Aboriginal Film Fest is the largest and most international yet

The importance of storytelling has been a part of Canadian aboriginals’ culture during centuries of oral history and now has evolved to the cinema. Rick Harp, co-artist director for the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, explained that the festival is cultivating the indigenous story telling culture and modernizing it to the movie screen.

WAFF, which started in 2002, is now entering its seventh year this weekend (Nov. 19-23).

Harp continued on to say that the number of submissions that WAFF received was a “record number.” Totaling, 211 submissions, only 62 were chosen to be screened at the fest. The festival, Harp added, is also the most international, with the total number of submissions from 14 countries.

But where did the festival start? The roots for the endeavor began to take place in 2001 during a conference at the University of Winnipeg aimed at aboriginal students. During the conversation, a discussion arose of what Winnipeg needed at that point in time.

“Out of that discussion came the idea of a Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival,” Harp explained.

Coleen Rajotte took the new conception and ran with it, spearheading the new festival project. She is still active on the board fulfilling the role of co-artistic director. Since then the festival has grown from four days to five days and now boast one in six films as local creations (a total of 10 Manitoban productions).

“We’re a testament to the fact that the numbers of aboriginal people participating in the arts sector is steadily growing and Winnipeg is becoming a major epicentre for aboriginal creative expression,” said Harp.

Of course, Harp added, another facet of the festival is to showcase and introduce aboriginal youth to the field of multimedia arts — to “sow the seeds [for] budding aboriginal artists.”

WAFF has included workshops such as makeup, production, and camera operation, directed at youth to get them started in the Winnipeg film community.

WAFF begins Nov. 19 and tickets are $3 each or $20 for a festival pass. More information can be found on the festival website at www.aboriginalfimlfest.org.