Deaf at 13, open-heart surgery, and rapping on a fishing boat: young Indigenous filmmakers turn life into art

"If you go on Ste-Catherine Street in Montreal, and you ask 100 people to name three First Nations communities in Quebec, they can't," said Manon Barbeau, founder of Wapikoni Mobile.

It's one of the main reasons she started the film/music workshops and mentoring program for First Nations youth, which is touring across Canada this year.

"Film can make an impact and change lives."

That's certainly the case with Wapikoni Mobile.

Barbeau, a documentary filmmaker, started the project in 2004. In 2002, she was working in northern Quebec with a group of Atikamekw youth from Wemotaci on a script that would become a feature-length film.

Her main collaborator, Wapikoni Awashish, 20, was tragically killed in a car accident.

The loss was so painful for Barbeau, she and the rest of the group abandoned the script.  

But her experience working with Wapikoni and the others in the group stayed with Barbeau, and she came up with the idea of a mobile film studio that could be moved into remote First Nations communities.

Young people there could have access to equipment and expertise of the people involved. She named the project after Wapikoni, her friend, and the mobile film studio was born.

There were difficulties at the start. Barbeau found the communities she entered were struggling with the weight of unemployment and suicide, among other issues.

She had to gain the confidence of the chiefs and the band councils. A slow trust grew between Barbeau and the members of those communities. Through collaborating with Wapikoni mentors, young Indigenous people were given a new hope and confidence, allowing them to push forward to finish their films.

Today, over 900 short movies have been completed by some 4,300 youth with the help of the non-profit organization. Many have won awards and been screened all over the world. The Wapikoni Mobile film studio has set up in 32 different First Nations communities in Canada and 26 others around the globe. 

"When you have a difficult situation and a difficult history, you have to work a very long time to see any impact," said Barbeau. Over the thousands of kilometres the mobile has travelled, it's safe to say that an impact has been made.

In the spring and summer of 2017, the Wapikoni Mobile travelling studio will visit over 20 communities across the country, stopping from coast to coast and collaborating for the first time with the Métis Nation and First Nations in Western Canada.

Meanwhile, Wapikoni on Wheels, a film-screening caravan equipped with all the equipment needed to hold community screenings, is en route across the country. See if Wapikoni on Wheels is stopping near you.
 

Watch the films aired on this episode:

• Trailer for Traditional Healing by Raymond Caplin (heard in the show's intro)
• The Hearing by Russel Ratt-Brascoupe
• ​Where the River Widens by Zach Greenleaf
• The Weight by Craig Commanda
• Healing Scars by Kristina Decontie and Darian Smith

About the filmmakers

Russell Ratt-Brascoupe is Anishinaabe from both Rapid Lake and Kitigan Zibi, Quebec. He enjoys making films because they give him an opportunity to express himself. He believes in the power of films to promote discussions around sensitive issues. The Hearing is his third film with Wapikoni Mobile after True Spirit and Wish Upon a Star. His three films addresses issues of sexuality, gambling and deafness. Russell aspires to become a makeup artist and hairdresser.
 

Zach Greenleaf was born in 1993. Where the River Widens is his second participation with Wapikoni Mobile, but his first as a director. He is interested in music, fishing, extreme sports and organic food and agriculture.



 

Craig Commanda (The Weight) is an Anishinaabe musician and filmmaker from Kitigan Zibi First Nation. He plays guitar and bass, and scores the music to his own films as well as for other film projects and collaborations.




 

Darian Smith was born in 1994 in Kitigan Zibi. She loves to be outdoors, horseback riding, camping, fishing and hunting. Healing Scars is her second film with Wapikoni Mobile, after Young Women Hunting. She hopes to become a doctor in the future.

​Kristina Decontie is the mother of two sweet boys. Her hobbies include hunting, fishing, trapping and camping with her family. Her goal in life is to go to cooking school and become a chef one day.