Meneath: skriti otok etike / Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics
Terril Calder (National Film Board of Canada)
2021, Kanada, 19'22''
Sredi želvjega otroka se ljudstvu Metis rodi deklica. Njeno otroško čudenje zmoti Jezus, ki se ji prikaže in ji pove o tako imenovanih grehih človeštva. Postane prepričana, da je umazana in bo končala v peklu, zlorabe in rasizem, ki jih doživlja, pa jo prežemajo s samosovraštvom in strahom.
In the middle of Turtle Island, a Métis Baby Girl is born. Her childhood wonder is disrupted when Jesus appears and tells her about the so-called sins of humanity. Convinced she is soiled and destined for Hell, the abuse and racism she endures leave her riddled with self-loathing and fear.
Recommended for children under 14 years old: No
Technique: Mixed
Language: English
Written and Directed by Terril Calder
Producer: Jelena Popović
Consulting Producer: Jason Ryle
Executive Producers: Michael Fukushima, Robert McLaughlin
Voice-acting: Nokomis: Gail Maurice; Jesus: Kent McQuaid; Baby Girl: Lake Delisle
Narrator: Terril Calder
Editor: Jeff Barnaby
Consultant: Darlene Naponse
Design, Animation and Compositing: Terril Calder
Armature: Erik Goulet
Puppets, Sets, Props, Costumes: Terril Calder
Traditional Costume – Baby Girl: Cassandra Cochrane
Lighting Consultant: Nadya Kwandibens
3D Animation: Zane Kozak
Music Composer: Judith Gruber-Stitzer © 2021 National Film Board of Canada (SOCAN)
Musicians: Kate Bevan-Baker, violin, François Jalbert, guitar, Sheila Hannigan, cello
Music Mix: François Arbour, Geoffrey Mitchell (NFB)
Sound Design: Sacha Ratcliffe
Foley: Karla Baumgardner assisted by Rod Thibeault
Foley Recording: Geoffrey Mitchell
Voice Recording: Luc Léger
Re-recording: Jean Paul Vialard, Shelley Craig
Technical Director: Eloi Champagne
Animation Technical Specialist: Randall Finnerty
Online Editor: Serge Verreault
Closing Credits: Cynthia Ouellet
Technical Coordinators: Luc Binette, Mira Mailhot
Studio Administrator: Rosalina Di Sario
Senior Production Coordinator: Dominique Forget
Studio Coordinator: Faisal Moula
Marketing Manager: Judith Lessard-Bérubé
Marketing Coordinator: Jolène Lessard
Anishinaabe Syllabic Chapter Titles: James Vukelich
Anishinaabemowin Translation: Margaret Pollock
Terril Calder
One of the foremost Métis media artists practising in Canada today, Terril Calder is a multi-disciplinary creator born in Fort Frances, Ontario, and currently living in Toronto. Calder’s Métis lineage is from the Red River Settlement and the Orkney Cree Métis. While her current practice is focused on stop-motion projects, which she writes, directs, crafts and animates, Calder also has an extensive background in performance art, visual art and media art. Calder attended the University of Manitoba’s Fine Arts Program, graduating with a major in Drawing and a minor in Film. While in Winnipeg, she exhibited her multi-media and performance artwork with the influential Student Bolshevik group and was a member of Video Pool. After moving to Toronto following her studies, Calder became a founding member of the 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art, where she curated visual and performance art exhibitions. Since the 1990s, Calder has lectured and taught art at organizations such as the National Ballet School of Canada, the Toronto District School Board, Art in the Park, the University of Manitoba, Indigenous Roots and imagineNATIVE, and in numerous Indigenous communities in Canada. Calder’s films have been screened at major festivals and venues across Canada and internationally, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, Rotterdam, the Berlinale, the Tampere Film Festival and imagineNATIVE. In 2019, the Winnipeg Film Group presented the first retrospective of her work, and in 2020 she received her first film festival retrospective, at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Calder’s notable film honours include Best Experimental Film from imagineNATIVE for The Gift, an Honourable Mention at the Sundance Film Festival, a Genie Award nomination for Best Animation and a Special Mention at the Berlinale (Generation 14+). Her films Choke (2011) and Snip (2016) were both selected for TIFF’s annual list of Canada’ Top Ten Shorts. Additional awards include best animation prizes at the Dreamspeakers Festival, the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, the Indianer Inuit film festival in Stuttgart, and the Intercontinental Biennale of Indigenous Art in Piura, Peru, as well as a Pixie Award for animation. In 2016, Calder won the prestigious K.M. Hunter Artist Award for her contributions to the media arts. In addition to her most recent animated project, Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics, Calder is co-creating a stop-motion video game with Meagan Byrne, providing animation for Alanis Obomsawin’s Green Horse project, and creating an animated art installation with the Glenn Gould Foundation in celebration of Obomsawin’s lifetime achievement award. // I grew up as a Calder from the Fort. Fort Frances, Ontario, is a small community where you don’t have to explain who you are. We are the Métis—we grew up in between the lines. Not completely white and not completely Native. The word Métis means “mixed blood”. That can be deceptive for some who believe that mixed bloodlines make you Métis. They do not. To be a recognized Nation, you need to have a distinct culture and language, and to be recognized as Métis you need to be connected to Louis Riel’s people of the Red River Nation, who had both. Our Nation/Tribe was Métis. My people are from the Red River Nation and fought in the Métis rebellion. They moved to the Fort after the civil war, and after their community was displaced. There was an adhesion to Treaty 3 to include my clan. So many settled on reserve at that time, and some did not. It was a bone of contention in my community, and it still is to this day. It’s a complicated issue. Because we settled there with the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), who we partnered with and very often shared families with, we had a distinct language that was not Michif. It is a misconception that Michif was our only language. My clan spoke Bungee and Anishinaabemowin. Bungee was a mix of Gaelic and Cree; a language that is now lost. My title (Orkney Cree Metis) denotes my bloodline of Scottish and Cree mix. However, my Nation remains “Métis.” The last name, Calder, is Scottish. It can be traced back to the beginning of the fur trade. When creating Meneath and the two voices, I really debated over who would embody the “Indigenous” voice. It is an easier read to make her Cree, because there is not a lot of knowledge about the diversity in my Nation, but in my gut I knew she had to be Anishinaabe. I feel a disconnect to both Cree and Scottish culture as my community evolved to be more Anishinaabe. We’ve been mixing our blood for centuries. However, that does not make us more Métis or more Anishinaabe. My mother is Norwegian, and she grew up outside of Fort Frances in the bush. My story is unusual. I was raised in my community and not in a suburb of Toronto, and my connection to my community fuels my curiosity and art. It has never been something I had to adopt or seek out. We were raised with heirlooms of culture, as the Métis culture is a mix of European and Ojibwe-Cree and, in my case, Anishinaabe. We have always lived off the land and our fish are a treasured staple. As time changes, our rights change, our acceptance changes. However, we remain Calders from the Fort.