The Dreamspeakers International Film Festival is an annual

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, which programs a lineup of films related to

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

and other international

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

.Doug Johnson, "Festival to connect with community; Dreamspeakers Film Festival to bring 22 films by indigenous peoples from home and abroad to the city". ''Edmonton Examiner'', September 14, 2016. The oldest surviving indigenous film festival in Canada, it was first staged in 1992; however, its inaugural edition faced some controversy when the First Nations Filmmakers Alliance pressured the festival's organizing committee to pull several scheduled films which had not been made by indigenous filmmakers.Marc Horton, "Festival cuts films shy on native content". ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'', September 22, 1992. The Filmmakers Alliance disputed six films, threatening to boycott Dreamspeakers and start their own competing film festival if their demands were not met; five of the six titles were ultimately pulled from the festival at the last minute, with the Alliance backing down only on the high-profile documentary film ''

Incident at Oglala ''Incident at Oglala'' is a 1992 documentary by Michael Apted, narrated by Robert Redford. The film documents the deaths of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ...

''. John Paskievich, the director of the dropped film ''Sedna: The Making of a Myth'', criticized the decision, asking "How much of a percentage of native content do you need to have? Do you need to submit to blood tests?", and

Peter von Puttkamer Baron Peter Von Puttkamer (born April 8, 1962) is a Canadian filmmaker known for his unique approach to adventure documentary series for network television, and for his work with Indigenous communities in his country and around the world. He has wo ...

criticized the exclusion of his films ''The Spirit of the Mask'' and ''Kecia: Words to Live By'', calling special attention to the educational importance of ''Kecia'' as a documentary about a young First Nations girl living with

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. The festival's organizing committee and film selection process were restructured in response to the controversy before the second event was staged in 1993, and most later coverage of the festival has treated 1993 rather than 1992 as the launch date of the festival in its current form. For financial reasons, the festival was not staged in 1999 after failing to secure an arts grant from the city of Edmonton. It was revived in 2003 as a programming stream within the city's Global Visions Film Festival, before being officially relaunched as a separate event again in 2004. The festival also coordinates the Dreamspeakers Walk of Honour, a public

walk of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

in the city's Beaver Hills House Park devoted to distinguished Canadian indigenous people. In 2021 Christine Sokaymoh Frederick, Dreamspeakers’ executive director and team moved the programme of 35 films online after cancelling in 2020 due to the COVID19 pandemic.

References

External links

*{{Official, https://dreamspeakers.org/ Film festivals in Edmonton Indigenous film festivals in Canada 1992 establishments in Alberta Film festivals established in 1992