WINNIPEG - Graduating students at a unique film school are being urged by one of North America's best-known aboriginal actors to help ensure First Nations are properly represented on movie and television screens.
"There's been so much misrepresentation,'' Tantoo Cardinal told 12 graduates of the New Voices program at the National Screen Institute Tuesday.
"There has been so much untruth that anything you do in this business, you have an opportunity to change things, to get it back to some semblance of truth,'' she said, alluding to the stereotypical Hollywood portrayal of aboriginals as violent savages.
"This society that has tried to obliterate us generation after generation ... has a lot of fear about us, and they don't even recognize it a lot of times.''
Cardinal, a 57-year-old Cree woman born in Fort McMurray, Alta, has appeared in Hollywood films including Dances With Wolves and Legends of The Fall.
In 1991, she fought with other actors on the set of the Canadian-made 1991 film Black Robe for changes to the script, which they said was told from a colonial perspective and portrayed natives as uncaring and in need of reform.
Cardinal told the graduates not to be afraid to tell their own stories using their own perspectives. It is a message institute officials already take to heart.
"You still don't see aboriginal faces on television ... there are very few aboriginal independent production companies that exist. So we still have our struggles,'' said Lisa Meeches, co-manager of the New Voices program and a longtime television producer.
The NSI, which receives almost all its funding through corporate sponsors and government agencies, launched New Voices three years ago as a way to allow young aboriginals to learn in a close-knit environment that is culturally supportive.
A spiritual adviser is available to help the students, some of whom come from reserves in other provinces. During Tuesday's graduation ceremony, the students were handed sweet grass instead of diplomas.
"Aboriginals have a unique approach to storytelling...and now I can tell the stories from our communities,'' said Kerry Barber, 34, who left her home in Dawson City, Yukon to attend the institute.
The students now face the daunting task of finding a job.
"What's next? Who knows?,'' said Chris Gabb, 31, of Winnipeg. "My goal is to be involved in the production of a television show.''
Gabb's schooling included a stint with Manitoba Film and Sound, a government agency, where he helped scout locations for filmmakers.
The practical experience, which all students are required to undergo, allowed Gabb to make connections that could lead to work in the future, he said.
