For nearly 6 decades, filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has unflinchingly positioned Indigenous voices at the center of her documentaries.
Born in New Hampshire but raised in Quebec, Obomsawin, who is Abenaki, is best known for her documentaries that chronicle the lives of Indigenous people and the issues they face in Canada. Her films, she said in a 1993 interview, are a mirror for Canada to look at.
One of Obomsawin’s most prominent films is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993). She spent nearly 80 days in Oka, Quebec, documenting the Mohawk protest against the development of a golf course on their land and the increasing militaristic response from the Canadian government.
This week, Obomsawin was awarded the 63rd Edward MacDowell Medal in Peterborough for her lifetime contribution to the arts as a filmmaker.
Obomsawin joined NHPR’s All Things Considered Host Julia Furukawa to talk about her work and reflect on an acclaimed career.
Transcript:
So this award marks a couple of firsts. You are the first female filmmaker and the first Abenaki artist to receive the MacDowell Award — which is located on Abenaki lands. How do you feel about receiving this award?
Well, I'm so honored. I've always wondered, how come they chose me? It's just a big surprise and such a gift, really. This is Wabenaki country, where we are right now. This is New Hampshire. This is New England. This is where our people came from. And I'm very touched that I've been invited to come here and be so honored. I'm thinking of our people all the time. It's for them, too.
You've been doing this for quite a while — you made nearly 60 films during your time as a filmmaker. So why have you stayed so long doing this? What's kept you making films?
Because it's one of the most important things in my life. It's making sure that all people have a voice — in my case, I'm talking about our people. But I think every human being needs a place to speak. Documentary filmmaking is so important in terms of making sure that the right story is told. And it's also part of the history of this country, not just ourselves.
"I'm having the people themselves telling the story, not somebody else interpreting. And that's a very different way of learning something."
And I think that [it] changes the attitude and the ways of how people think of us. The educational system for many generations was horrifying. In terms of teaching the history of this country, there were a lot of lies and a lot of hate — to teach people to hate us. Education has a lot of power and people who are teaching have a lot of power. When I figured out how this happened. I made sure that I would do something to change it. I'm having the people themselves telling the story, not somebody else interpreting. And that's a very different way of learning something.
I just never get tired of listening to people. You learn so much. In our case, our people have survived incredible times [and] difficulties. And they're so beautiful.
There's been a lot of changes since you started making films over 50 years ago, specifically in the opportunities and the treatment of indigenous people here and in Canada. Have those changes impacted your work and maybe the stories that you choose to share now?
I wouldn't say it in that sense. I document. I listen to people. And it is the people who are making the changes. I think as a documentation person, the best gift I can give to anyone is to listen. Give time, time to hear. This is why I start just by doing sound. No images. Because [when] they're telling this story, the voice changes. They feel the sadness or something terrifying that's happened. Sometimes they might tell you a funny story, and the voice changes again. So that first meeting with the sound of a person, for me, it's sacred, every word. And you have to give it a lot of time, because the story is not yours, it's someone else's story. You have to give it all the respect and all the time it needs.
Is there something that you have yet to cover in your career as a filmmaker that you find yourself drawn to or that you hope to do in the future?
I've done everything that I felt I had to do and many times, [in] very difficult situations, very dangerous. And that's the way it is still today. I [have] not changed. Everybody is important and everybody has something important to say, and everybody has good parts in themselves. And the older I get, the more I realize that there's a lot of good people everywhere I go. I didn't always feel like that, but I do now.
