麻豆视频

How is identity created? How do you know who you are? For many these questions are answered through their family history. From the struggles of frontier life to the successes of providing a good life for their family, it's these histories of where we came from which help us define who we are.

On Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. the Stoughton Library hosted Janine Windolph, a filmmaker and storyteller, to speak about her experiences discovering her own family history and the assistance she has given to schools in LaRonge and Cumberland House in focusing on their history and culture through multi-media studies.

Originally from LaRonge, Windolph would eventually live in Regina with her mother and step-father. She credits her step-father with teaching her about traditional beliefs, while the community she grew up with in LaRonge including her father would provide her with Anglican beliefs. This she says is a commonality near LaRonge and amongst many First Nations as they "walk two roads," believing each to be true and equally important in their lives.

Windolph has a Master of Fine Arts Interdisciplinary in Media Production and Indian Fine Arts, which has opened her up to the world of creating video projects featuring family histories and cultural experiences.

As a youth Windolph explained she had always wanted to become a filmmaker, but believed the only way to do so was to move to Hollywood. Her dreams therefore changed and she would enter Business Administration out of high school, but quickly fell in love with her Film 100 course.

"It hooked me," Windolph smiled. "I found myself following my original dream. I realized the movies you see made in Hollywood are not everything and that I could change focus to family. I had the power to tell the story the way I wanted to and that was empowering."

Windolph would great those at the Stoughton Library, which included students in kindergarten to grade eight from Oceanman.

Windolph explained her connection to a variety of cultures through her ancestors and though she had been told her European roots would be much easier to trace this was far from true. In the end she would only be able to trace back three generations of German ancestral ties, while she could go back much further through the oral histories of her First Nations ties.

Not knowing much of these family ties when she was younger, Windolph now says she has a better understanding of her identity and this drive to discover her history developed out of her children. She simply wanted them to know who they were and where they come from, which she had not known at their age.

In connection to this Windolph showed a short documentary of her family history, of speaking with her father about what he was taught as a youth and about their family tree.

Following this a video from a group of students in LaRonge was played. Windolph is also involved in helping youth develop their voice and teaches them about media production.

"We do a crash course on media and after they're done they take away different skills," Windolph explained.

This is followed by allowing the students to develop their own narratives, encouraging them to look at local histories and stories, however, the entire script and process is then created by the students with Windolph simply providing the tools to tell it.

"They're involved completely in the process," Windolph stated. "They're creating the narratives and casting the parts."

"We help them to find locals to provide music and help supplement their vision, which is good because we give work to artists living in the community while also bringing in other artists allowing them to build networks."

With Saskatchewan being quite large, Windolph was happy to say that when doing these projects with schools: "It's all local customs, music, and locations [being used]." This is because it is the students who develop and carry out the narrative.

Windolph says that students in LaRonge and Cumberland House are some of those which have found interest in media through these workshops.

"It gives them a sense of pride, a sense of ownership" Windolph stated. "And the kids tell me, mostly through Facebook... that they've taken an interest in film and want to pursue something related to media."

The videos made by the students and other videos created by Windolph are available through her YouTube page Mispon Festival.

Stoughton librarian, Laura Sabados, explained Windolph was invited to the library as a way to celebrate Aboriginal Storytelling Month.

"Every year the library does something for Aboriginal Storytelling Month and we get a list of speakers to choose from, since Janine was coming through the area to Lampman anyway we thought it would be good to ask her to join us as well," Sabados said.

Overall the approximately 30 people in attendance enjoyed the presentation and were pleased to have attended the library to speak with Windolph.

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