Writer/director of miniseries Bones of Crows felt weight of responsible storytelling
Residential schools 'rippled in dominoes inside our families for decades,' says Marie Clements
The writer/director of a new miniseries called Bones of Crows said she wanted to ensure the truth about residential schools was told but also to make sure cast and crew members were taken care of.
"An Indigenous production that is Indigenous-led is different because they're responsible not only for the craft but they're responsible to the story and they're responsible for the people that they bring with them," said Marie Clements.
Clements, who is Sahtu Dene and Métis, grew up in Vancouver. She said with Bones of Crows, she wanted to show Canadians that the traumas of residential school experiences linger a lifetime.
"It was an event that rippled in dominoes inside our families over decades," said Clements.
In the series, Cree woman Aline Spears and her family deal with the lingering effects of the residential school system and colonization.
Clements said on set they set up a trailer for smudging, ceremony and had knowledge keepers on hand for anyone needing help. She said some days the crew just had to sit and talk about the traumatic stories the actors were portraying.
"We have to acknowledge that trauma happens," said Clements.
"You know, it's part of a human experience and it's definitely part of a genocide. We can't really tell the story about our history without speaking to it."
Actor Grace Dove, who plays Aline Spears, said the care on set was rewarding and working with the likes of Glen Gould and Michelle Thrush was grounding.
"They're such aunties and uncles to me and they support me," said Dove, who is Secwe̓pemc from the Tsq'escen (Canim Lake Indian Band), about 320 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
"They feel like family."
She said she was lucky to be able to portray a woman of such strength and resilience and said she is not the same person she was before playing the role.
"It's hard to let her go," she said.
"When it gets out there, people will watch it and we'll move on but for right now, I'm still living with her."
She said in other projects she had to constantly rework lines of dialogues for the Indigenous characters because it came off as inauthentic but with Bones of Crows it was a different because the writer/director was Indigenous.
"We have to let our people start our own productions," said Dove.
Dove said projects like this remind her why having Indigenous people in the film industry is important.
The five part miniseries is airing on CBC-TV and is available to stream on CBC Gem.
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