2024 STOODIS
Festival Schedule

The morning’s program opens with a special introduction and welcome by festival coordinator Lesley Garlowi, followed by a performance by the Wild Rose Dance Group, local Indigenous youth-made, 1-day shot, in-camera edited and hand processed films, and an engaging live music performance by Lance Ledger.

Lance Ledger's ancestry is a mixture of Woodland Cree, Mohawk, Irish, and Scandinavian. He is a part of an indigenous band in Northern Alberta called The Woodland Cree Band First Nation 474. His passion for music and cultural teachings shine through his performances. Whether he is connecting with his hand drums, native American flutes, his guitar or performing spoken word in his native Cree language, his unique blend of traditional and contemporary styles create captivating and Spiritual experiences that resonate with audience's of all ages. He explores music with a creative and intuitive approach. When he Creates something from within he lets it out in full expression, this is his way of sharing his medicine with those around him. He receives much from this approach, such as a way of grounding healing and releasing. 

Introducing pow wow dance group called Wild Rose Dance. Cheyenne is Metis with Ojibway roots. She also has Danish, English, Scottish, French and Polish ancestry. Nikita is Secwepemc and Dakelh and is from the Xat’sull First Nation. She also has Danish, Italian, Irish, French and Scottish ancestry. Destiny and i Lyric are Cree with Scottish, Irish and English ancestry.

The Jingle Dress dance is a prayer dance that originated with the Ojibway tribe. The cones were made with rolled tobacco can lids that make the jingle sound when they dance.

Lyric is a Grass dancer. The grass dance is fast paced dance consisting of sweeping motions. Grass dancers imitate nature, resembling the swaying of grass.Please cheer loud for Wild Rose Dance as they are proud of their culture and love to dance!

Saturday morning’s program features another set of Indigenous short films, this one from ImagineNative Film Festival.  ‘For the Grandbabies’ is an all-ages friendly program featuring a whimsical trek through the woods, connecting with and standing up for the earth, reconnecting with the past and present. Films included: Starlight Sojourn, Ni Wapiten (I see), NANGULVI, Follow, Nemi, The Bull of Cold, Rieban – The Fox, and Whistling Woods.

ADDITIONAL SCREENING of For the Grandbabies:
Saturday, Sept. 28, 9:30am at the Capitol Theatre

The 2024 Sundance Institute Indigenous Film Tour is a 83-minute theatrical program featuring eight short films from Indigenous filmmakers: four from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival program, three from the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and one short film from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Sundance has a long history of supporting and launching talented Indigenous directors including Erica Tremblay, Blackhorse Lowe, Sterlin Harjo, Sky Hopinka, Taika Waititi,  Caroline Monnet, Fox Maxy and Shaandiin Tome.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS:
Saturday, Sept. 28, 11:30am at the Capitol Theatre

Filmed over 10 years, ’Yintah’ documents both a persistent historical framework and a stirring portrait of resistance by the Witsuwit'en peoples following Coastal GasLink’s (CGL) determination to build a pipeline through their territory. Tsakë ze’ Howilhkat Freda Huson of Witsuwit’en C’ilhts’ëkhyu clan and Tsakë ze’ Sleydo Molly Wickam of Gidimt’en clan lead the fight with honour, and it is inspiring to witness their tenacious commitment despite an ever-increasing battery of strong-arm tactics from CGL and the RCMP. The film demonstrates how corporations and governmental agencies collude to wield power with impunity when their interests are at stake—but the fight isn’t over yet. The film shows audiences that this is a land—a yintah—of not just resistance but resilience. Youngsters skilfully skin a carcass, teachings are shared, and families swim joyfully in the sacred river that connects the five clans.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS:
Sunday, Sept. 29, 5:00pm at the Capitol Theatre

