Alanis Obomsawin
Encyclopedia
Alanis Obomsawin, OC
(born August 31, 1932) is a Canadian
filmmaker of Abenaki descent. Born in New Hampshire
, and raised primarily in Quebec
, she has produced and directed many National Film Board of Canada
documentaries on First Nations
culture and history. Her best known documentary is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
, about the 1990 siege at Oka, Quebec
.
Her latest NFB film is the short drama When All the Leaves are Gone, about her experiences attending public school in Quebec.
IN 2009, she completed the documentary Professor Norman Cornett: "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer? looking at the dismissal of unorthodox McGill University
religious studies lecturer Norman Cornett
, which will have its world premiere at the Hot Docs
film festival.
Obomsawin's recent credits include Gene Boy Came Home
, about Aboriginal Vietnam War
veteran Eugene Benedict. In 2006, she completed WABAN-AKI: People from Where the Sun Rises a look at the people and stories from her home reserve of Odanak. In 2005, Ms Obomsawin completed her short drama Sigwan, following a young girl who is aided by the animals of the forest. Her 2003 NFB documentary Our Nationhood, chronicles the determination and tenacity of the Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation to use and manage the natural resources of their traditional lands. The Mi’gmaq of Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church), New Brunswick
were the subject of her 2002 documentary, Is the Crown at war with us?, exploring a conflict over fishing rights.
The 2000 NFB release Rocks at Whiskey Trench was Obomsawin's fourth film in her series about the 1990 Oka crisis. The first, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
(1993), was a feature-length film documenting the 1990 Mohawk uprising in Kanehsatake and Oka, which has won 18 international awards. It was followed by My Name is Kahentiiosta (1995), a film about a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman who was arrested after the 78-day armed standoff, and Spudwrench – Kahnawake Man (1997), profiling Randy Horne, a high-steel worker from the Mohawk
community of Kahnawake.
Obomsawin’s films also include: Incident at Restigouche
(1984), a powerful depiction of the Quebec police raid of a Micmac reserve; Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis
Child (1986), the disturbing examination of an adolescent suicide, No Address (1988), a look at Montreal’s homeless, as well as Mother of Many Children (1977).
Alanis got her start at the NFB in 1967, when producers Joe Koenig
and Bob Verrall saw Obomsawin on TV. They invited the singer/storyteller to the Film Board to work as an advisor on a film about Aboriginal people. Obomsawin went on to direct films of her own, while continuing to perform and fight for justice for her people.
, where they were the only Native family. Cut off, speaking little French and no English, Obomsawin held fast to the songs and stories she had learned on the reserve. Alanis has one child, daughter Kisos Obomsawin, born in 1969.
As a singer/songwriter, Obomsawin has toured Canada, the United States and Europe performing for humanitarian causes in universities, museums, prisons and art centres, as well as at folk art festivals. Her 1988 album Bush Lady features traditional songs of the Abenaki people, as well as original compositions.
For over 25 years, Obomsawin has worked as an engraver and print-maker, with exhibitions in Canada and Europe. Mother and child imagery is prominent in her work, which also combines material from her own dreams with animal spirits and historical events. She is currently preparing an upcoming exhibition of her work at the Maison Lacombe in Quebec for 2007.
.
In 2010, she was named to the Playback
Canadian Film & Television Hall of Fame. In the spring of 2009, Obomsawin was honoured with a special retrospective at Hot Docs
and received the festival's Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award. A retrospective her work was also held from May 14 to 26, 2008 at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York City. That same month, she was also honoured with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, at Rideau Hall
in Ottawa.
In March 2001, Obomsawin received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. An Officer of the Order of Canada, Obomsawin’s many honours also include the Luminaria Tribute for Lifetime Achievement from the Santa Fe Film Festival
, International Documentary Association
’s Pioneer Award, the Toronto Women in Film and Television’s (TWIFT) Outstanding Achievement Award in Direction, the Canadian Native Arts Foundation National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and the Outstanding Contributions Award from the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA). The latter marks the first time that the CSAA has honoured someone who is not an academic in the field of sociology and anthropology.
Obomsawin also received a fellowship from the Ontario College of Art, an Honorary Doctor of Letters from York University
, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Concordia University (Montreal), an Honorary Doctor of Literature from Carleton University
, and most recently in October 2007 an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario
. She has taught at the Summer Institute of Film and Television in Ottawa.
Obomsawin has chaired the Board of Directors of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal and sat on the Canada Council
’s First People’s Advisory Board. She was also a board member of Studio 1, the NFB’s Aboriginal studio, and a former advisor to the New Initiatives in Film, a Studio D program for women of colour and women of the First Nations. As a member of the Board of Aboriginal Voices
, she was part of an initiative to obtain a radio licence for the organization. A lifetime member of the Board of Directors for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
, Ms Obomsawin is also a Member of the Board for Vermont Public Television
and National Geographic International.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born August 31, 1932) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
filmmaker of Abenaki descent. Born in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, and raised primarily in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, she has produced and directed many National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
documentaries on First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
culture and history. Her best known documentary is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance is a 1993 feature-length film documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, chronicling the 1990 Oka Crisis.Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the film won 18 Canadian and international awards, including the Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award from...
