by Monique Manatch Award winning film maker Alanis Obomsawin will be spending some time in Tyendinaga. This noted producer, director, singer, and activist will be facilitating video training during the Aboriginal Media Program Youth Services project during the spring of 1999. When Alanis Obomsawin started making films, she knew they could constitute an extraordinary means of expression for her people, the First Nations. “No matter what horrible things I see, I never get used to them”, says Obomsawin. “I refuse to. I fight for social change in everything I do. I’m so busy fighting that I’m always shocked when viciousness hits me right in the face.” Alanis Obomsawin - courtesy NFB Highly regarded as a speaker, teacher, and filmmaker, Obomsawin has spent the past two years travelling around the globe to attend festival screenings of Kanehsatake:270 Years of Resistance. This feature length film documented the 1990 Mohawk defense in Kanehsatake and Oka. To date, this film has won 18 awards as well as international recognition. Obomsawin also received a Fellowship from the Ontario College of Art, an Honourary Doctor of Letters from York University, an Honourary Doctor of Law degree from Concordia University and an Honourary Doctor of Literature from Carleton University. The summer of ’99 will be the second time Alanis Obomsawin has facilitated the learners at First Nations Technical Institute. Last summer she spent a day with the Aboriginal Media Program helping the learners edit their work. “I think the encouragement, development, and confidence you give the learners is most important. We need programs like this one all over the country,” says Obomsawin. |Top of Story| Youth Media Project |