In a time of severe environmental degradation and global uncertainty, the buffalo can lead us to a better tomorrow. After a dark recent history, the buffalo herds of North America are awaiting their return to the Great Plains, aided by dedicated Indigenous activists, leaders and communities, including award-winning Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard (nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up). Together with Blackfoot Elder Leroy Little Bear, Hubbard weaves an intimate story of humanity’s connections to buffalo and eloquently reveals how their return can usher in a new era of sustainability and balance. On her journey, Hubbard explores the challenges faced by buffalo allies and shares the positive steps already taken towards the ultimate—but uncertain—goal of buffalo rematriation. Richly visualized and deeply uplifting, ’Singing Back the Buffalo’ is an epic reimagining of North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and a potent dream of what is within our grasp.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS:
Sunday, Sept. 29, 2:00pm at the Capitol Theatre

Billed as an epic adventure based on a Native American creation myth, the animated feature, ‘Four Souls of Coyote’, Hungary’s entry for 2024’s Oscar nomination, highlights the increasingly pressing need to live in harmony with the environment — before it is too late. Set in the present day, Native Americans confront the crew of an oil pipeline project, just down the hill from the land of their ancestors. The grandfather, voiced by Alberta Cree actor, Lorne Cardinal, evokes the ancient tale of their Creation myth, reminding all of us that the challenges facing humanity are universal, and we need to find our place in the great circle of creatures. Through adventures filled with animals, magic, hunger, greed and the sacred circle of all creations, the story gives us hope that humans can correct our course and preserve our species’ existence on Earth.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS: 
Saturday, September 27, at 3:00pm - The Shoebox Theatre

In last year’s festival’s look at Indigenous representation in film through the thought provoking documentary, ‘Reel Injun’, we got to revisit the monumental movie that spawned a new wave of independent Indigenous voices, ‘Smoke Signals’. Well timed then, is the inclusion of Cody Lightning's mockumentary sequel of sorts, ‘Hey, Viktor!’ to this year’s festival. In recent years, Chris Eyre’s 1998 film Smoke Signals has been the source of a thousand memes shared by Indigenous people. Among the most popular have been images of Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) calling out “Hey, Victor!” to Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) in a distinctive rez accent.

In Hey, Viktor!, actor Cody Lightning, who played the child version of Beach’s character, revisits that beloved film as director, co-writer, and — playing an outsized version of himself — mockumentary lead. Eager to boost his floundering acting career, the fictional Cody looks to cash in on his old childhood role. He wants to make a sequel for Smoke Signals, in which he would star (as “Viktor,” to avoid a potential lawsuit), alongside the original cast. His first move: hijack the film crew which is documenting his intervention.

This wild comedy follows a man with plenty of vices, driven by money and fame as he alienates his family and friends (such as his producer Kate, played by Hannah Cheesman) on his quest to make this sequel. Hey, Viktor! is both a mockumentary — one that plays on the idea of fame and cultural capital — and, much like the film it’s tapping into, a journey of self-discovery.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS: 
Saturday, September 28, at 7:30pm - The Shoebox Theatre

The year is 2045, in Madison Thomas’ dystopian ‘Finality of Dusk’. Worldwide environmental devastation has pushed the scattered humans left into the wild spaces. Even in the brush of Manitoba’s prairies, those who remain must wear air filtration masks at all times. ISHKODE, a strong-willed Ojibwe woman, meets NIIFE, a Nigerian climate refugee who is searching for her sister in the remote part of Northern Manitoba she calls “Paradise.” Having lost her last remaining companion, and with a mask that is rapidly breaking down, Ishkode tries to ditch Niife. Though they don't speak the same language, Niife offers Ishkode her pristine mask for a few hours a day in exchange for food and the safety of an ally. Ishkode’s failing health motivates her to take the deal. The arrangement works, until a deaf man, ODIN, begins to track the women for their masks. Having lost his family to the yellow fog, Odin’s empathy has been drained. With his skills giving him a survival advantage, Odin strives to be the last man standing, yet longs for connection. To endure, Ishkode and Niife must learn to help each other, and find “Paradise,” which may or may not exist. What does exist is the drive to live and to hope.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS: 
Saturday, September 28, at 9:00pm - The Shoebox Theatre‍

Saturday morning’s program features another set of Indigenous short films, this one from ImagineNative Film Festival.  ‘For the Grandbabies’ is an all-ages friendly program featuring a whimsical trek through the woods, connecting with and standing up for the earth, reconnecting with the past and present. Films included: Starlight Sojourn, Ni Wapiten (I see), NANGULVI, Follow, Nemi, The Bull of Cold, Rieban – The Fox, and Whistling Woods.

Derek LaMere's Older than the Crown follows the trial of Sinixt tribal member Rick Desautel who in 2010 was charged with hunting as a non-resident and without a proper permit in Canada. Rick harvested an elk on the ancestral land of the Sinixt people, hunting on ancestral land is an aboriginal right gifted to them by Creator. A right that has legally been denied to them since 1956.

The 2024 Sundance Institute Indigenous Film Tour is a 83-minute theatrical program featuring eight short films from Indigenous filmmakers: four from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival program, three from the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and one short film from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Sundance has a long history of supporting and launching talented Indigenous directors including Erica Tremblay, Blackhorse Lowe, Sterlin Harjo, Sky Hopinka, Taika Waititi,  Caroline Monnet, Fox Maxy and Shaandiin Tome.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS:
Saturday, Sept. 28, 11:30am at the Capitol Theatre

Billed as an epic adventure based on a Native American creation myth, the animated feature, ‘Four Souls of Coyote’, Hungary’s entry for 2024’s Oscar nomination, highlights the increasingly pressing need to live in harmony with the environment — before it is too late. Set in the present day, Native Americans confront the crew of an oil pipeline project, just down the hill from the land of their ancestors. The grandfather, voiced by Alberta Cree actor, Lorne Cardinal, evokes the ancient tale of their Creation myth, reminding all of us that the challenges facing humanity are universal, and we need to find our place in the great circle of creatures. Through adventures filled with animals, magic, hunger, greed and the sacred circle of all creations, the story gives us hope that humans can correct our course and preserve our species’ existence on Earth.

‘Les Filles Du Roi’ is a Canadian musical drama film, directed by Corey Payette and written by Payette and Julie McIsaac, adapted from their stage musical of the same name. The film tells a powerful story of a young girl, Kateri and her brother Jean-Baptiste whose lives are disrupted upon the arrival of les filles du roi in ‘New France’ (now Montreal) in 1665. They forge an unlikely relationship with the young fille Marie-Jeanne Lespérance – whose dream of a new life is more complicated than she could have imagined. Over the course of a year, Mohawk, French and English journeys collide, setting the stage for the Canada we know today. 

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS:
Sunday, Sept. 29, 7:30pm at the Capitol Theatre

The Beehive's Indigenous sci-fi-meets-coming-of-age story. Pandemic metaphors loom large in Vancouver filmmaker Alexander Lasheras’s new film ‘The Beehive’, a survival story that follows an Indigenous family facing a possible alien invasion on their farm. The film begins when young Rosemary discovers a strange “beehive” growing on a farm tree, visiting it each day to video-document its fast growth. Interwoven are the dynamics of a family getting through the grief of losing a parent.
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Métis director Lasheras boldly intermixes genres, coining a new kind of Indigenous sci-fi that also revels in the natural setting of the Langley shoot. At the same time, the film works as a family and coming-of-age drama, with themes of identity, loss, and survival in a world altered by a pandemic from outerspace. There are also some pretty nifty monster-alien-movie effects, with a tip of a slimy claw to classics like Alien, The Thing, and The Body Snatchers.

The year is 2045, in Madison Thomas’ dystopian ‘Finality of Dusk’. Worldwide environmental devastation has pushed the scattered humans left into the wild spaces. Even in the brush of Manitoba’s prairies, those who remain must wear air filtration masks at all times. ISHKODE, a strong-willed Ojibwe woman, meets NIIFE, a Nigerian climate refugee who is searching for her sister in the remote part of Northern Manitoba she calls “Paradise.” Having lost her last remaining companion, and with a mask that is rapidly breaking down, Ishkode tries to ditch Niife. Though they don't speak the same language, Niife offers Ishkode her pristine mask for a few hours a day in exchange for food and the safety of an ally. Ishkode’s failing health motivates her to take the deal. The arrangement works, until a deaf man, ODIN, begins to track the women for their masks. Having lost his family to the yellow fog, Odin’s empathy has been drained. With his skills giving him a survival advantage, Odin strives to be the last man standing, yet longs for connection. To endure, Ishkode and Niife must learn to help each other, and find “Paradise,” which may or may not exist. What does exist is the drive to live and to hope.‍

