In 2017 we have organized two film camps, in Siksika and in Calgary. Overall our Film Camps were a success, with 21 youth attended both camps. Youth at the each camp wrote, shot and acted in their own collaborative short films.
We had completed our first camp in Siksika Nation, at Old Sun College, end of July. The film youth filmed during that week is called Sipiotaka: The Shadow Spirit. This short movie talks about how ordinary day at school takes a dark turn when the main characters, Stella and Mason, find themselves locked inside their empty school with a mysterious stranger. This movie was already screened at the Run As One film festival we coordinated this August. The festival was held in Siksika, at the Siksika Resource Development Limited (SRDL) Building. Friends, family and community members attended the festival where their short film, along with other Indigenous short films, were screened. There was a great opportunity for community to engage through a Q&A time.
Our Calgary Film Camp concluded end of August, and was held at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT.) This was our first time taking our film camp to an urban environment. It turned out to be successful as we engaged Urban Indigenous Youth who haven’t had a chance to attend our Siksika Film Camps due to travel restrictions. This opportunity also offered us access to new technology and software, which supported our facilitation of video editing and animation workshops. During the first four days of the workshop, youth learned the fundamentals of camera, lights, sound, scriptwriting and acting. In the last three days those skills were put to use in the making of a short film.
The youth collaborative short film, Time Travel, will be screened at SAIT in late September (watch out for the date announcement!). This short movie is about the 10 year High School Reunion, where the protagonist, Trevor, realizes his life is a mess in comparison to his former classmates. He travels back in time to prevent his younger self from breaking up with his high-school sweetheart.
We were very proud to have Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and filmmaking experts an integral to the teaching of traditional stories and methods of storytelling – join us at both, Siksika and Calgary Film Camps.
If you are interested to hear more about our Film Camps, feel free to reach us out at info@candabrdiges.com
