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Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance

Alanis Obomsawin, 1993, 119 min 15 s
On a July day in 1990, a confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Quebec, into ...
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On a July day in 1990, a confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Quebec, into the international spotlight. Director Alanis Obomsawin spent 78 nerve-wracking days and nights filming the armed stand-off between the Mohawks, the Quebec police and the Canadian army. This powerful documentary takes you right into the action of an age-old Aboriginal struggle. The result is a portrait of the people behind the barricades.
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  • Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance

    Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance

    Alanis Obomsawin spent 78 nerve-wracking days and nights filming the armed standoff between the Mohawks, the Quebec police and the Canadian army in 1990. The result is a portrait of the people behind the barricades, providing insight into the Mohawks' unyielding determination to protect their land.

    Buy it now

The following DVDs may also interest you :

Alanis Obomsawin - The Collection: 270 Years of Resistance/Alanis Obomsawin - La collection : 270 ans de résistance
Alanis Obomsawin - The Collection: 270 Years of Resistance/Alanis Obomsawin - La collection : 270 ans de résistance

The camera of Alanis Obomsawin does not simply see. It speaks and listens to North America's First Peoples, the Aboriginal voices so often overlooked. The 1990 Oka Crisis re-ignited historic First Nations grievances and galvanized collective resolve. The immediate subject of this collection is the 78-day resistance of the Mohawks of Kanehsatake to the expropriation of land by the town of Oka, which planned to build a 9-hole golf course on burial grounds. But this quartet of films reveals the almost three centuries of Native resistance. Alanis Obomsawin is a cultural leader of fearlessness and grace and one of the most important filmmakers of our time. Her lifelong documentary project finds vibrant expression and focus within this remarkable collection.

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Katerina Cizek By Katerina Cizek
Manifesto Point # 1: The original project idea and goals come from the community partner. Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance is arguably Alanis Obomsawin's most important film, documenting the military 1990 siege of a Mohawk reserve near Oka, Quebec, and its causes. I chose this film here because the celebrated Abenaki filmmaker told me recently: "For me a real documentary is when you are really listening to somebody. They are the ones that tell you what the story is. Not you." Alanis said these words in the short the film I made about her, called Dream Magic (2008). I actually first saw Alanis in person behind the barricades at the Oka Crisis, back in 1990. She was there with her camera, and with army helicopters and madness swirling all around, she was an apparition of hope. I was a student journalist, furious with the disparity unfolding between the reality I saw before me, and the mainstream media's skewed interpretations of it. But because of Alanis, I was also witnessing the power of documentary firsthand. It is Alanis who first showed me almost two decades ago how collaborative the process can — and should — be. And from whom to draw inspiration.
Alanis Obomsawin By Alanis Obomsawin
I was in my car when the shooting occurred, on my way to another film shoot. I changed directions right away. I was working on something else that I completely dropped and raced to capture the stand-off on film. People outside of Canada were shocked when they saw this movie. They couldn't imagine that something like this was taking place here. The only negative reaction came when the film was released in French in Quebec.
Director
Alanis Obomsawin
Writing
Alanis Obomsawin
Voice and narration
Alanis Obomsawin
Producer
Wolf Koenig
Alanis Obomsawin
Colin Neale
Photography
Roger Rochat
Jean-Claude Labrecque
Philippe Amiguet
Susan Trow
François Brault
Barry Perles
Zoe Dirse
Jocelyn Simard
André-Luc Dupont
Savas Kalogeras
Sound
Raymond Marcoux
Marie-France Delagrave
Robert Verebely
Ismaël Cordeiro
Catherine Van Der Donckt
Serge Fortin
Juan Gutierrez
Tony Reed
Don Ayer
Jean-Pierre Joutel
Editing
Yurij Luhovy
Music
Claude Vendette
Francis Grandmont