April 19, 2023 • 46 mins
Right in time for the Opening Night of the 2023 Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival, we bring you an in depth conversation with two of the amazing artists working at its helm! Christine Frederick and Aretha Greatrix come in and talk about all the amazing ways to enjoy the festival, curating an international festival, and most importantly popcorn!
Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival runs April 19 -23, 2023!
Guest : Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival ft. Christine Frederick & Aretha Greatrix
IG @dreamspeakers /https://dreamspeakers.org/
Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Twitch :@simplyaretha
Hosted by Andrés Moreno
IG: @Andres._.FM
Theme by Just Moe
IG: @iamjustmoe
https://m.soundcloud.com/moewaves
Sound Technician : Selina Painchaud
IG: @fancifultechnician
Editing: Oscar Derkx
IG: @oscydirkz
Cover by:Andrés Moreno
This podcast is created in and celebrates the artistic leadership present in amiskwacîwâskahikan. Azimuth Theatre acknowledges and honours that we are on Treaty 6 territory, the original home of the Indigenous nations of the Cree, Nakota-Sioux, Blackfoot, Dene-Tsuu T’ina, and Métis. We strive to incorporate the treaty values of kinship and peace into all aspects of our work. We are all treaty people.
Special thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts, Fringe Theatre, ATB Arts Barns, Azimuth Theatre and our community.
Learn more about Azimuth Theatre
www.azimuththeatre.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
ANDRÉS: (00:25):
Hi everyone, and welcome to In Process.
This is Azimuth Theater's podcasthighlighting the artists within our
community and in our second season,the festivals that create opportunities
for our community to come together andshare in the art that is made here.
Uh, today I've got two veryspecial guests, Christine Sokaymoh
Frederick, and Aretha Greatrix.
(00:45):
Thank you so much for agreeing to be.
CHRISTINE: (00:47):
Thank you for having us.
It was really, really a specialinvitation, and, and we are very grateful
for your invitation, your care, andyour attention on, on Dreamspeakers.
ANDRÉS: (00:56):
Thank you.
CHRISTINE: (00:57):
And as just like a regular Edmontonian.
Thank you for doing this podcastthat focuses on festivals and it,
it's a wonderful, wonderful project.
ANDRÉS: (01:04):
I'm wondering if both of you would like to just talk a
little bit about yourselves andwhat led you to becoming an artist.
ARETHA: (01:10):
Yeah, no, I've, uh, always really loved telling stories in multifaceted
ways and, um, I became a filmmakerlater, I guess, in life cuz I was trying
to figure out what I wanted to be.
I always say, I still ask peopleall the time, I'm like, what do
you wanna be when you grow up?
I just, I always love storytelling.
I love watching films, Ilove watching TV shows.
(01:31):
I just love getting lost in theworld of just creating those worlds.
ANDRÉS: (01:36):
Mm-hmm
ARETHA: (01:36):
And so for me, I just kind of really got into documentary
filmmaking to tell those stories.
I am, I am trying to shift my focusinto more scripted things, but during
the pandemic, one of the things thatI started doing was streaming and
gaming online, and so I started alsoexploring that world as well too,
because I also was exploring like thenew media aspect of storytelling as well.
ANDRÉS: (01:56):
Christine, what about you?
What led you to becoming an artist?
CHRISTINE: (02:00):
Well, actually I started off as a child performer.
I started in dance and then as anactor in film and television, and I
was performing for tourists most of mychildhood at like Fort Edmonton Park and
doing like, indigenous demonstrations,mostly in a lot of pow wow.
(02:20):
Um, and then, you know, at every,you know, Canada Day or the Kday
Parade, all those sorts of things.
And had a wonderful opportunity asa youth to represent Canada on the
international stage with the Expo 85.
That was in Japan.
When I got into high school, that's whenI really started looking at theater and
(02:41):
acting as more of a career and exploringShakespeare and things like that.
ANDRÉS: (02:46):
Right.
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (02:47):
And then when I got out of university, uh, started a theater company
with a bunch of, you know, Shakespearegeeks that we all went to school together,
and that was Sound And Fury Theater.
And we did a, a number ofseasons here in Edmonton.
And it was also right out of high schoolthat I produced my very first festival.
It was the Metis Youth Fine andPerforming Arts Festival at the museum.
(03:10):
Um, at the old museum there.
Yeah.
In 2009, I was able toactually start my first.
Real company on my own with mybusiness partner Ryan at the time,
Ryan Cunningham, and we startedAlberta Aboriginal Performing Arts.
We both had the same impetus at the sametime that we wanted to actually utilize
the skills that we learned in all thoseother endeavors and art disciplines,
(03:32):
and actually focus on providing aplatform for indigenous artists.
So really focusing and refining that focuson nurturing an indigenous art scene here
in Edmonton and in Alberta, and we startedproducing the Rubaboo Arts Festival.
And it, it was, its initial, um,impetus was to be a theater festival,
(03:55):
but we realized very quickly thatall the artists we wanted to work
with were not just doing theater.
They were, dancing, they weremusicians, they were comedians,
they were writing books, right?
They were just doing all of this stuff.
So we decided to open that up.
Um, and I actually did put asidemy own artistry for about 10 years,
(04:17):
specifically to give that focus toproviding a strong platform and, and,
knowing that I couldn't reallymanage both at the same time.
And at one point I was trying to secure,you know, an artist to do a workshop and,
and then all of a sudden they kind ofleaned back and they're like, I think I
heard around the, you know, around thegrapevine that you were an artist once.
And I went, I didn't realize thewhole community would've forgotten.
(04:41):
And, and, and with that little bit ofencouragement and, and a couple of other
people, I started to really commit,doing my own artistry back again, both
in acting and in writing, writing plays,and then producing those plays and
then producing tours of those plays.
Uh, yeah, and, and what's wonderfulis that, you know, when I started
(05:03):
working with Dreamspeakers, havingthat environment of good supporting
people who could understandthat there was a, not only,
an important thing, but a vitality tohaving artists running the organization
and having that artistic approach notonly to how we create, but also an
understanding of what an artist needs andhow we can create sort of an environment
(05:26):
and, you know, establish that platformand, and grow that platform both
within Dreamspeakers and, and now withthe, the other festivals that we do.
Um, so yeah.
That's, that sort of has been my journey.
ANDRÉS: (05:40):
When we talk about Dreamspeakers, can you tell us a little bit about,
uh, what brought it about 30 years ago?
Cuz we're celebrating the30th anniversary, correct?
CHRISTINE: (05:48):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (05:49):
Yeah.
So back in 1993, what started it all?
What, what, what was the impetus?
CHRISTINE: (05:53):
Well, the actual worked build the festival began probably in 1991.
Okay.
And then the first festival wasin 92, and then they actually
formed as a society in 93.
So it's one of those greatmoments where we can celebrate an
anniversary almost anytime we want.
ALL: (06:08):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (06:09):
And we do.
ANDRÉS: (06:10):
This is the third time we're celebrating.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
ALL: (06:12):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (06:12):
We're gonna change time zones and we're gonna do it again.
Um, back, you know, I could do sort ofan academic answer to that and then lend
a bit more of a cultural answer to that.
So academically we know that asCanadian policy on their approach
to indigenous arts or at the time?
Um, back in 1951, there was a reallybig report called the Massey Report, and
(06:38):
it is a, a seminal report that createdmuch of what is Canada's artistry.
It birthed the National ArtsCenter, the National Ballet,
the National Library System.
Um, Like I said, it, it wascelebrating what could Canada do
to become an artistic country.
(06:59):
And that's beautiful.
However, um, I know that there are somereally wonderful people who've studied
that Massey Report, Chris Creighton-Kellyand France Trépanier, and they found
that in this massive report, which Iguess if you printed it out and stacked
the pages, it's about four feet tall,
they found one paragraph in thatreport that had to do with Native
(07:24):
Arts, which is the, you know,the vocabulary used at the time.
And unfortunately that one paragraphsaid that with the strength of Canada
as an artistic leader, uh, withEuropean sensibilities, that it would
be important to allow native artsto just die out like it's people.
(07:45):
And that if there were any survivingnative artists, they should be
encouraged to, um, drop entirelyall of their native artistry and
pursue the elite European forms.
And that might seem sort of, uh,obviously a negative thing to say, but
we have to remember that this is thedocument thatbirthed policies across
(08:07):
the country on how to approach art.
And that is actually where manypolicies were written about the
approach to Indigenous Arts.
So at one point it was, you know, sort ofmisunderstood, um, kind of indifferent.
And then it's sort of been growingto, you know, well there's access,
(08:30):
but you can't really, you know, wewon't really promote it, you know,
and then it's a sense of inclusion.
But inclusion in, in and ofitself has a, has a sense of, um,
I don't know, what's the word?
Um, well, not enough to beincluded in something that we had
to begin with, isn't fair, isn'tequitable, and, and isn't enough.
(08:56):
Um, it certainly doesn't redressthose policies that were written
to, to squash our art and culture.
And so I think, andagain, that was only 1951.
And so we're only talking a few years.
I know in the eighties, things startedto kind of shift a little bit, especially
like through the seventies and eightiesthere was a lot more media, you know,
(09:16):
that was the birth of like AMMSAand the Windspeaker and more, um,
television that had some content in it.
And I think by the nineties, um,there, there started to be a lot more
content in larger realms like in, intheaters and a little bit of approach
from like the NFB to give some focuson that and and allow that to happen.
(09:40):
So I think by the nineties there was abit more of social cultural interest, not
the same level that we have today, right?
But at least it, it was something.
And at that point, I think it was goodenough to have anything to do with
indigenous, you know, that it, it couldhave content, it could have an actor
in it, it could have, you know, thethird caterer could have been native.
(10:03):
And that was good enough, you know, youknow, and going back to your question
about like what was the impetus, Ithink there was just a lot of people
who were starting to come and havethose experiences in media, having
knowledge, having experience,having skills that good minded
people finally came togetherand were like, you know what?
We have a community here and weshould do something about it.
ANDRÉS: (10:25):
From when it started happening, like 30 years ago to now, I know that
there's been, I'm, there's been growth,there's been shifts and changes and I
know that, uh, there you're offeringsome, uh, online stuff as well, correct?
CHRISTINE: (10:37):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (10:38):
Yeah.
Like maybe Aretha, do you wanna talk alittle bit about that and how that's kind
of adding to the Dreamspeakers format?
ARETHA: (10:44):
At the start of the pandemic.
ANDRÉS: (10:46):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (10:47):
We were, uh, literally, I think our film festival was in April,
and then we had a lockdown in March.
So we were like, yeah, wewere like, what am I gonna do?
Yeah.
So we ended up
CHRISTINE: (10:59):
The great pivot of 2020
ARETHA: (11:01):
we put it on hold.
We thought, okay.
We were in, in communication with thetheaters and we were like, okay, maybe.
They'll open up again in the fall.
And then even then it was like wehave a lot of vulnerable people in
our communities and we would rather.
Safe than
sorry, because we didn't want toexpose them to something that could
possibly take our elders, you know?
CHRISTINE: (11:21):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (11:22):
Like these are the people that are our knowledge carriers and,
and, and storytellers too, that wedon't wanna lose that, and we don't
wanna put them in danger as well.
So we were like, uh, maybewe'll just put it on hold.
So we actually took those filmsand we held off for about a year.
We ended up exploring ways that wecould possibly do an online festival,
and we ended up doing a small online,uh, kind of like, fest, not a festival,
(11:48):
not a film festival, but we did likean art series of online, we interviewed
a whole bunch of artists from like,um, writers to dancers to, um, poets.
Like we were, like, we were just tryingto find ways that we could still get
the art out because, you know, manyof our artists too, like, performing
art is how they make a living.
