I will be keeping an eye on a special Berlinale line-up this year entitled "NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema", devoted to cinematic storytelling of First Peoples from around the world, including feature-length, short fictional and documentary films as well as panel discussions. The program will be curated by Maryanne Redpath, a native New Zealander and director of the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival, together with a group of experts. The first year’s focus of this multi-part series is on the four pillars which hold up Indigenous cinematic culture: Australia, New Zealand/Ocenia, Canada and the United States. The various Berlinale sections also plan to include recent Indigenous films from all over the world in their programs and competitions. A smart move not to compartmentalize or ghettoize films made by first nations artists.
“The experience of gathering together in the dark with a bunch of my fellow citizens to experience intimate and epic stories in images of light is a near primal experience. It is related to the storytellers of yesterday who would thrill listeners at night by the flickering light of a fire,” says Maori filmmaker Tainui Stephens from New Zealand/Aotearoa in the Berlinale announcement. Interestingly, Festival Director Dieter Kosslick focussed his initial statement on the role of film for native communities, not German or international festival audience: “We wish to reveal the significance of Indigenous film for cinematic art and, above all, for Indigenous Peoples."
And the program of 24 films just got released today, not surprisingly headed by Zacharias Kunuk's Atanarjuat The Fast Runner.
More next in my interview with Redpath.
P.S. Thank you Kent Monkman for letting me use your classic "Louis Vuitton Quiver" above (photo by Brian Boyle/Royal Ontario Museum).
More on Berlinale regular Monkman's upcoming film on this blog later!
by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut
