Montreal: Jeffery Bear, panel chair of the BTVF Aboriginal Voices seminar, says Zacharias Kunuk’s Camera d’Or win for Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival underscores the need for Native filmmakers to defend their original languages and ways of telling stories.

‘I was thrilled when I saw the front cover of the National Post [May 21],’ says Bear, president of Urban Rez Productions in Vancouver. ‘For years and years people said, ‘You cannot make a film in your own language and have it appeal to a mainstream audience.’ And I always thought that was completely and utterly wrong.’

Panel participants include Canadian filmmaker Gil Cardinal of Homeland Films, director of the CBC/SRC miniseries Big Bear; Marrie Mumford, artistic director of the Aboriginal Arts Program at The Banff Centre; James Fortier, writer/producer from Turtle Island Productions in the U.S.; Jim Compton, director of programming at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network; and Mitch Torres, director/producer, Act 1905 Films, Australia.

The panel discussion is scheduled for 11 a.m., June 14 and is presented by Telefilm Canada.

While there is growing evidence of a new wave of Aboriginal talent in the Canadian production and broadcasting industries, supported by licences from the APTN and by programs from public agencies such as the National Film Board and Telefilm, Bear says there is also the danger specified funds could isolate Native artists or turn new players into junior partners on cross-over-style programs essentially developed by non-Native mainstream producers.

Telefilm’s Aboriginal Production Fund was seriously oversubscribed last year, according to Bear, producer of First Story, a CanPro and Leo Award winner for best information series. And he worries about the qualifications of fund decision-makers, who he says are faced with complex cultural issues.

‘Some of our people are not experienced enough. There are [Aboriginal] people who have never been involved in television coming out of the woodwork, including some out of Atlantic Canada where very experienced, skilled producers have found Natives to use, and in fact are producing series through APTN. I hope we don’t have too much of that.’

On the issue of public funds, Bear says Aboriginal creators will have to continue to develop their own institutions.

In the case of the NFB, he says its Aboriginal fund should be used essentially for first-time directors. Instead, the fund is being used to support directors who have been working with the board for years, effectively blocking out increased Native participation in mainstream doc studio programs.

‘If, for example, I want to apply to [the NFB studio] Documentary West, right away they are going to channel my application to the Aboriginal program.’

And then, Bear says, there’s the business of editorial diktat.

He was present with other Aboriginal producers and filmmakers when a senior NFB administrator politely told them, ‘No more land claims films, please.’

A case in point, Bear says a recent program proposal portraying a militant Native leader was turned down by the NFB but licensed by Global Television Network.

Safeguarding and expanding the role of Aboriginal voices likely means more production resources and broadcast promotion, but the instances of unsatisfactory results, says Bear, can be seen in both big and small corporate environments. *