International Airport, and TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. The Festival’s SSDI webpage (http://imaginenative.org/festival2012/SSDI) includes details on mall and shopping centre locations screening the SSDI, a resource page featuring artists, issues and links to organizations to find out more about the history and movement surrounding Indigenous women’s rights. “The passion of our partners, collaborators and artists to bring attention to such an important issue to potentially over 2.5 million viewers is an unprecedented opportunity,” beams Daniel NorthwayFrank, Programming + Industry Manager. “To challenge our artists to marry artistic style and social justice is a new and exciting venture. We hope this initiative adds a strong voice and attention to the Indigenous women’s rights movement in Canada, and spurs action and awareness through creative outlets in other Indigenous communities and countries around the world, which sadly have similar experiences.” The SSDI project started as a call by imagineNATIVE and its partners to Canada’s Aboriginal artistic community to conceive of a video piece creatively reflecting and responding to the Stolen Sisters, a term adopted by the Aboriginal community and larger social justice organizations of the struggle to find answers for the over 500 official (and arguably more) unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada. The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative was funded by imagineNATIVE and Canada Council for the Arts, and is co-presented by Pattison Onestop and Amnesty International Canada.
About the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival - www.imagineNATIVE.org The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, now in its 13th year, is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media. Each October, imagineNATIVE presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe. The Festival’s programming, industry events, panel discussions, and cultural and social events attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, buyers, and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world’s Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of our art and culture in contemporary media. This year’s Festival runs October 17-21, 2012 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
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