Skoden Indigenous Film Festival gears up for its 2023 programming, March 31 to April 1
Aiming to decolonize the screen, the 5th annual fest features bill of works from all-Indigenous creators
SPONSORED POST BY Skoden Indigenous Film Festival
Return to Ombabika, featured in program “Activating the Landscape”.
Skoden Indigenous Film Festival (SIFF) returns in-person from March 31 to April 1, for three days of screening programs at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts’s Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema.
Founded upon the principles of truth and reconciliation, the festival exclusively features Indigenous filmmakers and creatives from across Canada. It was created in 2019 by Simon Fraser University film alumni Carr Sappier (Wolastoqew) and Grace Mathisen, with an aim to decolonize the screen and Indigenize the SFU community.
The 2023 festival will feature five film programs and conclude with an awards ceremony. The lineup presents an eclectic selection of both new filmmaking forces—including Robbie Tait Jr. (A Rainbow to Turtle Island), and Laura Fontaine and Yasmine Fontaine (Our Way)—and well-established artists, such as Tanya Tagaq and Chelsea McMullan (Ever Deadly); Amanda Strong (Spirit Bear: Fishing for Knowledge, Catching Dreams); and Ma-Nee Chacaby, Zoe Gordon and Shayne Ehman (Return to Ombabika).
Spirit Bear: Fishing for Knowledge, Catching Dreams, featured in program “The Deepest Part of My Heart”.
Each of the programs embodies a salient theme in contemporary Indigeneity. The festival will host “Activating the Landscape” and “It’s a Long Story” on March 31, and “The Deepest Part of My Heart”, “Who I am, Who We Are”, and “Our Connections” on April 1, all made up of several short films.
SIFF is maintained yearly through a semester-long interdisciplinary class taught by Sappier alongside filmmaker and festival consultant Kathleen Mullen. Students and staff from all SFU faculties are invited to participate in the building of the festival.
This year, the SIFF course students watched over 70 film submissions that explored Indigenous cultures, experiences, and representations, and as a team curated the mesmerizing final selection of works featured in the festival.
Used by Indigenous communities from coast to coast, “Skoden” is a unifying term that transcends a single language which stands for “let’s go then!”. At once an attitude and a battle cry, the festival co-founders say they took the term to heart with the event’s creation.
SIFF ticket prices are on a sliding scale with two-day passes also available. The suggested donation is $10-$15 per program.
More information on the event and links to purchase tickets can be found here.
Post sponsored by Skoden Indigenous Film Festival.
Our Way, featured in program “The Deepest Part of My Heart”.