“215”

Anyone who is thinking, caring, compassionate – anyone who has a heart – will know exactly what this number represents. Maybe you can ignore the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, maybe you can not notice the findings of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, but it’s hard not to feel that number, 215.

Since January we have been working on a new film. It is meant to be a companion piece in tone and content to the film we created last year, The Road. The title of our new piece is Shadows in Time. It is about the racism the Stardale girls face in their day to day lives.

I began working with the girls back in January at our Wednesday night sessions. Generally, we begin the evening talking about incidents of racism the girls have had to endure, how they were made to feel, did they feel they were in any physical danger and so on.

A few weeks ago, I shared this photo on Facebook. Whoever posted it in the first place had given it the caption, ”Early American Art” which I thought was quite clever. I find the art work very beautiful, and one can only imagine the wide range of tipi paintings, the shapes and colours, a whole encampment of them, even.

Last week I finished assembling the script for Stardale’s new film project tentatively called Shadow. It was a daunting task. On Sunday afternoon I had hundreds of recipe cards and small pieces of paper spread over my desk (and beyond). The challenge was to find some kind of template to put the girls’ thoughts into, and from there, to decide which ones were in and which ones were not.

Helen McPhaden and I were kicking around the idea of story telling the other day. At some level, the pieces I have contributed to for Stardale have all been based on writings the girls share with me. I have asked them, over the years, to share feelings on some very difficult subjects: suicide, drug use and abuse, missing and murdered indigenous women.

The Stardale girls are currently involved in a number of arts activities that are quite frankly second to none and in many ways are one of a kind. While some of the girls come from households where there is no money or support for culturally enriching activities, their participation in the Stardale programs offers them access to some incredible opportunities.

At our last session, we showed this year’s class at Stardale the film we made last year, The Road. Most of the girls had seen it, some had actually contributed to the script and acted in the film. It was a good reminder for all us to see it again as we work on developing the script for this year’s effort which will be a companion piece to The Road. The theme of this year’s film is racism, and how it has impacted the young lives of the girls in the program.

The girls and I met the other evening to start on this year’s project, which is to write and produce a short film having to do with racism. Our goal is to create over the next six months or so a companion piece the film we created last year, titled The Road (which you can view for a small fee at www.theroadfilm.ca). At the start of our session, we reminisced about last year and the odd journey we and rest of the world found ourselves on.

With masks on and protocols in place and empty chairs separating all the participants, the Stardale class of 2021 started up last week with a talking circle, discussing the difficult subject of racism in our society.

Well, wasn't that a year? It was a year more to be survived or endured than really lived with any joy or contentment. I've heard it described as building the airplane while you're flying it, and that seems pretty accurate. Do we wear masks or not? What about gloves? Can we congregate or must we isolate? The messages changed as the year we went on, and most of us tried to adapt and do what we could to remain safe ourselves and protect those around us.

With the warm weather and the lack of snow and being in the grips of a total lockdown this year, it's hard to believe as I write this that a week from now it will be Christmas Eve. If you're like me, you might well be wondering just what joy there is to be found in Christmas this year. Wouldn't it be better just to get the whole thing behind us so we can move and get on with our lives?

As our pandemic-weary world lurches towards Christmastime, I hear again and again people saying things like, “Man, I really need Christmas this year, more than ever,” or even “Thank God it’s Christmastime, I really need a break from the madness!”

A month out as we look ahead at the holiday season, no clear image appears and we find ourselves faced with a great degree of uncertainty. Not only that, some of us are also feeling a whole range of emotions we don't normally associate with Christmas - fear, dread, frustration and even anger.

As you know, the Stardale organization created a film this summer called The Road that was awarded "Best Short Documentary" at the Montreal Independent Film Festival. One thing that might be easily overlooked and that I am particularly proud of is the fact that we actually completed a project during a summer that was in so many ways challenging and difficult for all of us.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts under the granting of "Creating, Knowing and Sharing for Indigenous Peoples" for supporting Stardale Women's Group Inc. in the Ribbon Skirt Cultural Project.

We were all very thrilled and gratified and maybe even shocked to learn that our film The Road had won an award: Best Short Documentary Film at the Montreal Independent Film Festival. As the reality began to sink in, I think all of us must have offered some words of thanks to the Creator for such recognition.

On September 24, 2020, we will present the world premiere of the short film The Road. This presentation will be the culmination of about fifteen months of work for Helen McPhaden and I, going back to an initial brainstorming session at Caffé Beano in June of 2019.