In June, Seanna Connell and myself got the great privilege to be invited to one of the Wapikoni stop-overs, in the Kitigan Zibi reserve in Quebec. After a week in Montreal visiting a series of community partners in the city,  this was a wonderful way to end our trip. Discovering the Wapikoni in action, meeting the team and talking with Craig and Russell, two Indigenous youth who have already made several movies with the Wapikoni, (some of them were selected to film festivals around the world) was priceless.

The Wapikoni Mobile is a travelling studio for audiovisual training and creation of first nations. It was co-founded in 2004 by Manon Barbeau and the Council of the Atikamekw Nation Youth Council and the First Nations (currently known as First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Youth Network).
Well-known in Quebec and in Central America, the Wapikoni is now hoping to expend and develop new partnerships with allies in the North and West of Canada.

A stop-over usually lasts a month, during which the participating youth can make between 6 and 10 movies with the Wapikoni team. The team is composed of mentor filmmakers, local coordinators and youth workers. What particularly struck Seanna and I, while discovering the films that Craig and Russell shared with us, was the quality of the final products and the depth of the message shared in each video. We were both really moved. While the process of film making is essential to the Wapikoni mission, the outcome of the films produced is also crucial. The quality of those films help them travel around the world to various festivals and to raise awareness on Indigenous realities, giving a voice to the youth.

Watch the making of Kitigan Zibi 2016

« Wapikoni in Brief:

Mobile studios fully equipped with cutting-edge technology that “travels to” First Nations communities.

30 communities from 9 different nations, visited to date.

Since its initial stages, more than 3,500 youth trained or initiated to documentary film or musical recording, where 300 to 500 new participants are added on each year.

50 short films and 30 musical recordings created every year in Canada and abroad.

A collection of its kind in the world, featuring more than 850 films and 500 musical recordings; an exceptional First Nations cultural heritage.

100 awards and mentions earned in prestigious national and international festivals.

Numerous distinctions awarded to Wapikoni Mobile such as the 2014 Intercultural Innovation Award from the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the BMW Group, the 2011 Rights and Freedoms Prize, the Honorable Mention Award at Plural +, a festival organized by UNAOC and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the 28th Grand Prize of the Montreal Council of Arts, film category.

The mobile studios accumulate thousands of kilometres every year visiting new communities.

A non-for-profit organization and a registered charitable organization that employs a dozen people in its administrative offices and approximately 60 contractual field workers, a third of them Aboriginal. »

I highly encourage you to learn more about the Wapikoni on their website and to browse the gallery of films available.

To learn more about the Wapikoni, click here
To discover some of their films click here

Catherine Lamaison, Artbridges Francophone Community Arts Coordinator
-Source: Wapikoni
Read Wapikoni’s profile in ArtBridges’ Community-Engaged Arts Directory and Map