My New York

This week I take My New York on the road. I’m required to travel a lot for my job at the Film and Video Center of the National Museum of the American Indian and recently I had the chance to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Sometimes exhausting, sometimes hectic, Sundance always presents amazing films. The following three films were presented as part of the Native program and are definitely worth checking out.
Boy. Directed by Taika Waititi (Maori from New Zealand). You may have seen his first feature film, Eagle Vs. Shark that had a limited theatrical release in 2007.
His first short film, Two Cars, One Night was nominated for an Oscar in 2004. Written and directed by Taika, who also stars in the film, and shot in his childhood hometown of Waihau Bay, the film introduces us to Boy, an 11-year-old Maori who has placed his absentee father on a pedestal.
When he finally meets him, he learns he is far from perfect. Set in 1984, the film includes several Michael Jackson dance scenes. Extra points if you attend a screening with Taika in attendance for Q&A, he’s hilarious!
Bran Nue Dae. Directed by Rachel Perkins (Arrernte and Kalkadoon of Australia). Think Grease meets Smoke Signals.
In the summer of 1965 a young man’s life is filled with fishing, hanging with his mates and his girl. However his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling.
After being punished, he runs away on a journey that ultimately leads him back home. Being a musical, the film is peppered with catchy show tunes such as “There’s nothing I’d Rather Be Than An Aborigine” and has a Scooby Doo ending (which if you watched Scooby Doo as a youngster you’ll know what I mean).
Rachel introduced the film as “cheesy” but makes no apologies for it. Simply said, it’s fun! The film opened the second week in January in Australia and has already brought in millions of dollars.
Nuummioq. Directed by Otto Rising, this is the first Greenland/Inuit–produced feature film. Nuummioq tells the story of a young man who comes to terms with his parents’ tragic death and his own mortality.
Less flashy and not as humorous as Boy and Bran Nue Dae, this film had a quiet power that kept me thinking long after the credits rolled.
The film also had a wonderful soundtrack and being that this was Sundance, the artists were on hand to perform.
Given that many independent Indigenous films rarely come to your local Cineplex, I’d guess that perhaps the Montreal World Film Festival or Terres En Vues might screen 1-2 of these films in the future.
If not, perhaps you should make a trip to New York where I’m hoping to screen them!

R