The original Storyteller’s Edition
For Season 15 we wanted to engage with our wonderful film community a bit more and started thinking how community could play a more active role in our organization, potentially as guest programmers. Programmed by Trevor Solway, Sinakson, a Blackfoot filmmaker from Siksika Nation, this series shows 3 powerful films directed by Indigenous Filmmakers.
Art by Kehiw Eagletail.
Series Films
Waru (2017)
Directed by Briar Grace-Smith, Casey Kaa, Ainsley Gardiner, Katie Wolfe, Renae Maihi, Chelsea Cohen, Paula Whetu Jones, Awanui Simich-Pene
june 30, 2022
Eight female Māori directors have each contributed a ten-minute vignette, presented as a continuous shot in real time, that unfolds around the tangi (funeral) of a small boy (Waru) who died at the hands of his caregiver. The vignettes are all subtly interlinked and each follow one of eight female Māori lead characters during the same moment in time as they come to terms with Waru's death and try to find a way forward in their community. In Māori, waru means eight.
KÍMMAPIIYIPITSSINI: THE MEANING OF EMPATHY (2021)
Directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
JULY 14, 2022
Community members active in addiction and recovery, first responders and medical professionals implement harm reduction to save lives. This work is contextualized within the historical and contemporary impacts of settler colonialism; Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy draws a connecting line between the effects of colonial violence on Blackfoot land and people and the ongoing substance-use crisis.
Held in love and hope for the future, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy asks the audience to be a part of this remarkable change with the community.
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019)
Directed by Kathleen Hepburn & Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
july 28, 2022
After a chance encounter on a busy street, a woman decides to bring a pregnant domestic abuse victim home and encourages her to seek help to navigate the aftermath of the traumatic event.
About Trevor Solway
Trevor attended the Independent Indigenous Digital Filmmaking program at Capilano University in 2012. He then graduated from Mount Royal University with his Bachelor’s of Communications in 2017. His Breakthrough film Indian Giver screened internationally, and can now be found on Amazon Prime Video. Notably his film Broken Record screened at LA Skins in Hollywood, CA and the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.
Trevor’s broadcast debut came in the form of his documentary Intertribal, which is licensed to CBC Television and CBC GEM. In 2021 Trevor directed the POV documentary Kaatohkitopii: The Horse He Never Rode, which will air on CBC and CBC Gem in late 2022. He recently directed an episode of the docs-series Stuff The British Stole for CBC/ABC and an episode of Amplify for APTN. Both episodes will air in 2023.
He is currently in production for his most recent feature documentary Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man, produced by The National Film Board of Canada.
In 2020 Trevor was the recipient of MRU Horizon Award for early career success . In 2021 he was named Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40. He is the founder and leader of The Napi Collective, a grassroots filmmaking society based out of Siksika.