As part of the presentation of the exhibition Alanis Obomsawin: The Children Have to Hear Another Story the MAC invites you to a conversation between Alanis Obomsawin, filmmaker, activist and singer, and author Michel Jean. Their encounter will take place in the Grande Bibliothèque Auditorium at BAnQ, on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, at 6 p.m.
One of the most acclaimed Indigenous directors in the world, Alanis Obomsawin came to cinema from performance and storytelling. Hired by the NFB as a consultant in 1967, she has created an extraordinary body of work—56 films and counting—including landmark documentaries like Incident at Restigouche and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. The Abenaki director has received numerous international honours, and her work was showcased in a 2008 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Alanis Obomsawin has consistently succeeded in using public platforms to advance Indigenous concerns and tell Indigenous stories. She has done this so effectively and with such integrity as a documentary filmmaker working at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) that she has become a revered and beloved figure among Indigenous communities and is celebrated both in Canada and abroad. Obomsawin has created a model of Indigenous cinema that privileges the voices of her subjects while challenging the core assumptions (economic, environmental, political, epistemic, ontological) of a world system created by colonialism that still exists and with which we must contend today.
The works of Innu author Michel Jean, a native of Mashteuiatsh, an Innu community located on the shores of Pekuakami, have been published in eight languages and in more than a dozen countries. In Quebec alone, his sales have surpassed 500,000 copies. His work has been adapted for the stage and will soon be adapted for the big screen and television.
He has been a guest at prestigious book fairs such as those in Frankfurt, Leipzig, Paris, Berlin, Beirut, Guadalajara, Madrid, and numerous literary festivals in France, Germany, and Austria, where the themes of identity, territory, and the survival of First Nations resonate strongly.
Michel Jean has also won eight literary awards, including seven for his novel Kukum, which tells the extraordinary life story of his great-grandmother Almanda and the courage so often demonstrated by First Nations peoples. Kukum was awarded the 2023 Prix du Meilleur Roman des Lecteurs et des Libraires Points by Éditions Points in France. Many universities around the world are currently studying this work. Kukum is part of the list established by L’Actualité magazine of the 25 novels that have defined Quebec. Michel Jean received the Library and Archives Canada Award for his « exceptional contribution to the creation and promotion of Canada’s cultural, literary, and historical heritage ». The Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec has named him a Companion, recognizing the « international reach of his work ». The Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie awarded him the Chevalier of the Order of La Pléiade, highlighting « the influence of Quebec and its cultures throughout the Francophonie ». L’Actualité magazine also ranks him among the 100 most influential people in Quebec. Highly appreciated by the Quebec public, he will be included in the proper noun section of the Robert Illustré – 2025 edition.
This activity is made possible through the generous support of Indigenous Screen Office (ISO).