And we were like, how are wegonna help support them if we
(12:12):
can't give them the platform toperform on or to do the thing on?
So we were like, how, how do we do that?
But then, yeah, we, we ended up settlingon the platform that we use now and
uh, the year later we still had allthe films that we didn't show that
were canceled from the year before.
So we decided to takethose films to show them.
(12:32):
The next year after we were just aboutto do an in-person festival again.
CHRISTINE: (12:37):
Yes.
ARETHA: (12:37):
We were just about to do it and then all of a suddenly, like, I
think it was at the second or third wavewas coming at that point, and again,
things were being locked down again.
And so again, we had a conversationwith the theater and we're like,
oh, should we do this again?
We, we wanna put our community firstand think of what is in their best
interest and can we still move forward?
Mm-hmm.
With this platform that we've,we've, we've been investing in.
(12:59):
And so we decided that we canceledall the in-person ones cuz we were
actually gonna do a combination.
But really, because it was kindof touch and go, it was like the
online was our backup plan, but wewere like, let's just do them both.
And then when the in-person fellapart anyways, we were like, it's
okay, we have everything online.
Yeah, everything online.
It was already ready to go.
CHRISTINE: (13:17):
It was actually really exciting because we got more reach,
and more audience participationon the online than we had in,
in the last in-person festival.
ARETHA: (13:29):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (13:29):
And it was one of the things that we were kind of like trying to
figure out, like, you know, is therean industry issue, you know, in terms
of attending theaters to watch films?
Like I do know, like, they're likeour, our regular theaters are, some
of them are closing and so we knowthat attendance is generally down.
And then we had this online festivalthat was all of a sudden really well
(13:52):
attended, and we're like, and peoplefrom like London, England are tuning
in and media from around the world.
It was like, oh,
ARETHA: (14:01):
mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (14:02):
Oh, this is, this is very good.
ARETHA: (14:05):
Yeah.
And so like from, from all of thatinformation, we were like, we, we
wanna have it online because, it alsobecame accessibility issues, right?
So we were like, we were like, how canwe make things more accessible for the
people who aren't comfortable going to thetheater or maybe, you know, for whatever
reason, watching it online was helpful.
CHRISTINE: (14:24):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (14:24):
And we also figured out there was a way that we could even do, like,
watch parties through this form as well.
So
ANDRÉS: (14:29):
Oh, cool.
ARETHA: (14:29):
We, we did a, a couple, we did a watch party and then there's like
a chat on the thing, so we were likechatting with people at the same time.
We were like talking about the,the film the whole time and like,
oh my God, did you see that?
That was so funny.
Like, you know, so we were watchingit with people and, and so through
all of those experiences we were like,yeah, I think we should make this a.
(14:50):
Um, a thing thing that wenever, that's we do every year
CHRISTINE: (14:53):
Let's never not do an online festival cause it's, we, we definitely
as human beings appreciate the in-person.
That's key to our understandingof, of our collective identity
and our mutual, um, respect andcare for one another as a society.
But then there's just this like,like, like she said, this online
chat thing during the watch party,it, when you watch a movie, in
(15:15):
theory, you're not supposed to talk.
ANDRÉS: (15:16):
Right.
CHRISTINE: (15:17):
But all of a sudden we're like, we're hack, you know, just totally
having a great old time and making jokes.
Mm-hmm.
And it's not disturbing anybody.
It's, it brought up this wholedifferent, um mm-hmm life to watching it.
ANDRÉS: (15:30):
Going down to the nitty gritty, like what can folks
expect from this year's festival?
Like how many f how many, uh, filmsdo you have available to folks?
Are you still doing watch parties?
Like, tell us a littlebit about this year.
ARETHA: (15:42):
Mm-hmm.
We have 52 films inthe festival this year.
Majority of the films will be inperson, so once our in-person, uh,
festival, is kind of wrapped up, whichwould be from the 19th to the 23rd.
That's all of our in-person eventswill be between then, uh, we continue
the festival basically a week afterand everything will be online.
And so all the films that areonline will be actually already have
(16:04):
their own schedule online as well.
So we'll always be in the evening.
So I think there's a seveno'clock and a nine o'clock
showing mostly during the week.
And then on the weekend there'sa couple of showings as well,
and there'll be actual watchparties with an actual schedule.
And then there's also aversion that's video on demand.
So if you're like listen, Ijust wanna watch it by myself.
You can also just watchthe film by yourself.
ANDRÉS: (16:23):
Cool.
CHRISTINE: (16:23):
So we've got like, we have all the film screenings and I gotta
tell you, we get a lot of submissions,which is actually a real success.
Like, I don't even know how manysubmissions we got this year.
ARETHA: (16:34):
175.
CHRISTINE: (16:35):
175.
ANDRÉS: (16:36):
Wow.
Are they Alberta based only or is this
CHRISTINE: (16:39):
Oh no, we're Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival,
so we get films from all over the world.
There was one year.
Poor Aretha.
I'm so sorry.
We had 900 submissions and that is, yeah.
I don't even just feel like, goodness.
I just wanna just,
ARETHA: (16:58):
well, the, the, the thing is, is that before we.
Um, we ended up putting indigenousin our title because, um, one of
the things is we were DreamspeakersInternational Film Festival.
ANDRÉS: (17:10):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (17:11):
And although we did say, Hey, we promote indigenous
artists, no one read anything.
And so everyone submitted, so then I hadto go through it going like, this isn't
indigenous, so I basically had to gothrough a whole bunch of films and then
some of them going, is this indigenous?
I don't know.
CHRISTINE: (17:29):
We had to like learn ourselves up a little bit about other countries.
It's like, yeah, no,they got a history there.
Yes, they were called.
Okay
ALL: (17:35):
Laughter
ARETHA: (17:36):
so then I had to like Google and then some people I had to just ask.
I was like, I'm sorry,I, I do really like this.
I'm just confused can you explainto me how you're indigenous?
ANDRÉS: (17:48):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (17:48):
And then the other thing too is that we have to remember
like, what does that word mean?
And we, we, you know, we settled on usingindigenous the way the UN defines it.
But we have to remember, the way theUN defines it is a group of people
that were once dominant in the landor territory that became less dominant
when another group came over and
dominated or subjugated them.
(18:10):
So that has to do essentially, and thisis important, the way the UN defines it,
it has to do with human rights violations.
ANDRÉS: (18:17):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (18:17):
But we're not a human rights violations film festival.
ANDRÉS: (18:20):
No.
ALL: (18:21):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (18:22):
You know, so, so we also have to allow for like the, not just
allow, we have to promote that it'sthe culture that we're looking at.
So
sometimes the appropriate word, youknow, might be Aboriginal because that's
in our constitution here in Canada.
But then, uh, that's alsojust a political identity.
ANDRÉS: (18:40):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (18:40):
So sometimes it's like, well, how do we articulate the cultural identity
that we're trying to define so thatpeople understand what we're looking for
when we do our intake for films andit is, it is, it generates a lot of
discussion in our office and I mean, thefirst thing is that we wanna show films.
That's what we wanna do.
ANDRÉS: (19:00):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (19:01):
You know, but we also have to understand, well,
what are our audiences expecting?
But also we wanna challengeaudiences' expectations.
ARETHA: (19:09):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (19:10):
Not only of of, you know, expectations they have of filmmaking or
indigenous filmmaking, but indigenousculture and, and you know, for myself, I'm
Cree and Metis, so I would might say myNehiyaw culture but you're not Cree, so we
can't just say it's a Cree film festival.
ARETHA: (19:26):
I'm Cree.
ALL: (19:27):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (19:28):
She's Cree,
ARETHA: (19:29):
I have Cree, but I'm not, I'm not Naheyawin.
CHRISTINE: (19:31):
Yeah, right.
ARETHA: (19:32):
I'm, I'm Inunu or Ililiw.
Cause I'm Swampy Cree or Moose CreeI'm just from a different place,
ALL: (19:37):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (19:37):
So you know,
so we, and, and we realized like, yeah,like we definitely have like films from,
uh, you know, New Zealand and Australiaand, and we, one year we had films from
Japan and China, but it, its, it requiresa very, both delicate and specific
approach of how we adjudicate the films,
(20:00):
um, how do, how do we articulate thatto the jury and how do we then, when
we get to like the selection, howdo we market that and promote it?
ARETHA: (20:09):
Mm-hmm.
ADS: (20:10):
The Festival Series of “In Process” is brought to you by the Edmonton
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It is our aim to continue to introduceand deepen the relationships between
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To help keep this podcast going, you cango to AzimuthTheatre.com/sponsorship.
ANDRÉS: (20:36):
As artists, what, what has the festival been able to offer
you in terms of opportunities,
possibilities, or even just likewhat keeps you, what keeps you
there, like year after year andwhat, what lights that fire?
CHRISTINE: (20:49):
I believe very firmly that when indigenous people practice
art, we are redressing those humanrights violations and we're creating
something new that both referencesthe past in before colonialism,
through colonialism and now especiallywith all of these amazing technologies,
(21:09):
we're able to sense the future of what ourculture and our society is going to be.
And so for me, it's not justlike, let's put on a nice show.
It's deep and it's profound, andI take that responsibility, um,
equally as profoundly and sacred.
Challenging at times because it doesfeel like there's a lot at stake.
(21:32):
And you know, our beautiful teamhere, we are real people with
real lives and we are all artists.
So it's, it's not something that getsput to bed when we turn off the computer.
It's always there.
And we're always trying to figure outnot only how to, um, support the artists
because of those profound feelings, butalso how do we support the community in
(21:55):
accepting those, those pieces of art.
One of the things that Aretha andJessica and I in particular work
really hard at is when we see afilm, that has like a, a potential
to be profound for this community.
We try to find ways to enhancethat with extra programming.
ANDRÉS: (22:13):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (22:14):
Whether that's through panel discussions, workshops, um, one
of the things that we, we all reallyjive on is the community dialogues.
You know, we have so many things thatare going on that are very timely issues
right now, and how do we get to understandhow our community really feels about it.
But I believe very firmly thatsomething magical happens when we
(22:37):
gather our people, have that space tobe able to dialogue and support it.
And like there's some of the filmsthat are this year that I, I can't
wait because I know it's gonnabring community together in a good
way, both and in interesting ways.
I don't know, do you want me totalk about some of those ones?
ANDRÉS: (22:54):
Please do.
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (22:57):
So one of the ones that I'm, I'm stoked about, it's a short film
documentary called Purple Crabs and it is
uh, I had a great conversation with,uh, Jeremy Desjarlais, the filmmaker
from Saskatchewan, and he very, veryquickly, he says, I'm not a filmmaker.
I'm like, oh, okay, well you made a film,
ALL: (23:15):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (23:16):
makes you a filmmaker, but not talking semantics with you, dude.
Um, but he told me, he's like, I justheard about this group in Edmonton and
they're doing such great work that I,
wanted to do something to promote it.
ANDRÉS: (23:27):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (23:28):
So he just like quickly learned on the spot
how to do a documentary film.
And the group in Edmonton, they'recalled the Sober Homies, and they
are a group of sober people whohave, uh, overcome addictions and
they give back to the community.
So they do all this extra programmingjust through volunteerism and through
(23:48):
reclaiming their own identitiesand celebrating their sobriety.
And the work that they dois fantastic, you know?
And so we were like, not only could weshow this film and celebrate what they're
doing, we're inviting the Sober Homiesto come, like, we're like, anything you
wanna do, like, we'll help promote it.
What we, you know, if you're runninga program on a certain night,
like how do we give focus to that?
(24:10):
Um, and, that is one of the mostbeautiful feelings because they are
so responsive and I mean, they'reappreciative, but they're responsive.
It's real, it's happening right now.
So I really dig on that.
