Friday, March 15 / 4:00 pm / Ottawa Art Gallery

Program: Katshinau, Atikamekw Suns

This program is presented in partnership with the Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival.

Feature presentation \

injustice \ crime \ Indigenous

Based on actual events, this tragic tale revolves around an incident involving five young people from the Atikamekw First Nation community of Matawan, Quebec who were found dead in a truck in a river in 1977. Faced with this terrible loss, the victims’ families and the entire community try to get the local police to investigate. They are met at best with half-hearted concern, at worst, with utter indifference. While the official (and unabashedly racist) police version is that the deaths were the result of a drunken accident, others wonder why and how two white men survived the incident unscathed. Suspicions abound. This powerful (and to this day still unsolved) story is given incendiary dramatic power by the extraordinary ensemble cast who enact a community at once seeking answers while dealing with unimaginable grief. Winner of the Borsos Award for Best Canadian Film at the 2023 Whistler Film Festival, where it also captured Best Director (Chloé Lerinthe) and Best Performer (given to its entire, remarkable ensemble cast) awards. Unforgettable.

- Tom McSorley

Basé sur des faits vécus, cette histoire tragique raconte un incident impliquant cinq jeunes de la communauté de la Première Nation Atikamekw de Matawan, au Québec, qui ont été trouvés morts à l’intérieur d’un camion dans une rivière en 1977. Devant cette perte terrible, les familles des victimes et la communauté en entier essaient d’inciter la police locale à investiguer. Au mieux, on leur montre un intérêt médiocre, sinon, une indifférence totale. Alors que la version officielle (et ouvertement raciste) de la police est que les décès ont été le résultat d’un accident causé par l’alcool, d’autres se demandent pourquoi et comment deux hommes blancs ont survécu à l’incident sans une égratignure. Les soupçons abondent. Cette histoire puissante (qui est toujours non résolue) jouit d’une force dramatique incendiaire grâce à la distribution extraordinaire qui incarne une communauté qui doit trouver des réponses tout en étant accablée par un deuil inimaginable. 

- Tom McSorley (traduit par Jacinthe Grenier-Albert)

Short film \

Katshinau

2023 / 17 minutes / Quebec
Director: Julien G. Marcotte, Jani Bellefleur-Kaltush
Language: French

Marie, an Indigenous slave to a local surgeon in New France, becomes convinced that the neighbour’s newly “adopted” child is the daughter she was forced to leave behind.

A visually rich period drama, Katshinau captures an oft-overlooked element of Canadian history. Shot entirely on handheld camera, giving a sense of immediacy to Marie’s alienation and increasing desperation for freedom. A film that will stick with you long after the credits roll.

This program is presented in partnership with the Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival.