A student-led film festival coming to Vancouver this weekend offers a platform for Indigenous filmmakers across Canada to share their voices.
The Skoden Indigenous Film Festival (SIFF) is back for its fifth year.The annual festival was founded in 2019 on the principles of truth and reconciliation by Simon Fraser University film alumni Carr Sappier (Wolastoqew) and Grace Mathisen to showcase Indigenous filmmakers.
]This year, organized and led by students from SFU’s school for the contemporary arts and the faculty of communication, art and technology, 30 films will be screened at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema (149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver) on Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1.
‘Skoden,’ is an Indigenous slang term meaning “Let’s go, then.”
According to Shannon Widdis, one of the organizers of the festival, this year’s program list was curated after a lot of thought with the aim of making it “accessible to a lot of different people.” She said she hopes the films will help give people a glimpse into the lives of Indigenous people.
Sappier said in a press release that Skoden "represents a sense of happiness, inclusion and a space where all filmmakers can feel like they are part of something that holds them up in respect.” For co-instructor Kathleen Mullen, the festival is about “sharing experiences and knowledge through this course with humour, dialogue, and respect.”
This year's edition of SIFF will feature five programs: Activating the Landscape; It’s a Long Story, with the feature Ever Deadly; The Deepest Part of my Heart; Who I Am, Who We Are; and Our Connections — each embodying a salient theme in contemporary Indigeneity.
“Definitely a highlight of the festival this year is going to be our opening film, Body Sovereignty,” Widdis said. “I’ve watched that film through programming and it just really is something that I connected to a lot — it features some really cool styles of dancing and explores a lot about liberation and Indigenous perspectives… which I think is important to see even though it's only three minutes long. It was also created and directed by two youth filmmakers, which I think is really special and I'm really honoured that we got to have them showcase at our festival this year.”
The festival passes, priced between $25 and $50, allow full access to all of the programs, while individual programs requiring separate tickets are priced at pay what you can ($0 to $20). Funds from the ticket sales will go directly back into the sustainability of the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival, and the costs related to putting on the festival, such as artist and guest speaker fees and festival operations.
For festival passes, individual program tickets and more information, visit Skoden Indigenous Film Festival website.