Um, and, and we've had a number offilms that, again, Aretha's worked
(24:30):
really hard to create, um, to curatefilms that work together that can
elevate, um, what they're saying.
So one of the areas that I'm excited aboutis, um, the importance of food sovereignty
and, and bringing up what that means to usas a people today in this new millennium.
(24:53):
Uh, and right now we have a beautifulcaterer that's in house in our,
in our building, which is Pei PeiChei Ow, which is Scott Iserhoff
and his beautiful, wonderful wifeSveta, and the work that he's doing,
like we're, we wanna promote what he'sdoing and then bring these films together
and maybe like, bring other chefs togetherand just all of a sudden realize that
(25:14):
there's a community of, of, uh, beautiful,um, chefs and caterers and people who
are dedicated to food sovereignty.
Those are a couple that I'm really excited
about.
ANDRÉS: (25:24):
Thank you.
Aretha.
Do you have any standouts that you're,you're really excited to catch?
ARETHA: (25:28):
It's so funny because for me, I'm like, I've seen, I've seen them all.
ANDRÉS: (25:31):
You've seen them all.
Yeah.
ALL: (25:31):
Laughter
ARETHA: (25:32):
So I'm like, uh, catch them again?
You know, actually I haven't actuallyseen, um, the film Doctrine of Recovery,
especially since, you know, recently,um, it was heard that the Pope,
he didn't rescind it.
I think there was adifferent word that was used.
CHRISTINE: (25:48):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (25:48):
So that film, I think is so, so important.
So I, I am reallyinterested in watching it.
I also, um, not only am I afilmmaker, but I'm also, um,
finishing up my master's degree,
um,
ANDRÉS: (25:59):
While you're doing this whole thing.
ARETHA: (26:01):
Yeah.
ALL: (26:01):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (26:03):
Wow.
ARETHA: (26:04):
Um, and actually my, uh, whole, uh, focus of my master's degree
was around the term reconciliation.
And so for me it was, it was, looking atthe term reconciliation and where it came
from, why we use it, is it the right word?
Is there something better that wecould be using to move it forward,
because even with the Truth andReconciliation that came out, um,
(26:27):
we only had the truth part, we stillhaven't done the reconciliation part
cuz there were so many recommendationsthat still haven't been implemented
and or addressed by a lot of people.
And so I feel like, I feel likethe whole process still comes,
from the colonizer, basically.
So even that whole process, because we'renot the first country that had a TRC, and
(26:48):
so like where did that process come from?
So my whole masters isbasically talking about that.
Mm-hmm.
And also, um, I, I believe in reciprocityand also self, um, responsibility.
So I'm not only expecting oneperson to, if you're gonna have a
relationship, it has to be two ways.
So what is my role in that process ofreconciliation and, and how do I move
(27:09):
that forward my self as an artist?
So to go back to your question frombefore, as an artist, what do I
get out of, uh, the organization?
Because I'm a filmmaker and I alwayssay like, I, I do, I do more film stuff,
whereas Christine's more theater, so Ifeel, we kind of rely on each other's
expertise, especially when we'regoing in the different kind of venues.
So as an artist, I feel like I, I lendthat as well because I understand what
(27:32):
it feels like to be from that otherend and like what I want for my film
and also what it felt like for thefirst time filmmakers who have been
to a film festival and knowing thatthey need those extra questions or
extra things of like, what do I do?
Like how do I do this?
Do you have things like this?
And, and also relying on justknowing, because I've been to film
festivals that, you know, peoplesend us emails like, so we're invited
(27:56):
how do I get there?
And I'm like, oh, cool.
Well, I can actually send you aletter of invitation and here's
all the grant opportunities.
If you live in Canada, theseare the ones you can apply for.
And if you show them this letter,you can apply and they will give you
travel and they'll pay for you to come.
CHRISTINE: (28:10):
Aretha actually has a wonderful workshop on our YouTube
channel on how to submit your film.
It's a fantastic resource, likeyeah, knowledge right there.
ARETHA: (28:20):
Because again, like filmmakers will sometimes call me and be like,
I really wanna do this thing, butI don't know how to do this thing.
And I'm like, okay, well where are you at?
ANDRÉS: (28:27):
Yeah,
ARETHA: (28:27):
Like, where are you at?
And so I'll like walk them throughthe process and give them kind
of like a Cliff Notes version.
And that was one of thequestions someone asked me.
How do I submit to a film festival?
And I'm like, oh,
wow.
ALL: (28:37):
Laughter
ARETHA: (28:38):
Here's the things and then here are some rules that you need to
know that I learned as a filmmaker too,
like when you submit yourfilm into a film festival.
Yeah.
It's, it's those relationship buildingthat just kind of lends us to like not
only, um, being inspired by our own crafttoo, because we're also watching all these
films and sometimes I'm like watching,I remember one time I had a friend who
(29:01):
was like, you need to go watch this film
my friend made this film andwe're gonna go watch this film.
So I'm like, okay.
So we went to go watch the film.
It was like nine o'clock in themorning and I'm bawling my eyes out,
but it was a beautiful story aboutlike a two-spirit, like trans person.
And I was just crying and I waslike, I loved every moment of it.
I was like, it was a great filmand I just came away just like so
(29:23):
inspired because I love characterdriven stories in, in films and stuff.
And so it was such abeautiful story that I went
CHRISTINE: (29:29):
And it's the one hard part, like the last one
we went to before the pandemic.
ARETHA: (29:34):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (29:34):
The three of us went to imagineNATIVE and every morning we'd sit
there with our schedules and like, okay,you go to that one, I'll go to that one.
We all should go to this one.
And I feel like we were some of thepeople who tried to see every single film.
ARETHA: (29:48):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (29:48):
Right.
CHRISTINE: (29:49):
And it was so exhausting.
We couldn't really goto any of the parties.
ALL: (29:53):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (29:54):
You're like, oh, I'm done.
It's like the last film ended at 1145.
Let's just get back to theAirbnb and get some rest.
You know, we go hard when we're there,but, and of course we did take in
some of the parties, and of coursethe parties are part of the fun.
ANDRÉS: (30:09):
Mm-hmm.
Well, it's like you said, right?
It gives you a chance to havethe conversation about like,
oh, did you see this one?
CHRISTINE: (30:13):
Mm-hmm.
I love this about it.
ARETHA: (30:14):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (30:15):
And like having the conversation as to how it impacted you.
CHRISTINE: (30:17):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (30:18):
Having seen the film right.
CHRISTINE: (30:19):
That's actually, you know, one of the things I'm, it's, it's a,
it's an anniversary year for us andnormally we try to have like some
networking things and like I said,the community dialogues and stuff.
But this, it's like, oh mygod, we have to have a party.
ALL: (30:32):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (30:32):
It's our anniversary we have to have an anniversary party.
Mm-hmm.
And.
You know, again, it's like,well, we don't just turn on the
music and, and you know, have,
ANDRÉS: (30:41):
No
CHRISTINE: (30:41):
have the
beverages.
We gotta have some art.
And that's actually, so we've beenworking with some really great people
to create a fantastic party as well.
I mean, I'm sure there'll be sort oflittle offs when people go out for drinks
after the show or whatever, but to havean actual dedicated party, so we're,
it'll be on Friday, the 21st at Studio96.
(31:02):
Which is a really unique space.
It used to be a church.
It's like a hundred year old church.
ANDRÉS: (31:07):
Oh wow.
CHRISTINE: (31:08):
That was taken over by architects and now it's
just like this amazing venue.
Um, so it's got a beautiful vibe.
All like, it's very sort of bohemian,artsy, bougie, you know, really lovely.
Um, but we're gonna have somebeautiful musical artists.
I'm so stoked because we are going to havetwo, of Canada's Got Talent contestants
(31:32):
At our events, we've got Arik Pipestem,who is a world champion, uh, hoop dancer.
He toured with Cirque Du Soleil, hewas on, So You Think You Can Dance,
and he's, he's a festival favorite.
We love him.
Um, and also, uh, new, uh, new to us.
Her name is Beatrice Love and she'slocal here in Edmonton, but she is on
(31:53):
Canada's Got Talent and I can't wait forpeople to hear her because her voting
will still be happening, and so fingerscrossed she gets to the semi-finals and
then she'll wow everyone at the showand, and then we can all vote for her.
Um, so I'm stoked about that.
But we also have Ayla Modeste who isa beautiful dancer, also local here.
(32:14):
Uh, she is a multi-talented person.
She also has a massage, uh,therapy company called Autumn
Rain, which is in our office.
Mm-hmm.
I tell you, is so special to havea massage therapist in your office.
ANDRÉS: (32:26):
That sounds so nice.
ALL: (32:27):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (32:28):
It's really nice.
Super, super nice, but she's awonderfully talented, um, uh, dancer.
So we'll be having her.
And then we're working with some visualartists and a group called Sokaris Inc.
They have been doing some amazingvideo mapping and projection work
for us the last couple of years.
And so we're working to, uh, everytime I meet with them, I'm like,
(32:50):
okay, project that, that'd be cool.
Maybe we can animate that.
Let's find some animators, animate thatand project it, but then now they've
gotten to know us more and they are,just brimming with creative ideas, and
I don't want to say specifically whatit's gonna be in case we have to like do
something different and they come back andthey're like, no, we decided to do this.
(33:12):
Um, but I know they aregonna do a great show for us.
And it's meant to be interactive.
It's meant to be, so, like, we don'twanna have a, like a regular proscenium
where like everyone comes in andsits down and watches performances.
We want people to walk around.
So we're gonna put theperformers in different spots.
We're gonna have them integrate atdifferent times and have things for
(33:35):
the audience to play with as well.
So I'm, I know it's gonna be a great time.
ANDRÉS: (33:40):
Now, it sounds like you've got an amazing festival happening in about
four days, from the 19th to the 23.
CHRISTINE: (33:46):
Yeah.
Did we even talk about all the stuffgoing on in the Milner Library?
ARETHA: (33:50):
Nope.
CHRISTINE: (33:50):
We haven't even got there
ANDRÉS: (33:51):
We haven't even talked about the library.
ALL: (33:52):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (33:53):
Do you wanna share a little bit about the library?
ARETHA: (33:56):
For sure.
Uh, so like you said, um, one ofthe things that I'm really exploring
is, is online in new media.
And so for me, I really wanted to create aspace where not only are we showing films,
we are showing films at the library too.
Cause there's a theater inthe library, uh, downtown.
But I also wanna create like, uh, we usedto, or we still have this thing called
Arts in the Alley, but we, it was justgonna be too cold to do Arts in the Alley.
(34:18):
So we are gonna have like anartist alley where we're gonna
have like indigenous artists aswell that will be selling stuff.
But we also are gonna be doing panelsand discussions about different things.
And so one of the things that I'mreally, uh, interested in is, Uh, content
creation and, uh, so we are invitingsome content creators to come and do
a panel and maybe talk to some youthand, and just people in general who
are interested about content creation.
(34:39):
So we're gonna have like a TikTok paneland I'm inviting some people that are,
um, who are gamers and streamers andcreating online content that way as well.
I've also invited one of the directorsof the Alberta Esports association,
who is, uh, an Alberta eSports gamingcompany that's, uh, not too old.
They're pretty new.
Mm-hmm.
(34:59):
Um, they just recently had an expo, Ithink in February to also talk about
that world as well too, about onlinegaming, but also eSports in general.
Yeah.
And we wanted to haveother panels as well.
We wanted to talk about maybesome community dialogues.
I've also invited some of thefilmmakers to maybe do some panels to
talk about their films and just beingfilmmakers and stuff like that too.
So it's gonna be very interactive.
(35:20):
With, with that as well.
The downtown libraryhas a huge Maker Space.
They actually have a studioin there as well too.
Um, I don't think it's open to thepublic yet, but they are working on it.
