Alanis Obomsawin

Obomsawin, Alanis
Alanis Obomsawin, singer and filmmaker (born near Lebanon, New Hampshire 31 Aug 1932) of the Abenaki Nation. Raised on the Odanak reserve near Sorel, Québec, and in Trois-Rivières, Alanis Obomsawin moved to Montréal in the late 1950s. Obomsawin performed professionally as a singer and storyteller, making appearances on reserves and in prisons, schools, music festivals and television. In 1965 she was hired by Wolf Koenig and Bob Verrall, producers at the NATIONAL FILM BOARD of Canada (NFB), as a consultant on projects dealing with FIRST NATIONS peoples. In 1971 she directed her first film, Christmas at Moose Factory, and in 1977 became a permanent staff member at the NFB.

Committed to redressing the invisibility of Aboriginal peoples, Alanis Obomsawin's filmmaking style resides in the unique ability to create a dialogue between Native oral traditions and methods of documentary. Amisk and Mother of Many Children, produced and directed in 1977, combine interviews with music, dance, drawings and archival images to validate the history of First Nations peoples across Canada. Of her films on young people, Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child (1986) is the best known. A dramatic account of a young boy's suicide, it led to changes in the administration of social services for Indigenous foster children in Alberta. Her films have documented the work of Aboriginal organizations to help young people overcome alcohol and drug abuse (Poundmaker's Lodge: A Healing Place, 1987) and provide services to homeless First Nations people in Montréal (No Address, 1988.) Her films on the struggles of Mi'kmaq over fishing rights (Incident at Restigouche, 1984) and the Mohawk standoff in Oka, Québec, in 1990 (Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, 1993) have been widely shown and brought Obomsawin national and international recognition.

Alanis Obomsawin directed The Wild Rice Harvest, Kenora (1979) and June in Povungnituk (1980) for the Canada Vignettes series, and a short dramatic film, Walker (1991). She has examined individual stories (My Name Is Kahentiiosta, 1995, and Spudwrench, 1997) and commented on the long-term effects of specific incidents (Rocks at Whiskey Trench, 2000) during the events of 1990.

Obomsawin reexamined some of her previous themes with her work on the subject of Native Canadian fishing rights in Is the Crown at War with Us? (2002) and followed that documentary with another focusing on the rights of First Nations people to manage and make use of natural resources on their ancestral land in Our Nationhood (2003).

Obomsawin also went back to her home reserve of Odanak and completed 2 films about the people within that community: Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006) and Gene Boy Came Home (2007). The latter is about war veteran Eugene "Gene Boy" Benedict's 2-year tour in Vietnam and his struggle to get back to Odanak in the years following his service.

Alanis Obomsawin has become a heavyweight among documentary filmmakers with multiple honours in both the United States and Canada. Obamsawin was made an Officer of the ORDER OF CANADA in 1983. Her artistic accomplishments, her work with young First Nations people and her activism on behalf of Native rights have earned her the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD (1983), a Native Achievement Award (1994) and honorary degrees from Concordia University (1993) and Carleton University (1994). In 2001 she received a Governor General's Visual and Media Arts Award. She became the first non-sociologist/anthropologist to win the Outstanding Contributions Award from the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association. May 2008 saw another award from the Governor General's office with the Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Obamsawin was also the subject of a 2-week special retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York the same month.

Alanis Obomsawin remains active within the Canadian filmmaking community and offers several workshops for youth of all backgrounds across Canada. She has completed her involvement in the Elders-in-Residence program at the University of British Columbia's First Nations House of Learning.

Author ZUZANA M. PICK Revised: PAUL WILLIAMS

Links to Other Sites
NFB Profiles
Check out the biographies of the many outstanding filmmakers and other professionals who have been associated with the National Film Board.

NFB filmmaker Obomsawin gets MOMA retrospective
A CBC article about Alanis Obomsawin and her Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

Alanis Obomsawin
A CBC News article about Alanis Obomsawin receiving the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2009 Hot Docs festival in Toronto.

Alanis Obomsawin: Filmmaking with a focus on social justice
A profile of filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin fromn the Canada Council for the Arts.

Alanis Obomsawin
This biography of Alanis Obomsawin focuses on some of her outstanding documentary films. From Library and Archives Canada.

Short Films
Watch a series of short films that pay tribute to numerous winners of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. From the National Film Board of Canada.

Dreamspeakers Film Festival
Check out the latest news and events for Edmonton's Dreamspeakers Film Festival, an event that provides a venue for Dreamtalkers and offers a unique exploration into Aboriginal cultures from all parts of the globe. Click on "Events" for bios of distinguished members of the "Walk of Honour."