Alanis Obomsawin
Alanis Obomsawin is a prominent Canadian filmmaker and artist of the Abenaki Nation, known for her impactful documentary films that address the political and social issues facing modern Indigenous populations. Born on August 31, 1932, in New Hampshire, Obomsawin's early experiences with racism and cultural storytelling shaped her artistic vision. She began her filmmaking career in 1971 with the National Film Board of Canada, producing over twenty documentaries, including notable works like "Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance," which chronicles the Oka Crisis of 1990, and "Richard Cardinal: Cry from the Diary of a Métis Child," which sparked reforms in social services for Indigenous children.
Obomsawin's films often prioritize a straightforward cinematic style that emphasizes the voices and experiences of her subjects. In addition to filmmaking, she engages in other artistic forms such as singing and storytelling, aiming to instill cultural pride and traditional knowledge in Indigenous youth. Her contributions to the arts and Indigenous advocacy have earned her numerous accolades, including membership in the Order of Canada and several honorary doctorates. With a career spanning decades, Obomsawin continues to be a vital figure in promoting Indigenous narratives and fostering dialogue about social justice issues.
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Subject Terms
Alanis Obomsawin
Filmmaker
- Born: August 31, 1932
- Place of Birth: Lebanon, New Hampshire
Contribution: Alanis Obomsawin, Canada’s foremost aboriginal filmmaker, began her career as a documentary filmmaker in 1971. Her documentary films, mostly produced and directed through the National Film Board (NFB) of Canada, delve into the political and social issues of modern aboriginal populations. Obomsawin, who also dabbles in other artistic mediums such as singing, storytelling, engraving, and printmaking, has made it a priority to foster a sense of traditional knowledge and cultural pride in aboriginal children.
Background
Alanis Obomsawin was born on August 31, 1932, near Lebanon, New Hampshire, to a family of the Abenaki Nation. Her father was a hunting and fishing guide. When she was an infant, her family moved to Odanak, Quebec, a First Nations reserve near Montreal, where she lived until she was nine. During her time at the reserve, Obomsawin absorbed the songs and legends of the Abenaki Nation. Her family then moved to the city of Trois-Rivières, where she was the target of racism from both teachers and peers as the only aboriginal child in school. Obomsawin would later make a short film, When All the Leaves Are Gone (2010), about these experiences.
In the late 1950s, Obomsawin moved to Montreal and joined a circle of friends that included writers, photographers, and artists. She became a popular singer and community educator in aboriginal communities across Canada. Originally knowing only her native tongue and French, Obomsawin taught herself English when she was in her mid-twenties.
As a result of her work as a traditional singer and storyteller, the NFB invited Obomsawin in the mid-1960s to serve as a consultant for projects about aboriginal Canadians. She went on to produce and direct educational filmstrips and documentaries at the NFB, making more than twenty films with aboriginal themes.
On behalf of humanitarian causes, Obomsawin has appeared at folk art festivals, universities, museums, and prisons throughout North America and Europe. In 1988, she released an album, Bush Lady, which includes traditional Abenaki songs as well as original compositions.
Obomsawin’s daughter, Kisos Obomsawin, was born in 1969.
Films
Obomsawin has stated that her preferred cinematic style is “as plain as possible, so that the attention has to be on the work and what the people are saying.” In fact, she used children’s drawings and paintings as the basis for her first film, Christmas at Moose Factory (1971), a documentary about Cree children. Her best-known children’s documentary, Richard Cardinal: Cry from the Diary of a Métis Child (1986), focuses on the suicide of a young boy. The film was so influential that it led to changes in Alberta’s social services administration for aboriginal foster children.
Obomsawin’s best-known documentary, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), explores a 1990 land dispute between Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, which resulted in an armed standoff that lasted seventy-eight days and nights. Obomsawin spent the entire seventy-eight days of the crisis filming the armed confrontation between the Mohawk people, the Quebec police, and the Canadian army. The film won eighteen international awards and became the first of a series of four documentaries Obomsawin made about aspects of the Oka Crisis.
Another film, Is the Crown at War with Us? (2002), focuses on aboriginal Canadians in the province of New Brunswick and their dispute with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Obomsawin’s seventh film, it concerns eighteenth-century treaties that give aboriginal peoples the right to fish in New Brunswick’s waters. Other documentaries include Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006), which explores the people and stories of Odanak; Gene Boy Came Home (2007), about aboriginal Vietnam War veteran Eugene Benedict; and The People of the Kattawapiskak River (2012), which focuses on the Attawapiskat housing crisis of 2011.
Obomsawin continued her directing career with Hi-Ho Mistahey! (2013), a film about the Shannen's Dream activist campaign in support of better educational opportunities for First Nations students. In the years that followed, she maintained her focus on First Nations-related subject matter as she directed films like Trick or Treaty? (2014), We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice (2016), Our People Will Be Healed (2017), Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger (2019), Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair (2021), and Bill Reid Remembers (2022).
For her contributions, Obomsawin became a member of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest honor, in 1983; she was promoted to officer in 2002. In 2001, she received a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts; she would later receive a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement in 2008. In 2004, Obomsawin received the Pioneer Award from the International Documentary Association, and in 2010, she was inducted into the Playback Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame. Retrospectives of her work were held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2008 and at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in 2009, during which she received the festival’s award for outstanding achievement. Obomsawin has also received a number of honorary doctorates.
Bibliography
"Alanis Obomsawin." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0643446. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
Gauthier, Jennifer L. “Dismantling the Master’s House: The Feminist Fourth Cinema Documentaries of Alanis Obomsawin and Loretta Todd.” Native Americans on Film: Conversations, Teaching, and Theory. Ed. M. Elise Marubbio and Eric L. Buffalohead. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2012. 89–115. Print.
Lewis, Randolph. Alanis Obomsawin: The Vision of a Native Filmmaker. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2006. Print.
Lim, Audrea. “Borderlands and Paradises: Suburbs, Cities, and ‘Alanis Obomsawin.’” Antigonish Review 162 (2010): 91–7. Print.
Marotti, Micol. “A Conversation with Alanis Obomsawin.” American Indian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution, Dec. 2004. Web. 1 Aug. 2013.
Pick, Zuzana M., and Paul Williams. “Obomsawin, Alanis.” Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica-Dominion, 2012. Web. 1 Aug. 2013.
Taillon, Joan. “Order of Canada Promotion for Alanis Obomsawin.” Windspeaker 19.10 (2002): 12. Print.