CHRISTINE: (35:30):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (35:30):
They also have a whole gaming room, commu, like room that's set up
for people to play games on, like ontheir computers and stuff like that.
So we were talking about maybe havingsome demos and things like that, but also.
Letting people know thatthat Maker Space is there.
CHRISTINE: (35:45):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (35:45):
So having a tour of the makerspace and letting people know, I
think there's 3D printers there, a spotthere that you can do book binding.
Whoa.
Yeah, there's, and there's awhole sewing section as well,
CHRISTINE: (35:58):
like the creativity, like it's the Milner Library.
so first, first of all, theEdmonton Public Library is becoming
a really great partner for us.
Um, but we, we've done a numberof tours talking with them
and it's so creative there.
Like it's not, it's not the library from,you know, when we were kids we're, shh,
quiet, there's so much stuff happening.
(36:20):
Um, and it's a beautiful new library.
Uh, and like the littlestudios that they have.
Recording studios.
We even filled, filmed some stuff usingone of their studios for a whole other
project that we had going on kinship care.
ARETHA: (36:32):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (36:33):
Um, yeah, just really delightful people and really can
do and excited to see what, whatwe are doing and that those are the
kind of partners that are awesome.
ANDRÉS: (36:41):
So if I'm somebody who is listening to this podcast, getting
very excited about the festival.
ARETHA: (36:47):
Yay.
ANDRÉS: (36:47):
How can I find out all of the information of the specific
times and places that I can goto plan my four days, let's say.
ARETHA: (36:55):
So if you go to our website
ALL: (36:57):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (36:58):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (36:58):
Uh, if you go to our website right on the there, you'll see there's
one link right there that will take youto the 2023 Dream Speakers Festival.
And you click on that and thenthere's a whole schedule that tells
you when the films are, it tellsyou the in-person ones tells you
the ones that are online as well.
So yeah, you kind of know the scheduleand some, some, some of them are free and
some of them cost a little bit of money.
(37:19):
And then we also have the festivalpass that will get you into everything
and so, yeah, it's uh, Dreamspeakers.
So Dream and speakers all one word .org.
ANDRÉS: (37:29):
I'm gonna ask you some questions, some more personal questions.
CHRISTINE: (37:31):
Okay.
ANDRÉS: (37:31):
Now that we've gone through the festival and it sounds amazing,
what do you love about film?
Specifically as a medium
CHRISTINE: (37:38):
Filmmaker, answer that one first.
ARETHA: (37:41):
Um, you know, I always, I always said this, the reason why I
wanted to be a filmmaker was cuz whenI watch films, I wanna get lost in the
world and I wanna ascend myself intothe disbelief and just be lost in it.
And if you can get methere, I'm like, it's fine.
I don't care about the technical things.
I don't care if you sawthe PA guy in the corner.
(38:02):
Like, I'm like,
ALL: (38:02):
Laughter
ARETHA: (38:03):
I'm not looking
for that anyways.
I'm like, oh, that was there I don't know.
Oh, I wasn't looking for that.
I was too busy beingenthralled by the conversation.
Um, and so for me, like when Iwatch films, I'm looking for that.
I'm looking for something that's justhas my whole attention into it of
like
what is it they were trying to convey?
What kind of message were they trying tohave, and can they bring me into that?
(38:24):
And if there's something that kind ofbrings me out of that, I'm like, why?
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (38:29):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (38:29):
Why?
Why?
Why was I, why was I taken out of that?
But yeah, so like there,there's two aspect of it.
It's me wanting to get lost in it, butthen there's the filmmaker's side of me
going like, oh, I would've edited that.
I would've edited that out.
ANDRÉS: (38:41):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (38:41):
And like, where did that character go?
Did we just talk to someone five secondsago and they never came back again?
Was that like, why why'dyou even have that in there?
ALL: (38:48):
Laughter
ARETHA: (38:49):
In one sense, I, I watch it for like technical things sometimes,
but then, but if I'm really investedin the storyline and the characters,
like, none of that matters to me becauseI'm now, I'm just lost in the world.
ANDRÉS: (39:01):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (39:02):
And I feel that like as soon as you said that, I started
thinking about all these differentfilms that did that for me.
ARETHA: (39:07):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (39:08):
And so, yes, I ditto what she said.
ANDRÉS: (39:10):
Yeah.
And
CHRISTINE: (39:12):
And so when I look at like filmmaking, storytelling, our culture,
the things that we are expressingwithin this art form, what I think
is the thing that really excitesme is, an opportunity for empathy.
If we can save the planet,it's gonna be empathy.
So those things that,
(39:33):
can give us that or, um, grow that,spring from, create Empathy is where
I want to put a lot of my energies in.
Um, so I hope that people will comesee the film both for the art form,
the, the craft, the, the societaldialogue, but also just as humans to
(39:54):
take time to nurture our imagination.
Nurture the things that callour humanity to creator.
Just that.
ANDRÉS: (40:06):
Just that.
There you go.
ALL: (40:10):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (40:10):
All right.
I'm gonna end it on a really imaginative
CHRISTINE: (40:15):
Nice
ANDRÉS: (40:16):
question.
ARETHA: (40:17):
Okay.
ANDRÉS: (40:18):
If you were to, let's say, have a week where you know you need some
self care, you're gonna go home, you'regonna pop in your favorite childhood
movie and grab your favorite film snack.
What's that?
combination?
ARETHA: (40:37):
I already know mine
ALL: (40:42):
Laughter
ARETHA: (40:44):
one of the films that I watched 1,000,001 times, and I can still
watch 1,000,001 times is Labyrinth.
CHRISTINE: (40:51):
Oh yes,
ARETHA: (40:52):
I love Labyrinth.
Um, I love the puppetry.
Um, and just, I mean,David Bowie enough said,
ANDRÉS: (40:59):
Right?
ARETHA: (41:01):
Um, Yeah.
And just the songs, like I,I love, I love Labyrinth.
CHRISTINE: (41:07):
I'm actually trying to learn some of the songs on guitar.
ARETHA: (41:09):
Wow.
CHRISTINE: (41:09):
Yes.
I'm terrible at it, but yeah.
ALL: (41:11):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (41:12):
But they're on my set list.
ARETHA: (41:13):
Um, yeah, I, I, uh, had the film and then also, um, Labyrinth when DVDs
first came out, and they cost like a lot.
ANDRÉS: (41:22):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (41:22):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (41:23):
I remember it was the first DVD I ever bought.
ANDRÉS: (41:25):
Really?
ARETHA: (41:25):
And it was like $30 for a DVD.
Because I was like,
ANDRÉS: (41:30):
That was back in the day.
Yeah.
ARETHA: (41:31):
Cause I was like, oh my God, I need this film.
I love it.
Um, cuz yeah, I think it was one thatI rented multiple times as a child and
watched it over and over and over again.
And, um, my favorite movie snack.
Uh.
I still really love popcorn.
Just popcorn and pop, and I'mgood to go with my favorite film.
ANDRÉS: (41:53):
What about you, Christine?
CHRISTINE: (41:54):
Definitely popcorn.
Parfait style.
Yeah.
Layer that butter.
Ooh, yeah.
Yes, yes.
In fact, we kind of have a rule at myhouse, like if, if me or my husband or my
son goes to see a movie without the restof us, they have to bring back popcorn.
ANDRÉS: (42:08):
Oh, really?
CHRISTINE: (42:09):
Unless there's like extenuating circumstances.
ARETHA: (42:12):
Mm.
ANDRÉS: (42:12):
So that's, that's your favorite movie snack thing?
CHRISTINE: (42:15):
Oh, definitely.
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (42:16):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (42:16):
It's one of my favorite foods ever.
End stop.
ALL: (42:22):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (42:23):
Love it.
Love it, love it.
Um, and movies.
Yeah.
So hard to pick.
There's so many fordifferent reasons, right?
Like I have some films where I'mlike, if I'm feeling really down
or like the world is too harsh, Ijust, there are some movies like
my go-to, just make me feel better.
And those are Disney's Sleeping Beauty.
(42:45):
All about Maleficent.
Um, and it's so silly.
I, I actually did a stintworking at a video store.
I used to work at the AlternativeVideo Spot on Whyte Avenue.
Okay.
And I was, you know, you have to helppeople find movies that they like, right?
If they don't know what theywant, and they come to you,
like, have any suggestions.
So I, okay, what mood are you in?
(43:06):
And there was this one woman whojust like, I'm pointing out movies
for her and blah, blah, blah.
And, and she just looks at me, she goes,You're a real Steve Martin fan, are you?
I'm like, am I?
I did not.
I said, why do you say that?
She goes, every film you'vesuggested has Steve Martin in.
I'm like,
ALL: (43:25):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (43:27):
Oh, okay.
So, and indeed one of those filmswhere I just get, lots of, uh,
comfort from, it's silly, but it alsohelped me be a good parent is the
movie Parenthood with Steve Martin.
ANDRÉS: (43:41):
Hmm.
CHRISTINE: (43:41):
You know, and Rick Moranis and it's like an all star amazing cast.
And the dialogue is hilarious.
Um, I enjoy it.
It is, it is it, you know,quintessential cinema?
I don't think so, but it's dang funnyand it's heartwarming and it makes me
feel good, but like, If I think of likea little bit more artsy fary films,
(44:03):
probably Monty Python, um, Holy Grail.
ANDRÉS: (44:06):
Oh yeah
CHRISTINE: (44:07):
Yeah, I, there's so many movies.
My, what am I even saying now I'mlike, no, my favorite film is Aliens.
ALL: (44:13):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (44:14):
I love that.
Like you're like, I got at least five.
CHRISTINE: (44:18):
Why do I have to choose?
ARETHA: (44:21):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (44:21):
I could quote Aliens all the time, and it was really,
ARETHA: (44:24):
She does
CHRISTINE: (44:25):
weird, weird things were like, I didn't even, I thought I
was like artsy fartsy and all cool.
And then all of a sudden I'm likewatching Aliens 14 times, I'm like,
oh I think, I like this movie.
And I do.
ARETHA: (44:37):
It's funny cuz I think one of the first times you ever quoted
Aliens, you're like, that's from AliensI'm like, I know, I like Aliens too.
CHRISTINE: (44:46):
We're gonna be friends.
ANDRÉS: (44:48):
And that's when you got the contract
ALL: (44:50):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (44:52):
Game over,
man game over.
ARETHA: (44:55):
I think I spent $30 on a game to get the, uh, the Xenomorph skin on a game.
ANDRÉS: (45:02):
Oh my gosh.
I
ARETHA: (45:03):
was like, this is so wrong, but I need it.
ANDRÉS: (45:07):
But just take my money.
Close your eyes.
ARETHA: (45:09):
Just take my money.
CHRISTINE: (45:11):
Yeah.
I love it.
ANDRÉS: (45:12):
Oh pals, thank you so much for being here and
for this lovely conversation.
Um, It's just been such a pleasure.
It's been seriously,
CHRISTINE: (45:18):
It's a pleasure to get to know you too, Andres you're so special.
Thank you.
ANDRÉS: (45:21):
Oh, thank you.
I'm so excited to take in this festival.
Please, if you're listening to this gocheck out Dreamspeakers Film Festival.
There's a lot to do and I'mso excited to just take it in.
I think it's gonna be great.
So thank you again to the CanadaCouncil for the Arts for our original,
um, funding for this project, as wellas the Edmonton Heritage Council,
(45:43):
uh, for the funding for season.
Thank you to, uh, Fringe ArtsBarns to Azimuth Theater, to Selina
Painchaud as always, our amazing audiotechnician, Oscar Derkx, our editor.
And to all of you for listening,I hope, uh, you keep checking out
these beautiful festivals that we'rehighlighting and we'll see you next time.
Bye-bye.
CHRISTINE: (46:02):
Hiy hiy.
