Creston Public Library
Aabiziingwashi (#WideAwake): Indigenous Cinema on Tour is a cross-country screening series showcasing groundbreaking films by Indigenous directors produced by the National Film Board. The series engages with many key themes in Indigenous Canadian cinema—colonization, resistance, cultural resurgence—and aims to build understanding and connection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. The Creston Public Library will be screening four of these films with the first being Aboriginal Architecture: Living Architecture on Saturday, August 12th at 2pm in the meeting room.
Everyone is familiar with certain types of Aboriginal architecture. Traditional igloos and tepees are two of the most enduring symbols of North America itself. But how much do we really know about the types of structures Native Peoples designed, engineered and built? For more than three hundred years, Native communities in North America have had virtually no indigenous architecture. Communities have made do with low-cost government housing and community projects designed by strangers in faraway places.
Thankfully, across the continent, political, financial and cultural changes have created a renaissance of Native design. Modern Aboriginal architects are turning to ancient forms, adapting them in response to changes in the natural and social environment, and creating contemporary structures that hearken to the past. Employing old and new materials and techniques, and with an emphasis on harmony and balance, Native designers are successfully melding current community needs with tradition. The resulting buildings are testaments to the enduring strength and ingenuity of Aboriginal design.
Featuring expert commentary and stunning imagery, Aboriginal Architecture Living Architecture provides a virtual tour of seven Aboriginal communities—Pueblo, Mohawk, Inuit, Crow, Navajo, Coast Salish and Haida—revealing how each is actively reinterpreting and adapting traditional forms for contemporary purposes.
For more information on the film including reviews and the trailer please see the producer’s website at http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/abarch.html
Running time: 92 minutes, discussion to follow.
Aabiziingwashi (#WideAwake): Indigenous Cinema on Tour will celebrate the stories and experiences that make up the Canadian family. Our past. Our future, together. The values and perspectives that make us unique among nations. The Creston Public Library will be showing another three films from this series including: Angry Inuk, The Road Forward, and The Birth of a Family. Dates TBA.