In last year’s festival’s look at Indigenous representation in film through the thought provoking documentary, ‘Reel Injun’, we got to revisit the monumental movie that spawned a new wave of independent Indigenous voices, ‘Smoke Signals’. Well timed then, is the inclusion of Cody Lightning's mockumentary sequel of sorts, ‘Hey, Viktor!’ to this year’s festival. In recent years, Chris Eyre’s 1998 film Smoke Signals has been the source of a thousand memes shared by Indigenous people. Among the most popular have been images of Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) calling out “Hey, Victor!” to Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) in a distinctive rez accent.

In Hey, Viktor!, actor Cody Lightning, who played the child version of Beach’s character, revisits that beloved film as director, co-writer, and — playing an outsized version of himself — mockumentary lead. Eager to boost his floundering acting career, the fictional Cody looks to cash in on his old childhood role. He wants to make a sequel for Smoke Signals, in which he would star (as “Viktor,” to avoid a potential lawsuit), alongside the original cast. His first move: hijack the film crew which is documenting his intervention.

This wild comedy follows a man with plenty of vices, driven by money and fame as he alienates his family and friends (such as his producer Kate, played by Hannah Cheesman) on his quest to make this sequel. Hey, Viktor! is both a mockumentary — one that plays on the idea of fame and cultural capital — and, much like the film it’s tapping into, a journey of self-discovery.

In a time of severe environmental degradation and global uncertainty, the buffalo can lead us to a better tomorrow. After a dark recent history, the buffalo herds of North America are awaiting their return to the Great Plains, aided by dedicated Indigenous activists, leaders and communities, including award-winning Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard (nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up). Together with Blackfoot Elder Leroy Little Bear, Hubbard weaves an intimate story of humanity’s connections to buffalo and eloquently reveals how their return can usher in a new era of sustainability and balance. On her journey, Hubbard explores the challenges faced by buffalo allies and shares the positive steps already taken towards the ultimate—but uncertain—goal of buffalo rematriation. Richly visualized and deeply uplifting, ’Singing Back the Buffalo’ is an epic reimagining of North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and a potent dream of what is within our grasp.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS:
Sunday, Sept. 29, 2:00pm at the Capitol Theatre

Csetkwe (she/her/stamiya) (Pronounced: chuh-set-quah, meaning Lights Reflection on Water) is a multi-gifted artist with her roots in the Syilx (Okanagan) and Secwepmec (Shuswap) Nations. Holding the respect of being a sqwuy (mother to sons) stamiya (Two Spirit) and a Traditional Knowledge Keeper, she mainly works in ceremony, mental health, storytelling, performance art, song/ poetry writing, painting, illustration, murals and most recently curating.

Ma’iingan Miikana is the stage name of Wil Reed, the name is Ojibwe in origin, it means the Wolfs Trail and is symbolism for the suns path through the sky. Originally from Manitoba Wil is an Ojibwe member of the Peguis First Nation reserve. Wil has lived in the kootenays for over 8 years. 
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Ma’iingan Miikana writes spoken word poetry and is a hip hop lyricist. The subject matter of his lyrics is of a wide variety including: Connecting back to one’s Ancestral lineage (a time before Abrahamic monotheism)the occult (occult means hidden), natural law, hermetic principles, ancestral trauma, the psychological shadow, exposing dark occultism,  the solar and galactic spirals of creation and also Conscious messages dealing with the great work of bio spiritual alchemical transformation.( the transformation of one’s consciousness into a higher consciousness, through body, mind and spirit).
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 Ma’iingan does not shy away from speaking on the cause and effects of one’s inner darkness (i.e. distorted subconscious and unconscious programs) and ignorance upon their own spiritual progression, nor is it one sided, both the light and the dark are explored through his lyrics.

This program will also feature local Indigenous youth-made, 1-day shot, in-camera edited and hand processed films,