from flip-publicity

The 14th Annual imagineNATIVE
Film + Media Arts Festival
Presenting Sponsor: Bell Media
Opening and Closing Night Films Announced
Mystery Road and Uvanga

Spotlight on Māori Nation • Launch of indigiTALKS • A Tribe Called Red

October 16 – 20, 2013

The 14th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival returns October 16-20, 2013 in downtown Toronto with the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe.

imagineNATIVE is proud to announce that Mystery Road, directed by Ivan Sen, will open the Film Festival at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on Wednesday, October 16. Mystery Road tells the story of Indigenous cowboy-detective Jay Swan as he returns to his outback hometown to solve the murder of a teenage girl.

The closing night film, Uvanga, directed by Madeline Piujuq Ivalu and Marie-Hélène Cousineau, will screen on Sunday, October 20 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Uvanga is the story of a young man discovering the land and culture of a father he never knew in Igloolik, Nunavut.

Upholding its role as the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous film and media arts, imagineNATIVE uses each annual Festival to shine a spotlight on an Indigenous nation outside of Canada. This year, the Festival will feature works from the Māori nation of New Zealand with groundbreaking feature films, Mana Waka and The Neglected Miracle, plus two shorts programs and radio works, to be presented at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

imagineNATIVE will present 101 films including documentaries, features, and shorts by Indigenous filmmakers including Jeff Barnaby’s hotly anticipated debut feature film Rhymes for Young Ghouls, which made its premiere at TIFF; Jennifer Podemski’s indie drama Empire of Dirt, which tells the story of three generations of women unearthing and coping with family drama and past mistakes; comedy shorts program The Pow-Wow Rangers; horror-comedy film Fresh Meat about modern-day Māori cannibals; and documentary Brave New River (La Nouvelle Rupert) that examines the effects of hydro electric damming on the James Bay Cree over the past four decades.

The Beat, imagineNATIVE’s popular showcase of Indigenous music, will feature 2013 Polaris Prize short-listers A Tribe Called Red (ATCR) at the BLK BOX Theatre. In addition, ATCR will act as mentor to Nelson Tagoona, a teen-aged Inuit beatboxing throat singer from Iqaluit who will open for ATCR with his original and experimental style of hip-hop of guttural and ethereal beats.

On Friday, October 18, imagineNATIVE will present the Uncanny Arts Crawl at 401 Richmond Street. This FREE, interactive event features co-presentations and artist talks including the premiere of In The Similkameen, a photo installation by Tyler Hagan presented at Gallery 44; Trade Marks featuring new photographic, video, and audio works by Keesic Douglas, Meryl McMaster, Nigit’stil Norbert and Bear Witness presented at Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art; Lovesick Child focusing on the work of Âhasiw Maskêgon-Iskwêw presented at A Space Gallery; and video installation in Pursuit of Venus by Māori artist Lisa Reihana co-presented by Vtape at the VMAC Gallery.

This year, imagineNATIVE will continue its presentation of Radio Works, a unique exhibit of audio art that highlights the role of radio in rural tribes. Community radio remains a fundamental means for communication, education, and language preservation for the Indigenous communities. Radio Works will feature six performance pieces including radio drama Skin Writing, produced by Radio New Zealand, as part of the Māori spotlight.

imagineNATIVE invites festival-goers to explore New Media Works, collections of online experiences including videos games such as Skahiòn:hati: Rise of the Kanien’kehá:ka Legends based on several traditional Mohawk legends, and online art galleries such as Offerings, a collaborative web-based exhibition that reflects on the complex and diverse practices linked to the gesture of offering and gifting.

All Radio Works and New Media Works are FREE and will be exhibited at imagineNATIVE’s Radio + New Media Lounge at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and through imagineNATIVE’s Festival iPhone App.

The 2013 Festival will also see the launch of the indigiTALKS Video Essay Project. Taking place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, indigiTALKS challenges three Ontario-based Indigenous artists, Wanda Nanibush, Rachelle Dickenson and Ariel Smith, to each produce a 10-minute video essay and give a public presentation on a new thesis of artistic discourse in Indigenous-created film and video work.

The 14th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival kicks off at 2pm on Wednesday, October 16 with a Welcome Gathering at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, co-presented by Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Training and Education and TD Bank Group, 16 Spadina Road. FREE and open to the public, this reception features traditional Indigenous performances, craft vendors, food, and a welcome address from imagineNATIVE and its international delegates in a casual, family-friendly atmosphere.

Please visit www.imagineNATIVE.org for the full festival line-up.