Alanis Obomsawin

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Alanis Obomsawin (2018)

Alanis Obomsawin (born August 31, 1932 , Lebanon , New Hampshire , United States ) is an American-Canadian Abenaki filmmaker and film producer, singer, artist and activist, best known and multi-award winning for her documentaries about the indigenous people of Canada. As Abenaki, she has been giving voice and face to the indigenous people of Canada with her films and music for many years and makes their history and fate visible.

Live and act

Early years

Alanis Obomsawin was born near Lebanon (New Hampshire, USA) in 1932 and belongs to the Abenaki people. When she was six months old, her parents returned to the Odanak Reserve northeast of Montreal , where Obomsawin lived with her aunt, uncle and their six children until she was seven . A cousin of her mother initiated her into the traditions and traditions of the Abanaki people, taught them the stories, songs and legends . When Obomsawin was nine years old, the family left the reserve and moved to Trois-Rivières , where they were the only indigenous family. It was here that Obomsawin got to know the differences to the white Canadian society and experienced discrimination in school. Speaking little French and hardly any English, Obomsawin clung to the traditional songs and legends she learned on the reservation.

As a young woman, she moved to Montreal in the 1950s and spent time in Florida to improve her English.

In 1960, Alanis Obomsawin made her debut as a singer-songwriter in New York City . She toured the US, Canada and Europe and performed at folk festivals, universities , museums and prisons for human rights, social and humanitarian causes . In the 1960s she was involved in the Canadian Mariposa Folk Festival .

Cinematography

She joined the film industry in 1967. Alanis Obomsawin had previously caught the attention of two producers of the National Film Board (NFB) with their concerts, the proceeds of which she donated to the people of the Odanka and through her public campaign against the oppression and discrimination of the indigenous people of Canada. She was therefore invited as a consultant for a film about the indigenous people of Canada.

Then she changed sides and began in 1971 to make films and documentaries about the indigenous people of Canada. She has since written scripts and directed more than 50 documentaries. Thematically, she is dedicated to the rights and oppression of the Canadian natives. Many of her films have received Canadian and international awards and honors. In the summer of 2019, she finished her 53rd film.

On the occasion of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival 2020 , Alanis Obomsawin was a member of the jury of the Berlinale Dokumantarfilmpreis , which is donated by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) .

Other art

Although Alanis Obomsawin is mainly known for her film documentary work, she always expresses herself in other artistic genres as well. She never gave up on the music with which she was successful in the 1960s. In 1988 she self-published the album Bush Lady. In addition to their own compositions, there are also traditional songs of the Abenaki people. In 2018 the album was remastered and re-released by CST Records.

Alanis Obomsawin is also active as a visual artist and has been expressing himself in free graphics for more than two decades. In a multitude of mother-child motifs, she processes her own dreams with animal spirits and historical events.

Honors (selection)

Her social commitment to the natives of Canada and her documentaries have received numerous awards. In addition to film prizes, she was awarded the Clyde Gilmore Prize by the Toronto Film Critics Association in 2016.

She has been awarded 22 honorary doctorates from Canadian and American universities, including McGill University in Montreal, York University , Concordia University , Carleton University , the University of Western Ontario , Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

In 2008 Obomsawin was recognized by the Governor General of Canada for her life's work. Since 2019 she has carried the country's highest distinction for civilians, the Order of Canada, and is allowed to call herself Companion of the Order of Canada . The city of Montreal awarded her the Order of Montreal in 2017 .

Two major awards in Canada are named after their names. She is the namesake for the Alanis Obomsawin Award for Commitment to Community and Resistance since 2011 and the Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award since 2003 at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the world's largest indigenous film festival .

The Museum of Modern Art New York honored her in 2008 with a retrospective .

Honorary positions (selection)

Alanis Obomsawin chairs the board of directors of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal and has served on the Canada Council's First People's Advisory Board . She was a board member of Studio 1, the Aboriginal studio of the National Film Board of Canada, and a former advisor to New Initiatives in Film , a studio for women of color and women from the indigenous peoples of Canada.

As a member of the board of directors of Aboriginal Voices , she stood up as an activist to obtain a radio license for the organization. She serves on the board of directors of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network for life and serves on the boards of Vermont Public Television and National Geographic International .

She is also a member of Film Fatales' independent filmmakers .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1971: Christmas in Moose Factory
  • 1977: Mother of Many Children
  • 1977: Amisk
  • 1984: Incident at Restigouche
  • 1986: Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child
  • 1988: No Address
  • 1993: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
  • 1995: My Name is Kahentiiosta
  • 1997: Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man
  • 2000: Rocks at Whiskey Trench
  • 2002: Is the Crown At War With Us?
  • 2003: For John (dir. Dale Montour)
  • 2003: Our Nationhood
  • 2005: Sigwan
  • 2006: Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises
  • 2007: Gene Boy Came Home
  • 2012: The People of the Kattawapiskak River
  • 2013: Hi-Ho Mistahey!
  • 2014: Trick or Treaty?
  • 2016: We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice
  • 2017: Our People Will Be Healed
  • 2019: Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger

Web links

Commons : Alanis Obomsawin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alanis Obomsawin. House of World Cultures, February 20, 2020, accessed on February 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Maurice Alioff, Susan Schouten Levine: The Long Walk of Alanis Obomsawin . In: Canada Cinema . tape June 15 , 1987.
  3. ↑ a b c Alanis Obomsawin. Indspire, December 15, 2014, accessed February 24, 2020 .
  4. ^ Alanis Obomsawin: A portrait of a first nation's filmmaker. Free Online Library, accessed February 24, 2020 .
  5. ^ Peter Robb: Alanis Obomsawin: The power of art revealed in film. In: Ottawa Citizen. February 19, 2015, accessed February 24, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Jason Ryle: Where the Sun Rises: The Films of Alanis Obomsawin. In: NFB Blog. October 15, 2019, accessed on February 25, 2020 .
  7. ↑ 21 films nominated for the new Berlinale Documentary Award. rbb, February 5, 2020, accessed on February 18, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Alanis Obomsawin - Bush Lady. CST Records, accessed February 25, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b c Alanis Obomsawin. City of Montreal, May 16, 2017, accessed February 25, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Obomsawin, Alanis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Canadian documentary filmmaker and artist
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Lebanon , New Hampshire , United States