ADS: (46:08):
Hey, pal, enjoying the conversation?
Traversing the Azimuth is a brandnew branch of Azimuth Theatre
aimed at connecting artists with awider community, deepening mutual
understanding, and getting to shareeach artist's process and journey.
You can help out by going to
AzimuthTheatre.com/sponsorship.
Your sponsorship will go straightinto paying more artists to
(46:29):
come and share what it means forthem to be" proudly in process"
For more information onTraversing the Azimuth
go to AzimuthTheatre.com/traversing.
Woohoo.
Hi everyone, and welcome to In Process.
This is Azimuth Theater's podcasthighlighting the artists within our
community and in our second season,the festivals that create opportunities
for our community to come together andshare in the art that is made here.
Uh, today I've got two veryspecial guests, Christine Sokaymoh
Frederick, and Aretha Greatrix.
(00:45):
Thank you so much for agreeing to be.
CHRISTINE: (00:47):
Thank you for having us.
It was really, really a specialinvitation, and, and we are very grateful
for your invitation, your care, andyour attention on, on Dreamspeakers.
ANDRÉS: (00:56):
Thank you.
CHRISTINE: (00:57):
And as just like a regular Edmontonian.
Thank you for doing this podcastthat focuses on festivals and it,
it's a wonderful, wonderful project.
ANDRÉS: (01:04):
I'm wondering if both of you would like to just talk a
little bit about yourselves andwhat led you to becoming an artist.
ARETHA: (01:10):
Yeah, no, I've, uh, always really loved telling stories in multifaceted
ways and, um, I became a filmmakerlater, I guess, in life cuz I was trying
to figure out what I wanted to be.
I always say, I still ask peopleall the time, I'm like, what do
you wanna be when you grow up?
I just, I always love storytelling.
I love watching films, Ilove watching TV shows.
(01:31):
I just love getting lost in theworld of just creating those worlds.
ANDRÉS: (01:36):
Mm-hmm
ARETHA: (01:36):
And so for me, I just kind of really got into documentary
filmmaking to tell those stories.
I am, I am trying to shift my focusinto more scripted things, but during
the pandemic, one of the things thatI started doing was streaming and
gaming online, and so I started alsoexploring that world as well too,
because I also was exploring like thenew media aspect of storytelling as well.
ANDRÉS: (01:56):
Christine, what about you?
What led you to becoming an artist?
CHRISTINE: (02:00):
Well, actually I started off as a child performer.
I started in dance and then as anactor in film and television, and I
was performing for tourists most of mychildhood at like Fort Edmonton Park and
doing like, indigenous demonstrations,mostly in a lot of pow wow.
(02:20):
Um, and then, you know, at every,you know, Canada Day or the Kday
Parade, all those sorts of things.
And had a wonderful opportunity asa youth to represent Canada on the
international stage with the Expo 85.
That was in Japan.
When I got into high school, that's whenI really started looking at theater and
(02:41):
acting as more of a career and exploringShakespeare and things like that.
ANDRÉS: (02:46):
Right.
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (02:47):
And then when I got out of university, uh, started a theater company
with a bunch of, you know, Shakespearegeeks that we all went to school together,
and that was Sound And Fury Theater.
And we did a, a number ofseasons here in Edmonton.
And it was also right out of high schoolthat I produced my very first festival.
It was the Metis Youth Fine andPerforming Arts Festival at the museum.
(03:10):
Um, at the old museum there.
Yeah.
In 2009, I was able toactually start my first.
Real company on my own with mybusiness partner Ryan at the time,
Ryan Cunningham, and we startedAlberta Aboriginal Performing Arts.
We both had the same impetus at the sametime that we wanted to actually utilize
the skills that we learned in all thoseother endeavors and art disciplines,
(03:32):
and actually focus on providing aplatform for indigenous artists.
So really focusing and refining that focuson nurturing an indigenous art scene here
in Edmonton and in Alberta, and we startedproducing the Rubaboo Arts Festival.
And it, it was, its initial, um,impetus was to be a theater festival,
(03:55):
but we realized very quickly thatall the artists we wanted to work
with were not just doing theater.
They were, dancing, they weremusicians, they were comedians,
they were writing books, right?
They were just doing all of this stuff.
So we decided to open that up.
Um, and I actually did put asidemy own artistry for about 10 years,
(04:17):
specifically to give that focus toproviding a strong platform and, and,
knowing that I couldn't reallymanage both at the same time.
And at one point I was trying to secure,you know, an artist to do a workshop and,
and then all of a sudden they kind ofleaned back and they're like, I think I
heard around the, you know, around thegrapevine that you were an artist once.
And I went, I didn't realize thewhole community would've forgotten.
(04:41):
And, and, and with that little bit ofencouragement and, and a couple of other
people, I started to really commit,doing my own artistry back again, both
in acting and in writing, writing plays,and then producing those plays and
then producing tours of those plays.
Uh, yeah, and, and what's wonderfulis that, you know, when I started
(05:03):
working with Dreamspeakers, havingthat environment of good supporting
people who could understandthat there was a, not only,
an important thing, but a vitality tohaving artists running the organization
and having that artistic approach notonly to how we create, but also an
understanding of what an artist needs andhow we can create sort of an environment
(05:26):
and, you know, establish that platformand, and grow that platform both
within Dreamspeakers and, and now withthe, the other festivals that we do.
Um, so yeah.
That's, that sort of has been my journey.
ANDRÉS: (05:40):
When we talk about Dreamspeakers, can you tell us a little bit about,
uh, what brought it about 30 years ago?
Cuz we're celebrating the30th anniversary, correct?
CHRISTINE: (05:48):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (05:49):
Yeah.
So back in 1993, what started it all?
What, what, what was the impetus?
CHRISTINE: (05:53):
Well, the actual worked build the festival began probably in 1991.
Okay.
And then the first festival wasin 92, and then they actually
formed as a society in 93.
So it's one of those greatmoments where we can celebrate an
anniversary almost anytime we want.
ALL: (06:08):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (06:09):
And we do.
ANDRÉS: (06:10):
This is the third time we're celebrating.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
ALL: (06:12):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (06:12):
We're gonna change time zones and we're gonna do it again.
Um, back, you know, I could do sort ofan academic answer to that and then lend
a bit more of a cultural answer to that.
So academically we know that asCanadian policy on their approach
to indigenous arts or at the time?
Um, back in 1951, there was a reallybig report called the Massey Report, and
(06:38):
it is a, a seminal report that createdmuch of what is Canada's artistry.
It birthed the National ArtsCenter, the National Ballet,
the National Library System.
Um, Like I said, it, it wascelebrating what could Canada do
to become an artistic country.
(06:59):
And that's beautiful.
However, um, I know that there are somereally wonderful people who've studied
that Massey Report, Chris Creighton-Kellyand France Trépanier, and they found
that in this massive report, which Iguess if you printed it out and stacked
the pages, it's about four feet tall,
they found one paragraph in thatreport that had to do with Native
(07:24):
Arts, which is the, you know,the vocabulary used at the time.
And unfortunately that one paragraphsaid that with the strength of Canada
as an artistic leader, uh, withEuropean sensibilities, that it would
be important to allow native artsto just die out like it's people.
(07:45):
And that if there were any survivingnative artists, they should be
encouraged to, um, drop entirelyall of their native artistry and
pursue the elite European forms.
And that might seem sort of, uh,obviously a negative thing to say, but
we have to remember that this is thedocument thatbirthed policies across
(08:07):
the country on how to approach art.
And that is actually where manypolicies were written about the
approach to Indigenous Arts.
So at one point it was, you know, sort ofmisunderstood, um, kind of indifferent.
And then it's sort of been growingto, you know, well there's access,
(08:30):
but you can't really, you know, wewon't really promote it, you know,
and then it's a sense of inclusion.
But inclusion in, in and ofitself has a, has a sense of, um,
I don't know, what's the word?
Um, well, not enough to beincluded in something that we had
to begin with, isn't fair, isn'tequitable, and, and isn't enough.
(08:56):
Um, it certainly doesn't redressthose policies that were written
to, to squash our art and culture.
And so I think, andagain, that was only 1951.
And so we're only talking a few years.
I know in the eighties, things startedto kind of shift a little bit, especially
like through the seventies and eightiesthere was a lot more media, you know,
(09:16):
that was the birth of like AMMSAand the Windspeaker and more, um,
television that had some content in it.
And I think by the nineties, um,there, there started to be a lot more
content in larger realms like in, intheaters and a little bit of approach
from like the NFB to give some focuson that and and allow that to happen.
(09:40):
So I think by the nineties there was abit more of social cultural interest, not
the same level that we have today, right?
But at least it, it was something.
And at that point, I think it was goodenough to have anything to do with
indigenous, you know, that it, it couldhave content, it could have an actor
in it, it could have, you know, thethird caterer could have been native.
(10:03):
And that was good enough, you know, youknow, and going back to your question
about like what was the impetus, Ithink there was just a lot of people
who were starting to come and havethose experiences in media, having
knowledge, having experience,having skills that good minded
people finally came togetherand were like, you know what?
We have a community here and weshould do something about it.
ANDRÉS: (10:25):
From when it started happening, like 30 years ago to now, I know that
there's been, I'm, there's been growth,there's been shifts and changes and I
know that, uh, there you're offeringsome, uh, online stuff as well, correct?
CHRISTINE: (10:37):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (10:38):
Yeah.
Like maybe Aretha, do you wanna talk alittle bit about that and how that's kind
of adding to the Dreamspeakers format?
ARETHA: (10:44):
At the start of the pandemic.
ANDRÉS: (10:46):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (10:47):
We were, uh, literally, I think our film festival was in April,
and then we had a lockdown in March.
So we were like, yeah, wewere like, what am I gonna do?
Yeah.
So we ended up
CHRISTINE: (10:59):
The great pivot of 2020
ARETHA: (11:01):
we put it on hold.
We thought, okay.
We were in, in communication with thetheaters and we were like, okay, maybe.
They'll open up again in the fall.
And then even then it was like wehave a lot of vulnerable people in
our communities and we would rather.
Safe than
sorry, because we didn't want toexpose them to something that could
possibly take our elders, you know?
CHRISTINE: (11:21):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (11:22):
Like these are the people that are our knowledge carriers and,
and, and storytellers too, that wedon't wanna lose that, and we don't
wanna put them in danger as well.
So we were like, uh, maybewe'll just put it on hold.
So we actually took those filmsand we held off for about a year.
We ended up exploring ways that wecould possibly do an online festival,
and we ended up doing a small online,uh, kind of like, fest, not a festival,
(11:48):
not a film festival, but we did likean art series of online, we interviewed
a whole bunch of artists from like,um, writers to dancers to, um, poets.
Like we were, like, we were just tryingto find ways that we could still get
the art out because, you know, manyof our artists too, like, performing
art is how they make a living.
And we were like, how are wegonna help support them if we
(12:12):
can't give them the platform toperform on or to do the thing on?
So we were like, how, how do we do that?
But then, yeah, we, we ended up settlingon the platform that we use now and
uh, the year later we still had allthe films that we didn't show that
were canceled from the year before.
So we decided to takethose films to show them.
(12:32):
The next year after we were just aboutto do an in-person festival again.
CHRISTINE: (12:37):
Yes.
ARETHA: (12:37):
We were just about to do it and then all of a suddenly, like, I
think it was at the second or third wavewas coming at that point, and again,
things were being locked down again.
And so again, we had a conversationwith the theater and we're like,
oh, should we do this again?
We, we wanna put our community firstand think of what is in their best
interest and can we still move forward?
Mm-hmm.
With this platform that we've,we've, we've been investing in.
(12:59):
And so we decided that we canceledall the in-person ones cuz we were
actually gonna do a combination.
