on reservations, in prisons and schools, and at music festivals. https://www.nfb.ca/film/jordan-river-anderson-the-messenger/?docs-hp_en=feature_1 When she was six months old, her mother returned to the Odanak reserve north east of Montreal where she lived until she was 7. They inform and inspire, build community, and empower others to stand up for what they know [17] In 2006, she completed WABAN-AKI: People from Where the Sun Rises a look at the people and stories from her home reserve of Odanak. She was also a board member of Studio 1, the NFB's Aboriginal studio, and a former advisor to the New Initiatives in Film, a Studio D program for women of colour and women of the First Nations. She began her career as a professional singer and storyteller before joining the National Film Board (NFB) in 1967. She is a highly distinguished documentary filmmaker, and her prolific, internationally acclaimed output for the National Film Board, spanning almost fifty years, has addressed a huge range of themes and issues relating to Canada’s Indigenous peoples. “It’s not an easy thing for me,” she told the Gazette in September 2018. Browse 89 alanis obomsawin stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. She’s a filmmaker, artist, singer, and activist of the Abenaki First Nations, and Alanis Obomsawin’s opera is a unique close-up on Canada’s social history – namely, the relationship between Canadian governments and Indigenous peoples. 1972 | 2 min. Partridge. This short is … [28], In May 2017 Obomsawin received an honorary doctorate from McGill University's School of Continuing Studies. It was followed by My Name is Kahentiiosta (1995), a film about a young Kahnawake woman who was arrested after the 78-day armed standoff, and Spudwrench – Kahnawake Man (1997), profiling Randy Horne, a high-steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. A dramatic account of a young boy’s suicide, Obomsawin’s hour-long NFB film The People of the Kattawapiskak River (2012), which explores the poverty-stricken conditions of the Kattawapiskak Cree in Northern Ontario, won the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2014 (see also Donald Brittain). Alanis Obomsawin, CC GOQ (born August 31, 1932) is an American Canadian Abenaki filmmaker, singer, artist and activist primarily known for her documentary films. the subject of a two-week special retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York the same month. When Jordan River Anderson was born, he … Obomsawin directed The Wild Rice Harvest, Kenora (1979) and June in Povungnituk (1980) for the NFB’s Canada Vignettes series, and a short dramatic film, Walker (1991). An intimate portrait of Marie Leo, a Sto:lo woman who was adopted into a Líl̓wat family as a baby. Obomsawin first came to the attention of the NFB in the mid-1960s, when she held fundraising concerts to pay for the construction of a swimming pool in Odanak. [5] Obomsawin began conceptualizing the film in 2010 when she was invited by Stan Louttit, Grand Chief of the Mushkegowuk Council, to film a conference the band was hosting about Treaty No. Born on Abenaki territory in New Hampshire and raised in her early years on … A member of the Abenaki Nation, Obomsawin was born near Lebanon, New Hampshire, though her family returned to the Odanak reserve, near Sorel, Quebec, when she was six months old. and provide services to homeless Indigenous peoples in Montreal (No Address, 1988.) As a member of the board of Aboriginal Voices, she was part of an initiative to obtain a radio licence for the organization. Obomsawin is a member of Film Fatales independent women filmmakers. Outstanding Achievement Award in Direction, Toronto Women in Film and Television (1994), National Aboriginal Achievement Award, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (1994), Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2001), Outstanding Contributions Award, Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (2001), Milestone Award, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (2004), Pioneer Award, International Documentary Association (2004), Luminaria Tribute for Lifetime Achievement, Santa Fe Film Festival (2007), Outstanding Achievement Award, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival (2009), Lifetime Achievement Award, Women’s International Film Television Showcase (WIFTS) Foundation International Visionary Awards (2013), Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program (, Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award, Toronto Film Critics Association Awards (2016). Toronto Press, It was remastered and re-released in 2018 by Constellation Records the... 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