Ojibway-dubbed Star Wars film brings 'a new hope' for endangered language, say cast members

The world premiere of an Ojibway-language version of Star Wars: A New Hope was screened in Winnipeg on Thursday evening, bringing rave reviews and also a galaxy of optimism for First Nations languages.

"The biggest joy out of the whole thing is for my community to see the movie and hear our language in such an epic scale," Dennis Chartrand, a member of Minegoziibe Anishinabe in Manitoba, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, said ahead of the showing at the Centennial Concert Hall.

"For Lucasfilms to take on such a project with us … provides us with a new hope that our language can be supported and flourish and have opportunities. That's what I'm really feeling."

Chartrand donned a smile and beaded fedora for the big event, setting aside the Darth Vader mask the voice actor wore as one of the most recognized villains in pop culture.

"Generally I'm kind of a nice person, I like to think, but but doing that was a lot of fun," he said about playing the Sith Lord.

The role resonated in terms of the film's parallels between the evil Galactic Empire and the experiences of Indigenous people in North America, he noted.

"We faced a lot of impacts through colonial colonialism, all kinds of things. And still today, there's still so many struggles that that still need to be reconciled," Chartrand said.

Helping open doors, and silver screens, to languages that became endangered under early colonialism, when people were punished for speaking them is "a way of healing some of those things that didn't have a chance to heal," he added. 

"It really feels like they're sitting with me. Even though you can't see them, they're in the Force," he said, referencing the mystical energy which plays a key role in the Star Wars franchise. "So the Force is has always been with me."

The project was the result of a collaboration between the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council, the University of Manitoba, Disney/Lucasfilm and APTN.

Producers chose Ojibway — also known as Anishinaabemowin — because it's the most spoken Indigenous language in Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota, with about 320,000 speakers across Canada and the United States.

The dubbing was done over 10 days in Winnipeg, with the final mix completed at Skywalker Sound in California.

A limited release of the film is set to begin Saturday in select markets and then it is slated to debut on Disney+ and APTN.

Originally released in 1977 as just Star Wars, the iconic film introduces many characters well-known today, including Vader, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca. It was a blockbuster hit that led to 10 more films in the franchise.

It's the second time the original Star Wars has been officially translated into an Indigenous language, with the first being Navajo in 2013.

"You can find a lot of English or a lot of the major languages that are spoken. You can find those online. But you can't find a lot of endangered languages online or in a lot of digital spaces," said Ajuawak Kapashesit, who provided the voice of Han Solo.

"So something like this shows that these languages deserve to exist in these digital spaces … and should be shared."

Kapashesit, who was born in Moose Factory in Ontario and also grew up in the White Earth Nation in Minnesota, pored over the Star Wars movies while growing up and saw the original one more than a dozen times.

He felt he knew his character intimately, having portrayed him "every day in the backyard."

"But nothing like this had ever crossed my mind as a possibility. So it's a dream come true," he said. "I hope there's more opportunities like this … for Indigenous people who want to work and practise their languages."

Theresa Eischen, a member of Little Grand Rapids First Nation — a small, remote, fly-in community in northeast Manitoba — had to stop talking and fight away tears as she spoke about just how important the translated film means to her.

She called it a revitalization and preservation of her culture and language.

"My mom's Anishinaabe … and my grandmother, she never spoke a word of English. I never heard her speak English. So I wanted to learn, probably when I was about five years old, I wanted to learn the language," she said.

"My mom spoke the language to me a lot and I started picking it up [from] and my cousins and my extended family. So that's why I get emotional. I'm thinking about my community right now because they're all my teachers.

"This is a full-circle moment."

The voice of Princess Leia, Eischen is also a teacher now. She instructs grades 1-4 at the school in Little Grand Rapids and hopes her performance will inspire her students.

"A new hope, it's a whole meaning there — the hope that people will continue to speak our languages."

Family who helped dub Star Wars into Ojibwe talks about the project's significance

4 months ago

Duration 3:52

CBC talks to three members of the same family who played a role in the translation of the sci-fi classic Star Wars into Ojibwe. The newly dubbed edition was scheduled to have its premiere in Winnipeg Thursday night.

Star Wars fan Noah Robinson, who took in the premiere, said at one point the viewing became emotional.

"The little Ojibway kid in me wanted to be able to sit there with my grandmother and have her translate, rather than me reading the subtitles, which would would have been so cool," he said.

"But just having this occasion, having this be such a grand thing for the Ojibway language, it means the world to a lot of different communities. It meant a lot to me."

Muriel Houle, whose family comes from the Manitoba First Nation communities of Long Plain and Sandy Bay, has been taking Ojibway language lessons for three years and was moved by how much she understood.

"I felt overwhelmed just hearing. I was blown away," she said, adding she hopes the cast and crew set their sights on voicing another film in the franchise.

"I'd love to hear these guys again. I can't wait for my siblings to watch this."