But really, because it was kindof touch and go, it was like the
online was our backup plan, but wewere like, let's just do them both.
And then when the in-person fellapart anyways, we were like, it's
okay, we have everything online.
Yeah, everything online.
It was already ready to go.
CHRISTINE: (13:17):
It was actually really exciting because we got more reach,
and more audience participationon the online than we had in,
in the last in-person festival.
ARETHA: (13:29):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (13:29):
And it was one of the things that we were kind of like trying to
figure out, like, you know, is therean industry issue, you know, in terms
of attending theaters to watch films?
Like I do know, like, they're likeour, our regular theaters are, some
of them are closing and so we knowthat attendance is generally down.
And then we had this online festivalthat was all of a sudden really well
(13:52):
attended, and we're like, and peoplefrom like London, England are tuning
in and media from around the world.
It was like, oh,
ARETHA: (14:01):
mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (14:02):
Oh, this is, this is very good.
ARETHA: (14:05):
Yeah.
And so like from, from all of thatinformation, we were like, we, we
wanna have it online because, it alsobecame accessibility issues, right?
So we were like, we were like, how canwe make things more accessible for the
people who aren't comfortable going to thetheater or maybe, you know, for whatever
reason, watching it online was helpful.
CHRISTINE: (14:24):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (14:24):
And we also figured out there was a way that we could even do, like,
watch parties through this form as well.
So
ANDRÉS: (14:29):
Oh, cool.
ARETHA: (14:29):
We, we did a, a couple, we did a watch party and then there's like
a chat on the thing, so we were likechatting with people at the same time.
We were like talking about the,the film the whole time and like,
oh my God, did you see that?
That was so funny.
Like, you know, so we were watchingit with people and, and so through
all of those experiences we were like,yeah, I think we should make this a.
(14:50):
Um, a thing thing that wenever, that's we do every year
CHRISTINE: (14:53):
Let's never not do an online festival cause it's, we, we definitely
as human beings appreciate the in-person.
That's key to our understandingof, of our collective identity
and our mutual, um, respect andcare for one another as a society.
But then there's just this like,like, like she said, this online
chat thing during the watch party,it, when you watch a movie, in
(15:15):
theory, you're not supposed to talk.
ANDRÉS: (15:16):
Right.
CHRISTINE: (15:17):
But all of a sudden we're like, we're hack, you know, just totally
having a great old time and making jokes.
Mm-hmm.
And it's not disturbing anybody.
It's, it brought up this wholedifferent, um mm-hmm life to watching it.
ANDRÉS: (15:30):
Going down to the nitty gritty, like what can folks
expect from this year's festival?
Like how many f how many, uh, filmsdo you have available to folks?
Are you still doing watch parties?
Like, tell us a littlebit about this year.
ARETHA: (15:42):
Mm-hmm.
We have 52 films inthe festival this year.
Majority of the films will be inperson, so once our in-person, uh,
festival, is kind of wrapped up, whichwould be from the 19th to the 23rd.
That's all of our in-person eventswill be between then, uh, we continue
the festival basically a week afterand everything will be online.
And so all the films that areonline will be actually already have
(16:04):
their own schedule online as well.
So we'll always be in the evening.
So I think there's a seveno'clock and a nine o'clock
showing mostly during the week.
And then on the weekend there'sa couple of showings as well,
and there'll be actual watchparties with an actual schedule.
And then there's also aversion that's video on demand.
So if you're like listen, Ijust wanna watch it by myself.
You can also just watchthe film by yourself.
ANDRÉS: (16:23):
Cool.
CHRISTINE: (16:23):
So we've got like, we have all the film screenings and I gotta
tell you, we get a lot of submissions,which is actually a real success.
Like, I don't even know how manysubmissions we got this year.
ARETHA: (16:34):
175.
CHRISTINE: (16:35):
175.
ANDRÉS: (16:36):
Wow.
Are they Alberta based only or is this
CHRISTINE: (16:39):
Oh no, we're Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival,
so we get films from all over the world.
There was one year.
Poor Aretha.
I'm so sorry.
We had 900 submissions and that is, yeah.
I don't even just feel like, goodness.
I just wanna just,
ARETHA: (16:58):
well, the, the, the thing is, is that before we.
Um, we ended up putting indigenousin our title because, um, one of
the things is we were DreamspeakersInternational Film Festival.
ANDRÉS: (17:10):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (17:11):
And although we did say, Hey, we promote indigenous
artists, no one read anything.
And so everyone submitted, so then I hadto go through it going like, this isn't
indigenous, so I basically had to gothrough a whole bunch of films and then
some of them going, is this indigenous?
I don't know.
CHRISTINE: (17:29):
We had to like learn ourselves up a little bit about other countries.
It's like, yeah, no,they got a history there.
Yes, they were called.
Okay
ALL: (17:35):
Laughter
ARETHA: (17:36):
so then I had to like Google and then some people I had to just ask.
I was like, I'm sorry,I, I do really like this.
I'm just confused can you explainto me how you're indigenous?
ANDRÉS: (17:48):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (17:48):
And then the other thing too is that we have to remember
like, what does that word mean?
And we, we, you know, we settled on usingindigenous the way the UN defines it.
But we have to remember, the way theUN defines it is a group of people
that were once dominant in the landor territory that became less dominant
when another group came over and
dominated or subjugated them.
(18:10):
So that has to do essentially, and thisis important, the way the UN defines it,
it has to do with human rights violations.
ANDRÉS: (18:17):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (18:17):
But we're not a human rights violations film festival.
ANDRÉS: (18:20):
No.
ALL: (18:21):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (18:22):
You know, so, so we also have to allow for like the, not just
allow, we have to promote that it'sthe culture that we're looking at.
So
sometimes the appropriate word, youknow, might be Aboriginal because that's
in our constitution here in Canada.
But then, uh, that's alsojust a political identity.
ANDRÉS: (18:40):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (18:40):
So sometimes it's like, well, how do we articulate the cultural identity
that we're trying to define so thatpeople understand what we're looking for
when we do our intake for films andit is, it is, it generates a lot of
discussion in our office and I mean, thefirst thing is that we wanna show films.
That's what we wanna do.
ANDRÉS: (19:00):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (19:01):
You know, but we also have to understand, well,
what are our audiences expecting?
But also we wanna challengeaudiences' expectations.
ARETHA: (19:09):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (19:10):
Not only of of, you know, expectations they have of filmmaking or
indigenous filmmaking, but indigenousculture and, and you know, for myself, I'm
Cree and Metis, so I would might say myNehiyaw culture but you're not Cree, so we
can't just say it's a Cree film festival.
ARETHA: (19:26):
I'm Cree.
ALL: (19:27):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (19:28):
She's Cree,
ARETHA: (19:29):
I have Cree, but I'm not, I'm not Naheyawin.
CHRISTINE: (19:31):
Yeah, right.
ARETHA: (19:32):
I'm, I'm Inunu or Ililiw.
Cause I'm Swampy Cree or Moose CreeI'm just from a different place,
ALL: (19:37):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (19:37):
So you know,
so we, and, and we realized like, yeah,like we definitely have like films from,
uh, you know, New Zealand and Australiaand, and we, one year we had films from
Japan and China, but it, its, it requiresa very, both delicate and specific
approach of how we adjudicate the films,
(20:00):
um, how do, how do we articulate thatto the jury and how do we then, when
we get to like the selection, howdo we market that and promote it?
ARETHA: (20:09):
Mm-hmm.
ADS: (20:10):
The Festival Series of “In Process” is brought to you by the Edmonton
Heritage Council and Azimuth Theatre'sTraversing The Azimuth multimedia branch.
It is our aim to continue to introduceand deepen the relationships between
our community and the artists within it.
To help keep this podcast going, you cango to AzimuthTheatre.com/sponsorship.
ANDRÉS: (20:36):
As artists, what, what has the festival been able to offer
you in terms of opportunities,
possibilities, or even just likewhat keeps you, what keeps you
there, like year after year andwhat, what lights that fire?
CHRISTINE: (20:49):
I believe very firmly that when indigenous people practice
art, we are redressing those humanrights violations and we're creating
something new that both referencesthe past in before colonialism,
through colonialism and now especiallywith all of these amazing technologies,
(21:09):
we're able to sense the future of what ourculture and our society is going to be.
And so for me, it's not justlike, let's put on a nice show.
It's deep and it's profound, andI take that responsibility, um,
equally as profoundly and sacred.
Challenging at times because it doesfeel like there's a lot at stake.
(21:32):
And you know, our beautiful teamhere, we are real people with
real lives and we are all artists.
So it's, it's not something that getsput to bed when we turn off the computer.
It's always there.
And we're always trying to figure outnot only how to, um, support the artists
because of those profound feelings, butalso how do we support the community in
(21:55):
accepting those, those pieces of art.
One of the things that Aretha andJessica and I in particular work
really hard at is when we see afilm, that has like a, a potential
to be profound for this community.
We try to find ways to enhancethat with extra programming.
ANDRÉS: (22:13):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (22:14):
Whether that's through panel discussions, workshops, um, one
of the things that we, we all reallyjive on is the community dialogues.
You know, we have so many things thatare going on that are very timely issues
right now, and how do we get to understandhow our community really feels about it.
But I believe very firmly thatsomething magical happens when we
(22:37):
gather our people, have that space tobe able to dialogue and support it.
And like there's some of the filmsthat are this year that I, I can't
wait because I know it's gonnabring community together in a good
way, both and in interesting ways.
I don't know, do you want me totalk about some of those ones?
ANDRÉS: (22:54):
Please do.
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (22:57):
So one of the ones that I'm, I'm stoked about, it's a short film
documentary called Purple Crabs and it is
uh, I had a great conversation with,uh, Jeremy Desjarlais, the filmmaker
from Saskatchewan, and he very, veryquickly, he says, I'm not a filmmaker.
I'm like, oh, okay, well you made a film,
ALL: (23:15):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (23:16):
makes you a filmmaker, but not talking semantics with you, dude.
Um, but he told me, he's like, I justheard about this group in Edmonton and
they're doing such great work that I,
wanted to do something to promote it.
ANDRÉS: (23:27):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (23:28):
So he just like quickly learned on the spot
how to do a documentary film.
And the group in Edmonton, they'recalled the Sober Homies, and they
are a group of sober people whohave, uh, overcome addictions and
they give back to the community.
So they do all this extra programmingjust through volunteerism and through
(23:48):
reclaiming their own identitiesand celebrating their sobriety.
And the work that they dois fantastic, you know?
And so we were like, not only could weshow this film and celebrate what they're
doing, we're inviting the Sober Homiesto come, like, we're like, anything you
wanna do, like, we'll help promote it.
What we, you know, if you're runninga program on a certain night,
like how do we give focus to that?
(24:10):
Um, and, that is one of the mostbeautiful feelings because they are
so responsive and I mean, they'reappreciative, but they're responsive.
It's real, it's happening right now.
So I really dig on that.
Um, and, and we've had a number offilms that, again, Aretha's worked
(24:30):
really hard to create, um, to curatefilms that work together that can
elevate, um, what they're saying.
So one of the areas that I'm excited aboutis, um, the importance of food sovereignty
and, and bringing up what that means to usas a people today in this new millennium.
(24:53):
Uh, and right now we have a beautifulcaterer that's in house in our,
in our building, which is Pei PeiChei Ow, which is Scott Iserhoff
and his beautiful, wonderful wifeSveta, and the work that he's doing,
like we're, we wanna promote what he'sdoing and then bring these films together
and maybe like, bring other chefs togetherand just all of a sudden realize that
(25:14):
there's a community of, of, uh, beautiful,um, chefs and caterers and people who
are dedicated to food sovereignty.
Those are a couple that I'm really excited
about.
ANDRÉS: (25:24):
Thank you.
