Full programming announced for 2020 online imagineNATIVE festival
By Sam Laskaris
TORONTO – Yes, things will be different this year, but officials with the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival are confident they have still managed to fulfill the mandate of their event.
Festival organizers staged a virtual press conference on Sept. 29 to announce their full programming details for this year’s event.
Because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it had already been previously announced the entire festival, which runs Oct. 20-25, will be held online.
“The goal, as always, is to present the very best in Indigenous stories, to present them with thought, care and honor in which they deserve,” said Naomi Johnson, the executive director of imagineNATIVE. “I believe we have accomplished that.”
This year marks the 21st year of the festival, which is always staged in Toronto. The 2020 event will present work from 153 Indigenous artists, representing 97 Indigenous nations.
“Although we won’t be gathering in the same way this year, we do see this as an opportunity to permeate further through online spaces with kin in our homes,” said imagineNATIVE’s artistic director Niki Little.
The festival will include 10 feature films, including Inconvenient Indian, which captured the People’s Choice Documentary Award at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Inconvenient Indian is directed by Michelle Latimer, a an Indigenous person of Thunder Bay, who has Algonquin and Métis ancestry. Latimer is also an actor, filmmaker and writer.
Other feature films that will be presented are Monkey Beach, Love and Fury, and The Legend of Baron To’a.
Monkey Beach is the film adaptation of the novel written by Eden Robinson.
Love and Fury is a documentary that follows Indigenous artists as they navigate their careers, not only in the United States, but abroad as well.
And The Legend of Baron To’a is about a Tongan man, who is fighting for the return of his father’s stolen championship wrestling belt, while also battling the legacy of his famous father.
The programming for this year’s imagineNATIVE also includes short programs. This will be the first time the festival will be opened with a shorts program.
“There are four short programs in total, each one named after one of the four colours in the Medicine Wheel,” Little said.
The festival will open with the Yellow quadrant today, a program featuring the works by artists from seven different nations.
Then, on Oct. 21, in the Red segment, there will be six short films detailing stories of connection where land and love reunite, bringing forth resilience and hope.
The Black portion will follow on Oct. 23, with eight shorts at the vanguard of Indigenous cinema.
And the shorts programs will conclude with the White category on Oct. 24. That’s when seven short films will be shown featuring stories about Indigenous languages, family, communities and representation.
“We are so proud to present programming that pushes the boundaries of a typical festival and continues to bear witness to the fulness of the moment where the past, present and future meet, collaborate and connect to thrive,” Little said.
Meanwhile, actor Lorne Cardinal, who has more than 100 screen and stage credits, will be recognized with the August Schellenberg Award of Excellence during the festival’s awards presentation, set for its closing night, Oct. 25.
Information for passes for all festival events, which begin for as little as $6 for a day pass, are available at festival.imaginenative.org