A new winter course will explore Indigenous cinema as an empowering medium and show Brock students how Indigenous filmmakers are \u201cflipping the script\u201d on Indigenous representation through their art, says Assistant Professor Lyn Trudeau.<\/p>\n
A synchronous online offering from the Centre for Women\u2019s and Gender Studies, WGST 3P79 Indigenous Film is also cross-listed with Dramatic Arts, English, Film and Indigenous Studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilm was one of the first media that the masses got, and that was how it helped really shape the narrative of Indigenous folks,\u201d says Trudeau. \u201cThere has been such a change with Indigenous people being in film \u2014 most importantly, being able to tell our own stories and having the autonomy to represent ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trudeau says Indigenous film and filmmakers are thriving. She plans to spend much of the course focusing on recent productions \u2014 but notes that the historical impact of \u201crepresentation, misrepresentation and non-representation\u201d should not be glossed over.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot positive happening in Indigenous film right now, so I don\u2019t want to stay in those stagnant places and talk about all the old historical and really awful portrayals of us,\u201d she says. \u201cBut at the same time, we have to address it, and there\u2019s a story in how film has changed and what it took to change it, who changed it and who helped us change it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The course will primarily highlight the work of First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis filmmakers and the North American context, with some reference to global Indigenous cinema. Trudeau says that the concept of visual sovereignty will be important when examining the \u201ccrucial roles that imagery and performance play\u201d in cinema from an Indigenous perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cVisual sovereignty means having control, whether that means taking an old visual that was used to hurt us in certain ways and reclaim it and repurpose it or making your own more accurate portrayal,\u201d says Trudeau. \u201cA lot of it comes from community \u2014 not one Indigenous person saying, \u2018this is how it\u2019s going to be,\u2019 but more of a collective agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the course, Trudeau plans to host Indigenous filmmakers to talk about their work and their experiences in the film industry. As an artist and a researcher engaged in arts-based methodologies, she hopes to help students understand what goes into making films and perhaps even inspire some to experiment with film as a storytelling outlet.<\/p>\n
But above all, she hopes that students from many backgrounds will take the opportunity to look at Indigenous cinema through an Indigenous lens.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilm is consumed by society as a whole, including Indigenous people, so in this class I want to shape that new story,\u201d says Trudeau. \u201cWe\u2019ll set the context and then really look at the good work, the hard work. It is art, but what comes with it are changing stories, cultural revitalization and cultural survivance, in such a way that now our children will watch films with accurate portrayals of Indigenous people and stories.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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