Aretha.
Do you have any standouts that you're,you're really excited to catch?
ARETHA: (25:28):
It's so funny because for me, I'm like, I've seen, I've seen them all.
ANDRÉS: (25:31):
You've seen them all.
Yeah.
ALL: (25:31):
Laughter
ARETHA: (25:32):
So I'm like, uh, catch them again?
You know, actually I haven't actuallyseen, um, the film Doctrine of Recovery,
especially since, you know, recently,um, it was heard that the Pope,
he didn't rescind it.
I think there was adifferent word that was used.
CHRISTINE: (25:48):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (25:48):
So that film, I think is so, so important.
So I, I am reallyinterested in watching it.
I also, um, not only am I afilmmaker, but I'm also, um,
finishing up my master's degree,
um,
ANDRÉS: (25:59):
While you're doing this whole thing.
ARETHA: (26:01):
Yeah.
ALL: (26:01):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (26:03):
Wow.
ARETHA: (26:04):
Um, and actually my, uh, whole, uh, focus of my master's degree
was around the term reconciliation.
And so for me it was, it was, looking atthe term reconciliation and where it came
from, why we use it, is it the right word?
Is there something better that wecould be using to move it forward,
because even with the Truth andReconciliation that came out, um,
(26:27):
we only had the truth part, we stillhaven't done the reconciliation part
cuz there were so many recommendationsthat still haven't been implemented
and or addressed by a lot of people.
And so I feel like, I feel likethe whole process still comes,
from the colonizer, basically.
So even that whole process, because we'renot the first country that had a TRC, and
(26:48):
so like where did that process come from?
So my whole masters isbasically talking about that.
Mm-hmm.
And also, um, I, I believe in reciprocityand also self, um, responsibility.
So I'm not only expecting oneperson to, if you're gonna have a
relationship, it has to be two ways.
So what is my role in that process ofreconciliation and, and how do I move
(27:09):
that forward my self as an artist?
So to go back to your question frombefore, as an artist, what do I
get out of, uh, the organization?
Because I'm a filmmaker and I alwayssay like, I, I do, I do more film stuff,
whereas Christine's more theater, so Ifeel, we kind of rely on each other's
expertise, especially when we'regoing in the different kind of venues.
So as an artist, I feel like I, I lendthat as well because I understand what
(27:32):
it feels like to be from that otherend and like what I want for my film
and also what it felt like for thefirst time filmmakers who have been
to a film festival and knowing thatthey need those extra questions or
extra things of like, what do I do?
Like how do I do this?
Do you have things like this?
And, and also relying on justknowing, because I've been to film
festivals that, you know, peoplesend us emails like, so we're invited
(27:56):
how do I get there?
And I'm like, oh, cool.
Well, I can actually send you aletter of invitation and here's
all the grant opportunities.
If you live in Canada, theseare the ones you can apply for.
And if you show them this letter,you can apply and they will give you
travel and they'll pay for you to come.
CHRISTINE: (28:10):
Aretha actually has a wonderful workshop on our YouTube
channel on how to submit your film.
It's a fantastic resource, likeyeah, knowledge right there.
ARETHA: (28:20):
Because again, like filmmakers will sometimes call me and be like,
I really wanna do this thing, butI don't know how to do this thing.
And I'm like, okay, well where are you at?
ANDRÉS: (28:27):
Yeah,
ARETHA: (28:27):
Like, where are you at?
And so I'll like walk them throughthe process and give them kind
of like a Cliff Notes version.
And that was one of thequestions someone asked me.
How do I submit to a film festival?
And I'm like, oh,
wow.
ALL: (28:37):
Laughter
ARETHA: (28:38):
Here's the things and then here are some rules that you need to
know that I learned as a filmmaker too,
like when you submit yourfilm into a film festival.
Yeah.
It's, it's those relationship buildingthat just kind of lends us to like not
only, um, being inspired by our own crafttoo, because we're also watching all these
films and sometimes I'm like watching,I remember one time I had a friend who
(29:01):
was like, you need to go watch this film
my friend made this film andwe're gonna go watch this film.
So I'm like, okay.
So we went to go watch the film.
It was like nine o'clock in themorning and I'm bawling my eyes out,
but it was a beautiful story aboutlike a two-spirit, like trans person.
And I was just crying and I waslike, I loved every moment of it.
I was like, it was a great filmand I just came away just like so
(29:23):
inspired because I love characterdriven stories in, in films and stuff.
And so it was such abeautiful story that I went
CHRISTINE: (29:29):
And it's the one hard part, like the last one
we went to before the pandemic.
ARETHA: (29:34):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (29:34):
The three of us went to imagineNATIVE and every morning we'd sit
there with our schedules and like, okay,you go to that one, I'll go to that one.
We all should go to this one.
And I feel like we were some of thepeople who tried to see every single film.
ARETHA: (29:48):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (29:48):
Right.
CHRISTINE: (29:49):
And it was so exhausting.
We couldn't really goto any of the parties.
ALL: (29:53):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (29:54):
You're like, oh, I'm done.
It's like the last film ended at 1145.
Let's just get back to theAirbnb and get some rest.
You know, we go hard when we're there,but, and of course we did take in
some of the parties, and of coursethe parties are part of the fun.
ANDRÉS: (30:09):
Mm-hmm.
Well, it's like you said, right?
It gives you a chance to havethe conversation about like,
oh, did you see this one?
CHRISTINE: (30:13):
Mm-hmm.
I love this about it.
ARETHA: (30:14):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (30:15):
And like having the conversation as to how it impacted you.
CHRISTINE: (30:17):
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (30:18):
Having seen the film right.
CHRISTINE: (30:19):
That's actually, you know, one of the things I'm, it's, it's a,
it's an anniversary year for us andnormally we try to have like some
networking things and like I said,the community dialogues and stuff.
But this, it's like, oh mygod, we have to have a party.
ALL: (30:32):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (30:32):
It's our anniversary we have to have an anniversary party.
Mm-hmm.
And.
You know, again, it's like,well, we don't just turn on the
music and, and you know, have,
ANDRÉS: (30:41):
No
CHRISTINE: (30:41):
have the
beverages.
We gotta have some art.
And that's actually, so we've beenworking with some really great people
to create a fantastic party as well.
I mean, I'm sure there'll be sort oflittle offs when people go out for drinks
after the show or whatever, but to havean actual dedicated party, so we're,
it'll be on Friday, the 21st at Studio96.
(31:02):
Which is a really unique space.
It used to be a church.
It's like a hundred year old church.
ANDRÉS: (31:07):
Oh wow.
CHRISTINE: (31:08):
That was taken over by architects and now it's
just like this amazing venue.
Um, so it's got a beautiful vibe.
All like, it's very sort of bohemian,artsy, bougie, you know, really lovely.
Um, but we're gonna have somebeautiful musical artists.
I'm so stoked because we are going to havetwo, of Canada's Got Talent contestants
(31:32):
At our events, we've got Arik Pipestem,who is a world champion, uh, hoop dancer.
He toured with Cirque Du Soleil, hewas on, So You Think You Can Dance,
and he's, he's a festival favorite.
We love him.
Um, and also, uh, new, uh, new to us.
Her name is Beatrice Love and she'slocal here in Edmonton, but she is on
(31:53):
Canada's Got Talent and I can't wait forpeople to hear her because her voting
will still be happening, and so fingerscrossed she gets to the semi-finals and
then she'll wow everyone at the showand, and then we can all vote for her.
Um, so I'm stoked about that.
But we also have Ayla Modeste who isa beautiful dancer, also local here.
(32:14):
Uh, she is a multi-talented person.
She also has a massage, uh,therapy company called Autumn
Rain, which is in our office.
Mm-hmm.
I tell you, is so special to havea massage therapist in your office.
ANDRÉS: (32:26):
That sounds so nice.
ALL: (32:27):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (32:28):
It's really nice.
Super, super nice, but she's awonderfully talented, um, uh, dancer.
So we'll be having her.
And then we're working with some visualartists and a group called Sokaris Inc.
They have been doing some amazingvideo mapping and projection work
for us the last couple of years.
And so we're working to, uh, everytime I meet with them, I'm like,
(32:50):
okay, project that, that'd be cool.
Maybe we can animate that.
Let's find some animators, animate thatand project it, but then now they've
gotten to know us more and they are,just brimming with creative ideas, and
I don't want to say specifically whatit's gonna be in case we have to like do
something different and they come back andthey're like, no, we decided to do this.
(33:12):
Um, but I know they aregonna do a great show for us.
And it's meant to be interactive.
It's meant to be, so, like, we don'twanna have a, like a regular proscenium
where like everyone comes in andsits down and watches performances.
We want people to walk around.
So we're gonna put theperformers in different spots.
We're gonna have them integrate atdifferent times and have things for
(33:35):
the audience to play with as well.
So I'm, I know it's gonna be a great time.
ANDRÉS: (33:40):
Now, it sounds like you've got an amazing festival happening in about
four days, from the 19th to the 23.
CHRISTINE: (33:46):
Yeah.
Did we even talk about all the stuffgoing on in the Milner Library?
ARETHA: (33:50):
Nope.
CHRISTINE: (33:50):
We haven't even got there
ANDRÉS: (33:51):
We haven't even talked about the library.
ALL: (33:52):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (33:53):
Do you wanna share a little bit about the library?
ARETHA: (33:56):
For sure.
Uh, so like you said, um, one ofthe things that I'm really exploring
is, is online in new media.
And so for me, I really wanted to create aspace where not only are we showing films,
we are showing films at the library too.
Cause there's a theater inthe library, uh, downtown.
But I also wanna create like, uh, we usedto, or we still have this thing called
Arts in the Alley, but we, it was justgonna be too cold to do Arts in the Alley.
(34:18):
So we are gonna have like anartist alley where we're gonna
have like indigenous artists aswell that will be selling stuff.
But we also are gonna be doing panelsand discussions about different things.
And so one of the things that I'mreally, uh, interested in is, Uh, content
creation and, uh, so we are invitingsome content creators to come and do
a panel and maybe talk to some youthand, and just people in general who
are interested about content creation.
(34:39):
So we're gonna have like a TikTok paneland I'm inviting some people that are,
um, who are gamers and streamers andcreating online content that way as well.
I've also invited one of the directorsof the Alberta Esports association,
who is, uh, an Alberta eSports gamingcompany that's, uh, not too old.
They're pretty new.
Mm-hmm.
(34:59):
Um, they just recently had an expo, Ithink in February to also talk about
that world as well too, about onlinegaming, but also eSports in general.
Yeah.
And we wanted to haveother panels as well.
We wanted to talk about maybesome community dialogues.
I've also invited some of thefilmmakers to maybe do some panels to
talk about their films and just beingfilmmakers and stuff like that too.
So it's gonna be very interactive.
(35:20):
With, with that as well.
The downtown libraryhas a huge Maker Space.
They actually have a studioin there as well too.
Um, I don't think it's open to thepublic yet, but they are working on it.
CHRISTINE: (35:30):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (35:30):
They also have a whole gaming room, commu, like room that's set up
for people to play games on, like ontheir computers and stuff like that.
So we were talking about maybe havingsome demos and things like that, but also.
Letting people know thatthat Maker Space is there.
CHRISTINE: (35:45):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (35:45):
So having a tour of the makerspace and letting people know, I
think there's 3D printers there, a spotthere that you can do book binding.
Whoa.
Yeah, there's, and there's awhole sewing section as well,
CHRISTINE: (35:58):
like the creativity, like it's the Milner Library.
so first, first of all, theEdmonton Public Library is becoming
a really great partner for us.
Um, but we, we've done a numberof tours talking with them
and it's so creative there.
Like it's not, it's not the library from,you know, when we were kids we're, shh,
quiet, there's so much stuff happening.
