Montreal First Peoples Festival

For each of the last 22 years, the Montreal First Peoples Festival has been held at venues across Montreal. The First People’s Festival offers many activities, all celebrating the rich and vibrant culture that we the indigenous of not only North America, but also the world, call our own. The cultural marvels First Peoples have to offer the world were celebrated through events involving food, film, as well as literary and music displays.

The outdoor stage at Place des Festivals, which was sponsored by Loto-Quebec, offered performances from Innu singer-songwriter Florent Vollant, Ojibwe artists A Tribe Called Red, DJ Mood and Foulane. Musique Nomade held a performance on Sunday the 5th to round out the billing for the outdoor venue.

The film portion ran throughout the duration of the festival, with several Canadian and world premieres taking place. Films screened came from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, and the Americas. It was this component of the festival that really reminded me of what it means to be an Indigenous person, here or abroad. Our struggles are the same and it’s clear we understand each other on an intrinsic level. Seeing the depiction of life around the world from our indigenous brothers and sisters drove this point home.

I spoke with Director Aureaus Solito, or using his traditional name, Kanakan-balintagos, about his film, Busong, and his origins. Solito is a Philippino filmmaker based in Palawan, Philippines, and his film Busong is about his people, the Palawan, and “It’s about our tribes concept of karma, Busong is instant karma, so if you do something to nature it comes back to you” said Solito. Solito went on to explain that karma takes a lifetime to work through, but their understanding of Busong is that it is instantaneous, which differs from the Indian belief in karma.

Solito chose to screen his film here, which has also been in the Directors Fortnight in Cannes, because as Solito said, “My first documentary won first prize here seven years ago, and it was my first international award.” Since then he has had films in Sundance and Cannes. Solito will also screen Busong at the National Geographic All Roads Festival, taking place in September in Washington, DC.

I spoke with one of the three original organizers of the festival, André Dudemaine, about the origins of the festival.

“Montreal is one of the great cultural metropolises of Canada, and there is a strong aboriginal heritage in the history of the town itself. But all the stories are hidden, so one of the goals of the festival is certainly to give back this memory, and this metropolis should be a place of opportunity for aboriginal artists,” said Dudemaine, “because this is the place to be seen and be recognized.”

Dudemaine began the festival as a response to a lack of permanent recognition of the contributions of aboriginals to the arts. Building on the transient weekend festivals put on by Native Friendship Centers, Dudemaine began an organization dedicated to having a permanent festival in the city of Montreal, and has succeeded for each of the last 22 years.

Also present was Caroline Nepton, a journalist with Radio Canada/CBC, one of the creators of the CBC documentary, The 8th Fire. Caroline explained that The 8th Fire was a kind of Aboriginal 101. She also detailed the difficulties faced filming the documentary and collaborating with CBC and Radio Canada (it’s very hard). Even though they faced many challenges, the product was exceptional and received recognition at the event. Nepton also mentioned the website, which was created with funds meant to make a 5th episode and contains a series of shorts sent in from across the country. It’s worth a look and can be found at http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire.

This was a fascinating festival that I will surely attend next year, and one you should consider going to yourself. More information can be found at http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca/festival/en/2012/.