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ReFrame 2021 Opening Night


Join us in a virtual gathering to celebrate our incredible community, the films, filmmakers, sponsors and activists that have collectively created a festival in the most difficult of times. We are still able to gather online, to listen to words that will anchor us in the work we are trying to do: to tell stories, to raise awareness and to incite action.


Keynote Address by Drew Hayden Taylor


Poetry by Ziysah and Sarah Lewis


Introduction by Angela Connors


Sponsored by the Community Race Relations Committee


During the last thirty years of his career, Drew Hayden Taylor has done many things, most of which he is proud of. An Ojibway from the Curve Lake First Nations in Ontario, he has worn many hats in his literary career, from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., to being Artistic Director of Canada's premiere Native theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. He has been an award-winning playwright, a journalist/columnist (appearing regularly in several Canadian newspapers and magazines), short-story writer, novelist, television scriptwriter, and has worked on numerous documentaries exploring the Native experience. Drew Hayden Taylor's film Cottagers & Indians is showing as part of ReFrame 2021. 


Ziysah is a parent, poet, editor, community cultivator, and unsettled settler who works to connect us to our imaginations, our responsibilities, and each other. They have led organizations such as New Canadians Centre, Kawartha World Issues Centre, and ReFrame Film Festival. ziysah is grateful to live here in Nogojiwanong on Michi Saagiig Anishinaabe territory. Their most recent collection of poetry is consents+/=/- severances which can be purchased here: https://www.agingactivisms.org/consents-severances-ziysah


Sarah Lewis is an Anishnaabe Kwe spoken word artist from Curve Lake First Nation. She was a member of the 2019 Peterborough Poetry Slam Team, as well as a semi finalist at the 2019 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. She is a mother, VAW counsellor, activist, artist, dreamer, storyteller, and a curious spirit in pursuit of answers about the universe. Her stories draw on themes of love, rage, environmental activism and Indigenous empowerment.