, about the 1990 siege at Oka, Quebec
Oka Crisis
The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, Canada which began on July 11, 1990 and lasted until September 26, 1990. At least one person died as a result...
.
Film career
For 38 years, Obomsawin has directed documentaries at the NFB. To date, she has made over 30 documentaries on issues affecting Aboriginal people in Canada.Her latest NFB film is the short drama When All the Leaves are Gone, about her experiences attending public school in Quebec.
IN 2009, she completed the documentary Professor Norman Cornett: "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer? looking at the dismissal of unorthodox McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
religious studies lecturer Norman Cornett
Norman Cornett
Norman Cornett is a religious studies course lecturer in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dismissed without explanation from his post at McGill University in the spring of 2007, possibly for his unorthodox teaching methods....
, which will have its world premiere at the Hot Docs
Hot Docs
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary film festival, conference, and market, held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
film festival.
Obomsawin's recent credits include Gene Boy Came Home
Gene Boy Came Home
Gene Boy Came Home is a 2007 documentary film by First Nations filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.The film tells the story of Eugene "Gene Boy" Benedict, a First Nations person raised on the Odanak Indian Reserve, approximately an hour and a half east of...
, about Aboriginal Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veteran Eugene Benedict. In 2006, she completed WABAN-AKI: People from Where the Sun Rises a look at the people and stories from her home reserve of Odanak. In 2005, Ms Obomsawin completed her short drama Sigwan, following a young girl who is aided by the animals of the forest. Her 2003 NFB documentary Our Nationhood, chronicles the determination and tenacity of the Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation to use and manage the natural resources of their traditional lands. The Mi’gmaq of Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church), New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
were the subject of her 2002 documentary, Is the Crown at war with us?, exploring a conflict over fishing rights.
The 2000 NFB release Rocks at Whiskey Trench was Obomsawin's fourth film in her series about the 1990 Oka crisis. The first, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance is a 1993 feature-length film documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, chronicling the 1990 Oka Crisis.Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the film won 18 Canadian and international awards, including the Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award from...
(1993), was a feature-length film documenting the 1990 Mohawk uprising in Kanehsatake and Oka, which has won 18 international awards. It was followed by My Name is Kahentiiosta (1995), a film about a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman who was arrested after the 78-day armed standoff, and Spudwrench – Kahnawake Man (1997), profiling Randy Horne, a high-steel worker from the Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
community of Kahnawake.
Obomsawin’s films also include: Incident at Restigouche
Incident at Restigouche
Incident at Restigouche is a 1984 documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, chronicling a series of two raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation by the Sûreté du Québec in 1981, as part of the efforts of the Quebec government to impose new restrictions on Native salmon fishermen.-Production...
(1984), a powerful depiction of the Quebec police raid of a Micmac reserve; Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
Child (1986), the disturbing examination of an adolescent suicide, No Address (1988), a look at Montreal’s homeless, as well as Mother of Many Children (1977).
Alanis got her start at the NFB in 1967, when producers Joe Koenig
Joe Koenig
Joseph Koenig is a Canadian entrepreneur who was founder and president of Electronics Workbench. Koenig’s first company was Interactive Image Technologies in Toronto, Ontario, and specialized in producing educational movies and documentaries...
and Bob Verrall saw Obomsawin on TV. They invited the singer/storyteller to the Film Board to work as an advisor on a film about Aboriginal people. Obomsawin went on to direct films of her own, while continuing to perform and fight for justice for her people.
Family history
Alanis Obomsawin was born in New Hampshire on Abenaki Territory. When she was 6 months old, her mother returned to the Odanak reserve north east of Montreal where Alanis lived until she was 9. Théophile Panadis, her mother’s cousin, initiated Alanis into the history of the Abenaki Nation and taught her many songs and legends. Obomsawin and her parents then left Odanak for Trois-RivièresTrois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières means three rivers in French and may refer to:in Canada*Trois-Rivières, the largest city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada*Circuit Trois-Rivières, a racetrack in Trois-Rivières, Quebec...
, where they were the only Native family. Cut off, speaking little French and no English, Obomsawin held fast to the songs and stories she had learned on the reserve. Alanis has one child, daughter Kisos Obomsawin, born in 1969.
Non-film work
In 1960, Obomsawin made her professional debut as a singer in New York City.As a singer/songwriter, Obomsawin has toured Canada, the United States and Europe performing for humanitarian causes in universities, museums, prisons and art centres, as well as at folk art festivals. Her 1988 album Bush Lady features traditional songs of the Abenaki people, as well as original compositions.
For over 25 years, Obomsawin has worked as an engraver and print-maker, with exhibitions in Canada and Europe. Mother and child imagery is prominent in her work, which also combines material from her own dreams with animal spirits and historical events. She is currently preparing an upcoming exhibition of her work at the Maison Lacombe in Quebec for 2007.
