Eagle Lake talent screens film at Thunder Bay Festival

BY JON THOMPSON, THE ENTERPRISE (Lake of the Woods)

The whispered questions are starting to be spoken outloud: is a native film industry really beginning totake root in Northwestern Ontario?

With “Seeking Bimahdzwin”, a dramatic film based on native teen suicide, set to launch at Thunder Bay’s Bay Street Film Festival this weekend, Eagle Lake born Michelle Desrosier has stepped from the front lines tothe front of the camera.

Desrosier wrote the film and was then cast to play agroup therapist. It’s a role she found natural in writing the piece because social work is herprofession, even as life has dropped her right in the middle of Thunder Bay’s blossoming film scene. ” It was really exciting but it was also a scary process for me because you’re sharing a story that isvery close to your heart,” she says. “It touched my life in many ways and that’s a risk to share that with the public.”

Surprised that she could act well enough to take therole, her time now became consumed with shooting the film on top of the daily issues that arose from co-owning Thunderstone Pictures, who was co-producing Seeking [Bimaadiziiwin - sic]. “There’s so much more to making a film than people think. There’s a lot of work that goes into it. One of the group scenes would take us all day and all night to do then it’s a two minute shot in the film. It’s alot of hard, grueling work, doing it over again under the hot lights and a group of 16 behind the camera. You don’t think about it when you watch a film but there’s so much more going on than what you see.”

An aboriginal steering committee backed the project with a loose but very straight forward mandate. Their research on mental health concerns in First Nations communities led them to the issue of youth and teen suicide. Desrosier relied on her experience as a social worker with First Nations youth as well as her own life experience to write the screenplay.

“I don’t think there’s much in the film that hasn’t touched my life at some point in time. It looks at the residential school system, my grandfather was part ofthat. It looks at alcoholism, things that I’ve been touched by in one way or another throughout my life. “We dedicated the film to a brother of mine, Daniel. I lost him to suicide 12 years ago so that part of it touches me very personally. It’s also dedicated to First Nations youth whose lives have ended too soon. It’s not just a film. It’s so much more than that.”

The intent was for the film to serve as a treatment and education tool for First Nations youth in clinics or therapy sessions. With all the actors most of the crew hailing from between Winnipeg and Pays Plat, the focus would have regional appeal. Dr. Paul Mulzer, a psychiatrist with the Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital has even put in a proposal to do a manual for it to provide depth for the piece as a healing tool. However, due to the positive reaction at the press screening to its production quality, Thunderstone Pictures and Shebandowan Films may push beyond that potential.

“We’re looking into putting the film into festivals worldwide as well as broadcast potential. Applications are being made to fund eight more films and make it into a television series,” says her partner Dave Clement, the other co-owner of Thunderstone pictures who also co-produced and co-directed the film.

Local photographer Nadya Kwandibens from NorthwestA ngle was on the set conspiring to create much of the appearance of the film with the production team. The company website thunderstonepictures.com displays many of her photographs including those shown here.

From the Lake of the Woods Enterprise
Saturday, September 15, 2007

Seeking Bimaadiziiwin Shines

Wawatay News

September 6, 2007: Volume 34 #18

The uneasiness came from the oh-so-realistic portrayal of First Nation youth dealing with depression and suicide.

But for the film Seeking Bimaadiziiwin to succeed, that’s the way it had to be.

The story follows Kaitlyn, played by Bearskin Lake’s Brittany Angeconeb, as she struggles through depression caused by grief. Ultimately, she decides to try and take her life.

It’s an uncomfortable subject. I sat watching the scene with a cold shiver running down my spine.

The attempt was unsuccessful and Kaitlyn reluctantly lands in group therapy to help continue her recovery to good physical, mental and emotional health after a lengthy hospital stay.

The film’s best scenes involve the dynamic between a handful of youth in group therapy.

Brent Achneepineskum played James, an urban Aboriginal struggling to find his identity. Much like many Aboriginal youth you see at the mall, James wore loose, baggy street clothes and was heavily influenced by African-American culture and mannerisms.

Also occupying a seat in group therapy was Shyla, played by Candace Twance. Shyla was a lighter-skinned Aboriginal. As such, she faced discrimination among her peers for being too light.

That set up one of the most memorable lines in the film. When group therapy began, James was running his mouth about how it was supposed to be just for Aboriginals.

He questioned why Shyla, with her pale complexion, was in the “Nish” therapy, calling her Snowflake.

Her response was she knew more about her culture – including traditional dancing – than he did despite their respective skin colours.

I asked both the film’s writer Michelle Derosier and executive producer Dr. Paul Mulzer about the scene.

Mulzer said comments and exchanges similar to that in the film are typical in group therapy at Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital.

Derosier said the scene was one of the few which was, in-part, adlibbed.

“Most of the script had to stay exactly the way it was written to make sure we covered all the key points,” she said. “We knew what we had in mind for every character during casting and there was always going to be a scene like that one. But that was Brent doing a little extra. We left it in because we thought it worked in this case.”

Achneepineskum stole many of the scenes he appeared in. His presence – larger than life – offered a brief escape from some of the darker elements of the film – the funeral, suicide attempts and family problems which were filmed over nine days in late-May and early May in Thunder Bay and Fort William First Nation.

The film had many poignant moments. In one scene, James presents Kaitlyn with a painting he started before he met her. He told her it was her, with her children years later.

In another, Kaitlyn phones home to talk to her mother but slams the payphone down after realizing her mother was drunk.

Kelly Saxberg, the film’s co-director and co-producer, said the film’s story came about from a mandate from local First Nations people and a steering committee after they conducted a survey about what is lacking where educational tools are concerned.

The film – a co-production of Shebandowin Films and Thunderstone Pictures – will be used as an education tool, she said.

It will be sent to First Nations and she hopes to organize screenings on the First Nations as well.

The film will have its world premiere Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Thunder Bay’s Bay Street Film Festival.

The festival is online at
baystreetfilmfestival.ca