(36:20):
Um, and it's a beautiful new library.
Uh, and like the littlestudios that they have.
Recording studios.
We even filled, filmed some stuff usingone of their studios for a whole other
project that we had going on kinship care.
ARETHA: (36:32):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (36:33):
Um, yeah, just really delightful people and really can
do and excited to see what, whatwe are doing and that those are the
kind of partners that are awesome.
ANDRÉS: (36:41):
So if I'm somebody who is listening to this podcast, getting
very excited about the festival.
ARETHA: (36:47):
Yay.
ANDRÉS: (36:47):
How can I find out all of the information of the specific
times and places that I can goto plan my four days, let's say.
ARETHA: (36:55):
So if you go to our website
ALL: (36:57):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (36:58):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (36:58):
Uh, if you go to our website right on the there, you'll see there's
one link right there that will take youto the 2023 Dream Speakers Festival.
And you click on that and thenthere's a whole schedule that tells
you when the films are, it tellsyou the in-person ones tells you
the ones that are online as well.
So yeah, you kind of know the scheduleand some, some, some of them are free and
some of them cost a little bit of money.
(37:19):
And then we also have the festivalpass that will get you into everything
and so, yeah, it's uh, Dreamspeakers.
So Dream and speakers all one word .org.
ANDRÉS: (37:29):
I'm gonna ask you some questions, some more personal questions.
CHRISTINE: (37:31):
Okay.
ANDRÉS: (37:31):
Now that we've gone through the festival and it sounds amazing,
what do you love about film?
Specifically as a medium
CHRISTINE: (37:38):
Filmmaker, answer that one first.
ARETHA: (37:41):
Um, you know, I always, I always said this, the reason why I
wanted to be a filmmaker was cuz whenI watch films, I wanna get lost in the
world and I wanna ascend myself intothe disbelief and just be lost in it.
And if you can get methere, I'm like, it's fine.
I don't care about the technical things.
I don't care if you sawthe PA guy in the corner.
(38:02):
Like, I'm like,
ALL: (38:02):
Laughter
ARETHA: (38:03):
I'm not looking
for that anyways.
I'm like, oh, that was there I don't know.
Oh, I wasn't looking for that.
I was too busy beingenthralled by the conversation.
Um, and so for me, like when Iwatch films, I'm looking for that.
I'm looking for something that's justhas my whole attention into it of
like
what is it they were trying to convey?
What kind of message were they trying tohave, and can they bring me into that?
(38:24):
And if there's something that kind ofbrings me out of that, I'm like, why?
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (38:29):
Yeah.
ARETHA: (38:29):
Why?
Why?
Why was I, why was I taken out of that?
But yeah, so like there,there's two aspect of it.
It's me wanting to get lost in it, butthen there's the filmmaker's side of me
going like, oh, I would've edited that.
I would've edited that out.
ANDRÉS: (38:41):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (38:41):
And like, where did that character go?
Did we just talk to someone five secondsago and they never came back again?
Was that like, why why'dyou even have that in there?
ALL: (38:48):
Laughter
ARETHA: (38:49):
In one sense, I, I watch it for like technical things sometimes,
but then, but if I'm really investedin the storyline and the characters,
like, none of that matters to me becauseI'm now, I'm just lost in the world.
ANDRÉS: (39:01):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (39:02):
And I feel that like as soon as you said that, I started
thinking about all these differentfilms that did that for me.
ARETHA: (39:07):
Mm-hmm.
CHRISTINE: (39:08):
And so, yes, I ditto what she said.
ANDRÉS: (39:10):
Yeah.
And
CHRISTINE: (39:12):
And so when I look at like filmmaking, storytelling, our culture,
the things that we are expressingwithin this art form, what I think
is the thing that really excitesme is, an opportunity for empathy.
If we can save the planet,it's gonna be empathy.
So those things that,
(39:33):
can give us that or, um, grow that,spring from, create Empathy is where
I want to put a lot of my energies in.
Um, so I hope that people will comesee the film both for the art form,
the, the craft, the, the societaldialogue, but also just as humans to
(39:54):
take time to nurture our imagination.
Nurture the things that callour humanity to creator.
Just that.
ANDRÉS: (40:06):
Just that.
There you go.
ALL: (40:10):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (40:10):
All right.
I'm gonna end it on a really imaginative
CHRISTINE: (40:15):
Nice
ANDRÉS: (40:16):
question.
ARETHA: (40:17):
Okay.
ANDRÉS: (40:18):
If you were to, let's say, have a week where you know you need some
self care, you're gonna go home, you'regonna pop in your favorite childhood
movie and grab your favorite film snack.
What's that?
combination?
ARETHA: (40:37):
I already know mine
ALL: (40:42):
Laughter
ARETHA: (40:44):
one of the films that I watched 1,000,001 times, and I can still
watch 1,000,001 times is Labyrinth.
CHRISTINE: (40:51):
Oh yes,
ARETHA: (40:52):
I love Labyrinth.
Um, I love the puppetry.
Um, and just, I mean,David Bowie enough said,
ANDRÉS: (40:59):
Right?
ARETHA: (41:01):
Um, Yeah.
And just the songs, like I,I love, I love Labyrinth.
CHRISTINE: (41:07):
I'm actually trying to learn some of the songs on guitar.
ARETHA: (41:09):
Wow.
CHRISTINE: (41:09):
Yes.
I'm terrible at it, but yeah.
ALL: (41:11):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (41:12):
But they're on my set list.
ARETHA: (41:13):
Um, yeah, I, I, uh, had the film and then also, um, Labyrinth when DVDs
first came out, and they cost like a lot.
ANDRÉS: (41:22):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (41:22):
Mm-hmm.
ARETHA: (41:23):
I remember it was the first DVD I ever bought.
ANDRÉS: (41:25):
Really?
ARETHA: (41:25):
And it was like $30 for a DVD.
Because I was like,
ANDRÉS: (41:30):
That was back in the day.
Yeah.
ARETHA: (41:31):
Cause I was like, oh my God, I need this film.
I love it.
Um, cuz yeah, I think it was one thatI rented multiple times as a child and
watched it over and over and over again.
And, um, my favorite movie snack.
Uh.
I still really love popcorn.
Just popcorn and pop, and I'mgood to go with my favorite film.
ANDRÉS: (41:53):
What about you, Christine?
CHRISTINE: (41:54):
Definitely popcorn.
Parfait style.
Yeah.
Layer that butter.
Ooh, yeah.
Yes, yes.
In fact, we kind of have a rule at myhouse, like if, if me or my husband or my
son goes to see a movie without the restof us, they have to bring back popcorn.
ANDRÉS: (42:08):
Oh, really?
CHRISTINE: (42:09):
Unless there's like extenuating circumstances.
ARETHA: (42:12):
Mm.
ANDRÉS: (42:12):
So that's, that's your favorite movie snack thing?
CHRISTINE: (42:15):
Oh, definitely.
Mm-hmm.
ANDRÉS: (42:16):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (42:16):
It's one of my favorite foods ever.
End stop.
ALL: (42:22):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (42:23):
Love it.
Love it, love it.
Um, and movies.
Yeah.
So hard to pick.
There's so many fordifferent reasons, right?
Like I have some films where I'mlike, if I'm feeling really down
or like the world is too harsh, Ijust, there are some movies like
my go-to, just make me feel better.
And those are Disney's Sleeping Beauty.
(42:45):
All about Maleficent.
Um, and it's so silly.
I, I actually did a stintworking at a video store.
I used to work at the AlternativeVideo Spot on Whyte Avenue.
Okay.
And I was, you know, you have to helppeople find movies that they like, right?
If they don't know what theywant, and they come to you,
like, have any suggestions.
So I, okay, what mood are you in?
(43:06):
And there was this one woman whojust like, I'm pointing out movies
for her and blah, blah, blah.
And, and she just looks at me, she goes,You're a real Steve Martin fan, are you?
I'm like, am I?
I did not.
I said, why do you say that?
She goes, every film you'vesuggested has Steve Martin in.
I'm like,
ALL: (43:25):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (43:27):
Oh, okay.
So, and indeed one of those filmswhere I just get, lots of, uh,
comfort from, it's silly, but it alsohelped me be a good parent is the
movie Parenthood with Steve Martin.
ANDRÉS: (43:41):
Hmm.
CHRISTINE: (43:41):
You know, and Rick Moranis and it's like an all star amazing cast.
And the dialogue is hilarious.
Um, I enjoy it.
It is, it is it, you know,quintessential cinema?
I don't think so, but it's dang funnyand it's heartwarming and it makes me
feel good, but like, If I think of likea little bit more artsy fary films,
(44:03):
probably Monty Python, um, Holy Grail.
ANDRÉS: (44:06):
Oh yeah
CHRISTINE: (44:07):
Yeah, I, there's so many movies.
My, what am I even saying now I'mlike, no, my favorite film is Aliens.
ALL: (44:13):
Laughter
ANDRÉS: (44:14):
I love that.
Like you're like, I got at least five.
CHRISTINE: (44:18):
Why do I have to choose?
ARETHA: (44:21):
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: (44:21):
I could quote Aliens all the time, and it was really,
ARETHA: (44:24):
She does
CHRISTINE: (44:25):
weird, weird things were like, I didn't even, I thought I
was like artsy fartsy and all cool.
And then all of a sudden I'm likewatching Aliens 14 times, I'm like,
oh I think, I like this movie.
And I do.
ARETHA: (44:37):
It's funny cuz I think one of the first times you ever quoted
Aliens, you're like, that's from AliensI'm like, I know, I like Aliens too.
CHRISTINE: (44:46):
We're gonna be friends.
ANDRÉS: (44:48):
And that's when you got the contract
ALL: (44:50):
Laughter
CHRISTINE: (44:52):
Game over,
man game over.
ARETHA: (44:55):
I think I spent $30 on a game to get the, uh, the Xenomorph skin on a game.
ANDRÉS: (45:02):
Oh my gosh.
I
ARETHA: (45:03):
was like, this is so wrong, but I need it.
ANDRÉS: (45:07):
But just take my money.
Close your eyes.
ARETHA: (45:09):
Just take my money.
CHRISTINE: (45:11):
Yeah.
I love it.
ANDRÉS: (45:12):
Oh pals, thank you so much for being here and
for this lovely conversation.
Um, It's just been such a pleasure.
It's been seriously,
CHRISTINE: (45:18):
It's a pleasure to get to know you too, Andres you're so special.
Thank you.
ANDRÉS: (45:21):
Oh, thank you.
I'm so excited to take in this festival.
Please, if you're listening to this gocheck out Dreamspeakers Film Festival.
There's a lot to do and I'mso excited to just take it in.
I think it's gonna be great.
So thank you again to the CanadaCouncil for the Arts for our original,
um, funding for this project, as wellas the Edmonton Heritage Council,
(45:43):
uh, for the funding for season.
Thank you to, uh, Fringe ArtsBarns to Azimuth Theater, to Selina
Painchaud as always, our amazing audiotechnician, Oscar Derkx, our editor.
And to all of you for listening,I hope, uh, you keep checking out
these beautiful festivals that we'rehighlighting and we'll see you next time.
Bye-bye.
CHRISTINE: (46:02):
Hiy hiy.
ADS: (46:08):
Hey, pal, enjoying the conversation?
Traversing the Azimuth is a brandnew branch of Azimuth Theatre
aimed at connecting artists with awider community, deepening mutual
understanding, and getting to shareeach artist's process and journey.
You can help out by going to
AzimuthTheatre.com/sponsorship.
Your sponsorship will go straightinto paying more artists to
(46:29):
come and share what it means forthem to be" proudly in process"
For more information onTraversing the Azimuth
go to AzimuthTheatre.com/traversing.
Woohoo.
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