This PTFF Focus screening is generously sponsored KMi Kristin Manwaring Insurance in partnership with Port Townsend Public Library Community Read program and The Rose Theatre.
Animation of all styles and by Indigenous artists of many different nations are featured in this line-up of short films. Legends, stories, and current events are explored by these talented filmmakers highlighting various approaches to humanity’s interconnectedness with the natural world.
Both the in person screening at The Rose and the virtual screening are FREE and open to the public. To make sure we don’t overpopulate The Rose, advance reservations for tickets are required.
Lineup:
Total runtime 72 minutes
Charley Squash Goes to Town
Writer/Director/Producer Dr. Duke Redbird
4 minutes
Reportedly the first animation film by a native filmmaker, this satirical short pokes gentle fun at Indigenous stereotypes and challenges the idea that Indigenous youth should seek to blend into mainstream society.
Maq and the Spirit of the Woods
Director/Writer/Animator Phyllis Grant
8 minutes
A Mi'kmaq boy realizes his potential with the help of inconspicuous mentors.
Vistas: Little Thunder
Writer/Director Nance Ackerman & Writer/Director Alan Syliboy
3 minutes
Inspired by the Mi'kmaq legend "The Stone Canoe", this short explores Indigenous humor, following Little Thunder as he reluctantly leaves his family and sets out on a cross-country canoe trip to become a man.
The Mountain of SGaana
Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter
10 minutes
Vistas: Walk-in-the-Forest
Director/Writer/Animator Diane Obomsawin
3 minutes
This whimsical animated short follows medicine man Walk-in-the-forest on a walk in the woods that leads to the discovery of an intriguing secret world.
Flight of the Hummingbird
Haida filmmaker Christopher Aucter
3 minutes
Haida Manga and book/artwork by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Vistas: Dancers of the Grass
Writer/Director Melanie Jackson
2 minutes
This stunning display of stop-motion animation vividly depicts the majesty of the hoop dance, a tradition symbolizing the unity of all nations.
Flood
Director Amanda Strong
4 minutes
Thunder, a youth, is accompanied by SpiderWoman and ThunderBird in the wake of a colonial flood.
Biidaaban
Director Amanda Strong
19 minutes
A young Indigenous genderfluid person and a Sasquatch shape-shifter set out to harvest sap from sugar maples in their urban, Ontario environment, continuing the work of their ancestors.
Now is the Time (documentary short)
Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter
16 minutes
When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.
- Runtime72 minutes
This PTFF Focus screening is generously sponsored KMi Kristin Manwaring Insurance in partnership with Port Townsend Public Library Community Read program and The Rose Theatre.
Animation of all styles and by Indigenous artists of many different nations are featured in this line-up of short films. Legends, stories, and current events are explored by these talented filmmakers highlighting various approaches to humanity’s interconnectedness with the natural world.
Both the in person screening at The Rose and the virtual screening are FREE and open to the public. To make sure we don’t overpopulate The Rose, advance reservations for tickets are required.
Lineup:
Total runtime 72 minutes
Charley Squash Goes to Town
Writer/Director/Producer Dr. Duke Redbird
4 minutes
Reportedly the first animation film by a native filmmaker, this satirical short pokes gentle fun at Indigenous stereotypes and challenges the idea that Indigenous youth should seek to blend into mainstream society.
Maq and the Spirit of the Woods
Director/Writer/Animator Phyllis Grant
8 minutes
A Mi'kmaq boy realizes his potential with the help of inconspicuous mentors.
Vistas: Little Thunder
Writer/Director Nance Ackerman & Writer/Director Alan Syliboy
3 minutes
Inspired by the Mi'kmaq legend "The Stone Canoe", this short explores Indigenous humor, following Little Thunder as he reluctantly leaves his family and sets out on a cross-country canoe trip to become a man.
The Mountain of SGaana
Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter
10 minutes
Vistas: Walk-in-the-Forest
Director/Writer/Animator Diane Obomsawin
3 minutes
This whimsical animated short follows medicine man Walk-in-the-forest on a walk in the woods that leads to the discovery of an intriguing secret world.
Flight of the Hummingbird
Haida filmmaker Christopher Aucter
3 minutes
Haida Manga and book/artwork by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Vistas: Dancers of the Grass
Writer/Director Melanie Jackson
2 minutes
This stunning display of stop-motion animation vividly depicts the majesty of the hoop dance, a tradition symbolizing the unity of all nations.
Flood
Director Amanda Strong
4 minutes
Thunder, a youth, is accompanied by SpiderWoman and ThunderBird in the wake of a colonial flood.
Biidaaban
Director Amanda Strong
19 minutes
A young Indigenous genderfluid person and a Sasquatch shape-shifter set out to harvest sap from sugar maples in their urban, Ontario environment, continuing the work of their ancestors.
Now is the Time (documentary short)
Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter
16 minutes
When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.
- Runtime72 minutes