Saugeen Takes On Film x imagineNATIVE

This program showcases 16mm films made during Saugeen Takes on Film, a series of intergenerational workshops from 2018 to 2023. Animating archival photographs, artifacts, and traditional knowledge, the filmmakers tap into their vibrant community, Saugeen First Nation, using hand-processing techniques with flowers developed by the Film Farm.

Jailhouse Rock | Saugeen Takes on Film Collab | 2018 | Premiere

Dancing with Naango |  Kelsey Diamond and Sharon Isaac |Saugeen First Nation | 2018 |  Anishinaabemowin and English | 3:16

Zgaabiignigan | Emily Kewageshig and Taylor Cameron | Saugeen First Nation | 2018 | Anishinaabemowin and English | 3:29

The Ancestors’ Gift |  Natalka Pucan | 2019 | English | 2:59

Asinii-wakaa’igan | Jennifer Kewageshig | 2023 | English | 11:04 | Premiere

Miigwech Aki | Wren Kahgee-Sterling | Premiere

Flying Geese | Adrian Kahgee | 2023 | English | Premiere

Arduous Journeys | Natalka Binens Pucan | 2023 | English | 5:10 | Premiere

Everything is Right Here | Adrian Kahgee | 2021 | English | 5:47

Jailhouse Rock | Saugeen Takes on Film Collab 

Everyone holds the camera and films around the Saugeen jail cell. Intended as a teaching tool for familiarity with the camera, participants encounter each other as a circle of creatives. 

Dancing with Naango | Kelsey Diamond and Sharon Isaac

The film is Kelsey Diamond’s dedication to her Great Grandmother Naango (Star) retelling how important it is to regain and maintain her Ojibwe traditions.

Zgaabiignigan | Emily Kewageshig and Taylor Cameron

The film documents the renaming in Anishinaabemowin of the bridge over the Saugeen River between Saugeen First Nation and the settler town of Southampton. 

The Ancestors’ Gift | Natalka Pucan 

This film is about the message the dish and one spoon treaty conveys to the Anishinabek and how our ancestors help us maintain and strengthen our individual sovereignty to the land.

Asinii-wakaa’igan | Jennifer Kewageshig

Indigenous wallers constructing dry stone walls and a wedding pavilion with the techniques, acquired thru the lost craft of dry stone walling.

Building a work force of hard working men reflecting the strength of resilience and the determination of our ancestors to create everlasting structures for future generations.     

Hearing the stone hammers carving each stone to fit its place overlooking the valley in the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Traditional Territory.

A place to pray, a place of gathering, a place for all people to come pray for life, strength and healing.

To appreciate the true beauty of the Odawa, Ojibway and Potawatomie people and the history of the 3 Fires Confederacy.

Miigwetch Aki | Wren Kahgee-Sterling

Flying Geese | Adrian Kahgee

Arduous Journeys | Natalka Binens Pucan

Everything is Right Here | Adrian Kahgee

A 16mm process cinema film, hand developed using dandelions and trilliums and infused with phytograms rich in plant medicines. Everything is Right Here explores culturally embodied spaces as a means to survival.

We want to thank Saugeen First Nation Employment & Training Centre, Odeimin Runners Club, Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management (F+PPCM) program at Toronto Metropolitan University, Film Farm, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, and the Canada Council for the Arts, for all their support towards this project.

Image: Arduous Journeys, Natalka Binens Pucan, 2023