[IPSM] Montreal's First Peoples' Festival

[hhazel at gmail.com]

www.nativelynx.qc.ca

 MONTREAL'S FIRST PEOPLES' FESTIVAL - The flight of the Electronik Shaman
 From June 13 to 22  

Montreal, Mai 26, 2005 - Montreal's First Peoples' Festival, the cult
event celebrating the First Nations creativity, reappears with its
premieres and colours at the edge of the Montreal's summer from June
13 to 22. From Parc Émilie-Gamelin to the Grande Bibliothèque, from
NFB Theatre to the Cinémathèque québécoise, from Économusée de la
broderie to the Canadian Guild of Crafts, in various and renowned
locations, the Aboriginal and Inuit arts blossom in the city.

Artist's books and lectures, traditional arts and crafts
demonstrations, with a special tribute to the Abenaki culture and the
upcoming opening in Odanak of their new Museum; a hip hop and rap
spotlight concert ; many premieres in the film and video competitive
section; the festival's path will lead us to the Summer Solstice, the
National Aboriginal Day that will be celebrated at the Mount Royal
Kondiaronk Belvedere on the longest day of the year.

The Montreal's First Peoples' Festival official opening will take
place on Monday June 13 at the Grande Bibliothèque with the vernissage
of Artist's Books : Written Images of the First Nations, an exhibition
presented until August 30 within the Montreal World Book Capital 2005.
Fifteen artists were thrilled to take up this challenging creative
process and to cartography this idea of book relying on their personal
and poetic geographies, as well as on their own traditions and
contemporary realities.

>From the 2005 Festival's wide range of films, let's highlight the
return of famous Bolivian director, Jorge Sanjines whose most recent
feature Los Hijos del último jardín will be screened at the
Cinemathèque québécoise where a retrospective of his works is being
held from June 15 to 18. Other premieres include : Canadian
documentaries Awin ni nin, a Wapikoni Mobile production directed by
Alexandre Lachance and Rachel-Alouki Labbé, Tracey Deer's Mohawk Girls
featuring Kahnawake teenagers, Le Rouge et le Noir... au service du
Blanc by Marquise Lepage about slavery in Nouvelle-France; and the
fiction Two Cars One Night by Taika Cohen (New Zealand), best foreign
short subject nominee at the 2005 Oscars. Many other discoveries are
awaiting the festivalgoers in their exploration of the maze of new
productions from First Nations film and video makers. For another
year, the Festival moves to Kahnawake where a pro training workshop on
final cut and three nights of projections are taking place from June
14 to 16, thanks to the collaboration of Kanien'kehaka Onkwawen :na
Raotitiohkwa.

On June 17, the Cabaret Music Hall is hosting the Rez, White and Blues
show, entitled Deliver us from Wall-Marts, featuring Loco Locass, the
Cree rap singer Daybi, Samien, Anishinabe rap singer from Abitibi and
the Northern Cree drums.

A yearly most popular attraction is the outdoor site at Parc
Émilie-Gamelin which becomes, from June 16 to 19, Menahanek, a place
for convergence, meetings and exchange, as Montreal Island used to be
for the First Nations. Over the space of four days, Aboriginal Peoples
from North, Central and South Americas will gather around the Abenaki
nation, beating heart of the site. The Boréades of dance will be
presented on Saturday June 18 in the park where 9 dance troupes will
display their art and skills, celebrating update rythms and rituals
that have marked the seasons of First Peoples. Aki, Welcoming Land is
the opening event of the outdoor site on Thursday June 16 at 1 p.m., a
ceremony hosted by Bob Bourdon, where the drum beats out the measure
while artists busy themselves painting the traditional robes dressing
four personalities from the four horizons.

The 15th Montreal's First Peoples' Festival Awards, Teueikan and
Rigoberta Menchu Tum prizes in the categories of «Creation» and
«Community» will be presented on Sunday, June 19 at 3 :30 p.m. at the
SAT (Société des arts technologiques). The Dr. Bernard Chagnan
Assiniwi Prize honouring exceptional achievements will also be offered
to a well-known First Nations figure.

The major visual arts element of the 2005 Festival also includes, at
the Canadian Guild of Crafts, Tracing, Seing :  Stone, Paper, Print, a
Ginette Aubin exhibition where the artist unfurls the banner of her
territorial identities seeking the meanings carried by the petroglyphs
left by the Malecites and her grandfather's speech. Also at the
Économusée de la Broderie from June 14 to July 9, we can see Moz8biak,
Beads and Beading, a selection of traditional headgear giving us a
glimpse of the talents of the First Nations craftspeople and their
remarkable capacity to adapt to their own needs foreign techniques
learned as early as the Contact period and later in the workshops of
religious congregations.

On June 21st, within the Year of the Veteran, a special tribute will
be paid to the Aboriginal peoples' contribution.

Christine Sioui Wawanoloath's Electronik Shaman will lead us
throughout the 2005 Montreal's First Peoples' Festival inviting us to
share the cultural heritage and the creative impulsion of the
Aboriginal peoples of the continent.

INFO FESTIVAL 514 571-4444  

Media contact : IXION Communications (514) 495-8176