#aptn

For the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Day (Sept 30), I wanted to share some Indigenous films made by various Indigenous directors, starring actors from many Indigenous communities, that speaks of their stories and experiences.

L’inhumain (2021) - directed by Jason Brennan (Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg), Genre: horror/thriller. Viewing: tout.tv platform.

A rare French-language Indigenous genre film, L’inhumain is the directorial debut of Anishinaabe producer and writer Jason Brennan. It’s a thrilling and evocative parable about the dangers of feeding the monster inside, and faithfully portrays an Anishinaabe Wendigo story. Starring Samian, an Indigenous neurosurgeon by the name of Mathieu who has had to leave his community at a young age because of school. After many years, Matt has somewhat rebuilt his life away from the community. Although he’s got a great family and a successful job, he’s still trying to fill the void left by having left behind his culture, his roots, and his family. In attempts to fill this void, he’s giving in to many different vices and the slippery slope has led him to fall prey to the Wendigo.

Angry Inuk (2016) directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk from Iqaluit, Nunavut). Genre: documentary. Viewing: National Film Board of Canada platform.

In her award-winning documentary, director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, this group is bringing its own voice into the conversation and presenting themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril is also the co-creator of the drama comedy series North of North, now available on CBC and Netflix in Canada.

Call Me Human (Je m’appelle humain) (2020), directed by Kim O’Bomsawin (Abenaki) Genre:documentary. Viewing:tout.tv platform

Innu writer Joséphine Bacon is part of a generation that has lived through significant changes in Indigenous traditions and colonialist displacement. Born in the Innu community of Pessamit, Bacon was sent to residential school at the age of five and spent fourteen years of her life there. Now, with charm, grace, and quiet tenacity, she is leading a movement to preserve her people’s language and culture.

This endearing film moves with Bacon across Canada — Montreal, Pessamit, and the tundra. In each place she visits, Bacon shares reflections and stories, backdropped by the film’s stunning cinematography. The contrasts between city and wilderness mirror Bacon’s upbringing, creating a poignant sense of the displacement she and her generation experienced. At the same time, the film offers a moving, inspirational meditation on the interconnectedness of language, earth, spirituality, and culture.

Dear Flora (2022) directed by Sonia Bonspille Boileau (Mohawk). Genre: Drama. Viewing: tout.tv platform, APTN Lumi platform, Apple Tv rent/buy

The Dear Flora drama series portrays the inherent resilience of two Anishinaabe siblings who endured their childhood in a Quebec residential school in the 1960s. The film explores their present-day challenges as they grapple with the lingering effects of their past.

Beans (2020) director: Tracey Deer (Mohawk). Genre: drama. Viewing: CBC gem, Apple TV rent/buy.

HIIIII EM i love this ask!!!! here's a quick and dirty tour:

this is VERY SPECIFICALLY structured after a line from an early episode of sword art online abridged. i could put the reference here but it is so minuscule of a joke that it really wouldn't scan. it was done for no one but myself. sao my beloathed but saoa my beloved

harrow's "let me explain - no, there is too much. let me sum up" is a line taken directly from the princess bride, both because it's a funny joke and because william goldman was a genius and it's a nifty little writing gag. gestures broadly to the audience. we don't have time to cover everything you've already seen. shit's happened. you understand. we're moving on

a paraphrase of this iconic and perennial classic:

kiriona calling the river "the ghost superhighway" is meant to evoke the early internet being termed "the information superhighway" (is the river just the ghost internet? vote now on your phones)

"parasite in chief in his idiot sacristy" is a reference to that chrisecc post about the queen, which i've been itching to use in reference to silas forever and ever (there's a version of it in my tlt fashion au too that i wrote like three years ago and which may never see the light of day)

i'm counting literary references as memes because they are, ultimately, memetic: pulling in a wrinkle in time felt obvious due to the canon nature of river travel reflecting the eponymous wrinkle. i read awit when i was like 12 and it changed me. i wanted to be a theoretical physicist for so long BECAUSE of that book (and hitchhiker's guide LOL)

i think i've put at least one shakespeare reference in every tlt fic i've written, but in my defense tamsyn has done the same with the books. 'hell is empty and all the devils are here' is so deliciously apt for colum that i couldn't not include it (it was almost the title of no exit before i decided on the sartre reference)

ianthe calling pal "that smug motherfucker" is after john turturro's delivery in severance. because i am hashtag #severed

ianthe quipping that she should survive "at least until chapter 26" is an in-joke for the aptn writers and organizers: the outline for the event mentioned ianthe specifically in the chapter 26 prompt, and one of the rules for the event warned against killing off major characters if they were supposed to show up later. @carys-the-ninth gave the specific example "no killing ianthe before chapter 26." if anyone was going to get meta with it, it was always going to be the character who called the people she doesn't give a shit about extras IN THE CANON TEXT. she's awful <3

those are most of the major ones! i don't think there were any left on the cutting room floor - most of the edits to this chapter were additive, since i worked on the outline for it very slowly over the course of a month and then sat down one saturday and wrote the whole thing in like an eight-hour session the day before the deadline lol. there just wasn't much to cut!

if this has intrigued you, you can read my chapter of alectopause the ninth here!

it does work as a standalone piece, but it is also the second part of a full novel-length fan-written exquisite-corpse-style fic, which you can read all of here

aptn (aboriginal's people's television network) is a canadian channel launched in 1992, aimed at the indegenous populuation within canada, it was called television northern canada back when it launched, (tvnc 4 short) but in 1999, they rebranded 2 aptn, as far as i know, no footage online exists of aptn during their tvnc era...but i could be wrong.

The Permanent Rain Press Interview with Maika Harper. (Watch in HD)

more ppl should talk bout inuk, its a cel shaded cgi cartoon from the early 2000s, (2001.) its bout inuk, a young inuit boy that has a magic amulet that allows him to talk to animals, and the show follows his adventures as he finds his place in the world. the shows unique art style is by marc tetro, (also the theme song is awesome. theres a full version on utube too!)

the show had a website, inuksite.com.

the show was lost media 4 a very long time, until recently where it was made avaliable on aptn's streaming service aptn lumi.

Over 1,000 paintings seized, 8 people arrested in Norval Morrisseau art fraud, March 3, 2023

More than 1,000 paintings were seized and eight people face a total of 40 charges resulting from a years-long police investigation into the forgery of artwork by Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau.

CBC News