Opening Night
Presented by
Wednesday 7pm | OCT. 17 FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND Opening Night Screening, Bloor Cinema
Four Sheets to the Wind Director: Sterlin Harjo USA, 84:00, 2007, 35 mm In English and Muskogee with English subtitles
I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind Director: Thomas King Canada, 4:26, 2007, Beta SP World Premiere Through spoken-word narration Thomas King explores the stereotypical portrayal of First Nations in the mainstream media and offers insight into how Indigenous people today are changing old ideas and empowering themselves. One of Canada’s pre-eminent novelists, Thomas King (Cherokee) is currently an English professor at the University of Guelph. I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind is his first foray into filmmaking.
Canadian Premiere Beautifully crafted and set under gorgeous Oklahoma skies, this poignant and wryly funny story of family and healing begins the morning Cufe Smallhill (Cody Lightning) finds his father quieter than usual, an empty bottle of pills at his side. Fulfilling his dad’s wish, Cufe sinks his father’s body in the pond to spare him the big circus of a funeral. Cufe, his cousin, and mom decide to fake a funeral to satisfy the community, and Cufe’s beautiful and tormented sister Miri (Tamara Podemski) comes home just long enough to convince Cufe to leave the reserve and visit her in the city. Once there, shy Cufe meets a girl who gently opens up his world. Four Sheets to the Wind is Seminole/Creek filmmaker Sterlin Harjo’s first feature length film. It garnered a Sundance Jury Award for Best Actor for Toronto actor Tamara Podemski. Harjo has directed three short films, including Goodnight Irene, which screened at imagineNATIVE in 2005.
31