Actress, filmmaker and programmer Michelle Latimer is a perfect spokesperson for the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, opening Wednesday. She’s articulate and enthusiastic and as the photo at left confirms, she’s also a whole lot of fun. Latimer and I met at A Space Gallery to chat about the festival and take in RE:counting coup, a group show curated by Cheryl L’Hirondelle for imagineNATIVE. Latimer posed for me beneath one of artist Lisa Reihana’s hairdryers, part of an installation called Colour of Sin: Headcase Version, 2005.
“We think that including contemporary art is important,” says Latimer, “because those are the artists who, in my opinion, are really pushing the boundaries for indigenous artists in this country.”
Now in its 11th year, imagineNATIVE is the world’s largest showcase of indigenous film and video work and the festival draws entries from First Nations communities around the world. Did you know that Nepal has more indigenous groups per capita than any other country? Or that Taiwan has a significant indigenous population, which also happens to be the subject of this year’s imagineNATIVE spotlight?
“We have a very diverse audience,” says Latimer. “The point is not to show Native films to Native people, that’s only one part of our mandate; we want everybody to come to the festival, it’s very inclusive. And the work isn’t just speaking to political Native issues. There are some activist films but there are comedies, dramas, short film programs, horror movies. We don’t specify that the film has to have Native content, only that a Native person be in a key creative role – the movie could be about Puff Daddy as long as the writer or director or producer has an indigenous affiliation.”
Latimer is an actress and filmmaker who grew up in northern Ontario before moving to Toronto 10 years ago. “There’s a misconception that Toronto doesn’t have a large Native community because we do,” she says, “it’s just that we’re not as visible. In a place like Winnipeg or Thunder Bay you see the population. But when I came to Toronto I felt like I might be the only Native person here.”
As a young, wannabe filmmaker Latimer was amazed by the variety of resources available in Toronto. Her go-to support network was LIFT, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto: “They really helped me tap into the community,” she says. But beyond LIFT, Latimer found help and/or information at Vtape, Trinity Square Video, Charles Street Video, the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Animated Image Society. “And now the TIFF Bell Lightbox has become another amazing resource,” she adds.
For Latimer, the most rewarding part of her involvement with imagineNATIVE is being able to assist emerging filmmakers from remote communities who don’t have the tools and access a big city provides.
A still from Dreamland from Australian director Ivan Sen
“We’re really committed to emerging filmmakers,” she stresses. “If you’re an indigenous person and you’re not in a major city then you don’t have access to resources or opportunities like filmmakers in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. The films might not be as slick or as packaged but we’re looking for a voice; sometimes just having your work shown somewhere like imagineNATIVE can be that little extra kick and support that a filmmaker needs to continue making films.
“I literally made my first film through an imagineNATIVE mentorship program,” she adds, “and I can say from personal experience that that kind of support is absolutely invaluable. I grew up in Timmins and Thunder Bay and those are major cities compared to remote reserves.”
Still from A Flesh Offering from director Jeremy Torries: "Maybe it's a Native thing."
When I ask Latimer which imagineNATIVE films she is most excited about this year she mentions the interactive webcast of Zacharias Kunuk’s Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (October 23, 7 pm) as well as Dreamland, an experimental drama from Australia’s Ivan Sen. “And something we’ve never had before is a whole bunch of really great dance shorts — we’ve called the program Dancing Queens because it has a high level of gay content but it’s so innovative. And if you like horror movies we have an excellent double bill with Windigo (Kris Happyjack-McKenzie) and A Flesh Offering (Jeremy Torries) and after that is The Witching Hour, a program of fun, scary shorts. We tend to get a lot of that work,” adds Latimer, “I don’t know why, maybe it’s a Native thing.”
WHERE/WHEN: imagineNATIVE runs October 20 – 24 at the Al Greene Theatre and Bloor Cinema (see website for details); RE:counting coup is at A Space Gallery until October 30, curator talk on Friday, October 22 at 5:30 pm.
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