Awards and honors
Obomsawin is the subject of the first-ever book on Native filmmakers, Alanis Obomsawin: The Vision of a Native Filmmaker, by Randolph Lewis, published in 2006 by the University of Nebraska PressUniversity of Nebraska Press
The University of Nebraska Press, founded in 1941, is a publisher of scholarly and popular-press books. It is the second-largest state university press in the United States and, including private institutions, ranks among the 10 largest university presses in the United States...
.
In 2010, she was named to the Playback
Playback (magazine)
Playback is a Canadian film, broadcasting and interactive media website owned by Brunico Communications. In May 2010, after 24 years of publication, Playback magazine stopped publishing its biweekly print edition....
Canadian Film & Television Hall of Fame. In the spring of 2009, Obomsawin was honoured with a special retrospective at Hot Docs
Hot Docs
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary film festival, conference, and market, held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
and received the festival's Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award. A retrospective her work was also held from May 14 to 26, 2008 at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York City. That same month, she was also honoured with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, at Rideau Hall
Rideau Hall
Rideau Hall is, since 1867, the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and the Governor General of Canada. It stands in Canada's capital on a 0.36 km2 estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main building consisting of 170 rooms across 9,500 m2 , and 24 outbuildings around the...
in Ottawa.
In March 2001, Obomsawin received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. An Officer of the Order of Canada, Obomsawin’s many honours also include the Luminaria Tribute for Lifetime Achievement from the Santa Fe Film Festival
Santa Fe Film Festival
The Santa Fe Film Festival is a Non-Profit Organization which presents important world cinema in a non-commercial context that represents aesthetic, critical and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film, new American and foreign film including revivals, retrospectives, independent...
, International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
’s Pioneer Award, the Toronto Women in Film and Television’s (TWIFT) Outstanding Achievement Award in Direction, the Canadian Native Arts Foundation National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and the Outstanding Contributions Award from the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA). The latter marks the first time that the CSAA has honoured someone who is not an academic in the field of sociology and anthropology.
Obomsawin also received a fellowship from the Ontario College of Art, an Honorary Doctor of Letters from York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Concordia University (Montreal), an Honorary Doctor of Literature from Carleton University
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...
, and most recently in October 2007 an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
. She has taught at the Summer Institute of Film and Television in Ottawa.
Obomsawin has chaired the Board of Directors of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal and sat on the Canada Council
Canada Council
The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown Corporation established in 1957 to act as an arts council of the government of Canada, created to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. It funds Canadian artists and...
’s First People’s Advisory Board. She was also a board member of Studio 1, the NFB’s Aboriginal studio, and a former advisor to the New Initiatives in Film, a Studio D program for women of colour and women of the First Nations. As a member of the Board of Aboriginal Voices
Aboriginal Voices
Aboriginal Voices Radio Network is a Canadian national radio network with licensed radio stations in nine Canadian metropolitan areas, all which are licensed under the calls of Toronto flagship station CKAV-FM...
, she was part of an initiative to obtain a radio licence for the organization. A lifetime member of the Board of Directors for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is a Canadian broadcast and cable television network. APTN airs and produces programs made by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples...
, Ms Obomsawin is also a Member of the Board for Vermont Public Television
Vermont Public Television
Vermont Public Television is a state network of Non-commercial educational Public television stations throughout the state of Vermont, affiliated with Public Broadcasting Services . It has been operational since October 16, 1967...
and National Geographic International.
Partial filmography
- 2007 Gene Boy Came Home- Director/Writer/Producer
- 2006 Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises- Director/Writer/Producer
- 2005 Sigwan-Director/Writer/Producer
- 2003 Our Nationhood-Director/Writer/Producer
- 2003 For John, (dir. Dale Montour)-Producer
- 2002 Is the Crown at war with us?-Director/Writer/Producer
- 2000 Rocks at Whiskey Trench-Director/Writer/Producer
- 1997 Spudwrench – Kahnawake Man-Director/Writer/Producer
- 1995 My Name is Kahentiiosta-Director/Writer/Producer
- 1993 Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance-Director/Writer/Producer
Secondary Literature
- Alanis Obomsawin: The Vision of a Native Filmmaker, by Randolph Lewis, published in 2006 by the University of Nebraska Press
- Jerry White, "Alanis Obomsawin, Documentary Form and the Canadian Nation(s)" in: CineActionCineACTIONCineAction is a Canada-based film magazine, published three times a year, edited by an editorial collective that included critic Robin Wood...
, number 49, pp. 26–36
External links
- Watch films by Alanis Obomsawin at NFB.ca
- NFB biography
- Alanis Obomsawin
- Alanis Obomsawin -- femfilm.ca: Canadian Women Film Directors Database
- Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
- CITIZENShift - Rebel With A Cause: Alanis Obomsawin
- CBC Digital Archives: Alanis Obomsawin
- Watch Dream Magic, a short a film about Alanis Obomsawin created for her Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement