Wapikoni Mobile

The Wapikoni Mobile was designed to give Aboriginal youth a chance to depict their world through film. The idea is to equip these young people with the skills to express, and be recognised for, their artistic talents. The training and production process itself is also meant to facilitate communication between young people living in similar circumstances - but in different communities (on different reservations) - thereby hopefully encouraging them to leave their usual framework of life and open themselves up to their community...and beyond. In short, film is a tool for encouraging youth to express their dreams and experiences through images and sound.

Concretely, the programme features an onboard (mobile) recording studio, digital cameras, editing stations, and a projector. This mobile/travelling set-up enables organisers to travel to remote reservations, reaching Aboriginal youth on their own terms and within their own contexts/experiences. To that end, youth involvement is key. "To be visited by the Wapikoni Mobile a community must meet two requirements: it must obtain the support of the band council and appoint a coordinator, who sits on the Wapikoni Mobile's Board of Directors and acts as a liaison with the participants. The Aboriginal young people thereby participate fully in the project."

Participants are supported through training and mentoring at each stage by professional guides who provide hands-on training in audio and film techniques (e.g., cinematographic writing and technical aspects of camera operation and sound recording); however, creation is always left to the young Aboriginal screen writers.

Once the motorised training programme/vehicle has departed, youth-to-youth communication is fostered via the internet. The goal is to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate creative exchange by young Aboriginal artists. The Wapikoni website (French language only) is one means of sharing young filmmakers' photographs, perspectives, and projects.

In April 2005, the mobile film and music production studio set off from Montreal to tour the 6 Aboriginal communities it had visited in the last year - Pikogan, Kitcisakik, Lake Simon, Atikamekw de Wemotaci, Manawan, and Opitciwan - as well as a new one. Three film categories emerged within the 6 original Aboriginal communities visited: video-clips, documentaries and "coups de gueule" (pieces that aim to blow the whistle on a situation). Most creations are of approximately 5 minutes in length. Among the subjects explored by the young filmmakers are deforestation due to the exploitation of forests, an account of a young person who becomes a quadriplegic in a traffic accident, an account of a young fashion designer who comes back to live in the community, and the suicide of a loved one. Mobile works were entered in several Montreal film festivals; one of the productions went to Europe.

Youth.

This project originated with Manon Barbeau, a filmmaker who "is sensitive to Aboriginal peoples and cultures and has a lot of experience working with young people. While shooting a work of fiction in an Aboriginal community in northern Lanaudière, Manon was able to utilize the leadership skills of Wapikoni Awashish, a young woman who acted as an intermediary with members of the Conseil des Jeunes de Wemotaci." When Wapikoni, considered a role model for entrepreneurship in her community, died in a road accident in 2002, Manon proposed the development of a mobile studio project to the National Film Board in memory of Wapikoni Awashish.

One person associated with the project explains that "One of the major successes of the Wapikoni Mobile is its impact on the community. Even though, in the long run, the project aims at the acquisition of communication and digital tools by Aboriginal communities, the Wapikoni Mobile is of special interest because it shows young people and the community that they can undertake projects of any kind, and because it enables them to create links between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals during the distribution and public presentation of their productions." Further, "There is a great impact on people who see these productions. Within the communities themselves, there is an immediate awareness of phenomena such as alcoholism and suicide. Following this comes an empowerment of band chiefs and members of the community. The band chiefs are also very proud of the productions, filmed on their locations, to the point that they always have a cassette with them that they are prepared to show at any opportunity."