History Creator / AlanisObomsawin

Alanis Obomsawin (born August 31, 1932 in New Hampshire) is an Abenaki First Nations filmmaker, director, producer, musician, storyteller, and engraver from the Odanak Reserve of UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}. She is best known for her documentaries, directing and producing over 50 films with the Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada which mainly focus on Indigenous peoples across Canada in a career spanning over six decades.

Born in New Hampshire, she grew up in Odanak. At some point in her childhood, her family moved to Trois-Rivières where she was the only Indigenous child, an experience which greatly affected her worldview. Scouted as a model in her teens, she traveled across Canada, the United States, and Europe as a folk singer and storyteller of her Abenaki roots throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Venues ranged from the Town Hall in New York City and folk festivals to isolated residential schools and prisons.

A chance interview with the Creator/{{CBC}} documentary series ''Telescope'' in the 1960s about her work for her home community of Odanak led to her interest in documentary filmmaking and a longstanding partnership with the NFB. Her first film was ''Christmas at Moose Factory'' (1971), which was made with NoBudget. It was filmed at a residential school on the Moose Factory Cree Nation Reserve and is comprised of several stills of drawings by the schoolchildren narrating their drawings. A turning point for Obomsawin was filming ''Incident at Restigouche'' (1984), about the 1981 salmon raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq Reserve by the Sûreté du Québec. This led Obomsawin to making more activist-based documentaries, notably ''Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' (1993), a look at the Oka Crisis of 1990 during which she spent most of filming behind the barricades.

* {{Narrator}}: Obomsawin provides narration for most of her documentaries, providing context and key historical facts and events for viewers. Her narrations are provided both in French and English.

Alanis Obomsawin (born August 31, 1932 in New Hampshire) is an Abenaki First Nations filmmaker, director, producer, musician, storyteller, and engraver from the Odanak Reserve of UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}. She is best known for her documentaries, directing and producing over 50 films with the Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada which mainly focus on indigenous peoples across Canada in a career spanning over six decades.

A chance interview with the Creator/{{CBC}} documentary series ''Telescope'' in the 1960s about her work for her home community of Odanak led to her interest in documentary filmmaking and a longstanding partnership with the NFB. Her first film was ''Christmas at Moose Factory'' (1971), which was made with NoBudget. It was filmed at a residential school on the Moose Factory Cree Nation Reserve and is comprised of several stills of drawings by the schoolchildren narrating their drawings. A turning point for Obomsawin was filming ''Incident at Restigouche'' (1984), about the 1981 salmon raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq Reserve by the Quebec Provincial Police. This led Obomsawin to making more activist-based documentaries, notably ''Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' (1993), a look at the Oka Crisis of 1990 and during which she spent most of filming behind the barricades.

She has released just one album, ''Bush Lady'' (1988), which was self-released and which experimented with avant-garde and indigenous music. It was rereleased in 2018 by Constellation Records.

* OralTradition: Obomsawin credits her Aunt Jessie and her mother's cousin Théophile Panadis for her incredible early upbringing in Odanak. The latter taught her the oral traditions of the Abenaki people, which is honored in the track "Théo." The track alludes specifically to the story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Francis_Raid Rogers Raid on the St Francis mission]] (modern-day Odanak) during the UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar. Contrary to Major Rogers' own writings (in which he and his men killed around 200 people in the village), the Abenaki in the village were warned by one of Rogers' own Mohican scouts and the actual casualties were much lower than Rogers indicated (though no less devastating). The memory of the event was kept alive by a survivor - a young girl called Malian.

Alanis Obomsawin (born August 31, 1932 in New Hampshire) is an Abenaki First Nations filmmaker, director, producer, musician, and engraver from the Odanak Reserve of UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}. She is best known for her documentaries, directing and producing over 50 films with the Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada which mainly focus on indigenous peoples across Canada in a career spanning over six decades.

Born in New Hampshire, she was raised on the Odanak Reserve before moving to Trois-Rivières, where she was the only indigenous child and where she learned French. Scouted as a model, she traveled across Canada and the United States as a folk singer and storyteller of her Abenaki roots.

A chance interview with the Creator/{{CBC}} documentary series ''Telescope'' in the 1960s about her work for her home community of Odanak led to her interest in documentaries and a longstanding partnership with the NFB. Her first film was ''Christmas at Moose Factory'' (1971), which was made with NoBudget. It was filmed at a residential school on the Moose Factory Cree Nation Reserve and is comprised of several stills of drawings by the schoolchildren narrating their drawings. A turning point for Obomsawin was filming ''Incident at Restigouche'' (1984), about the 1981 salmon raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq Reserve by the Quebec Provincial Police. This led Obomsawin to making more activist-based documentaries, notably ''Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' (1993), a look at the Oka Crisis of 1990 and during which she spent most of filming behind the barricades.

* ''Bush Lady'' (1988, remastered release 2018)

She has released just one album, ''Bush Lady'' (1988), which was self-released, which experimented with avant-garde and indigenous music. It was rereleased in 2018 by Constellation Records.

A chance interview with the Creator/CBC documentary series ''Telescope'' in the 1960s about her work for her home community of Odanak led to her interest in documentaries and a longstanding partnership with the NFB. Her first film was ''Christmas at Moose Factory'' (1971), which was made with NoBudget. It was filmed at a residential school on the Moose Factory Cree Nation Reserve and is comprised of several stills of drawings by the schoolchildren narrating their drawings. A turning point for Obomsawin was filming ''Incident at Restigouche'' (1984), about the 1981 salmon raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq Reserve by the Quebec Provincial Police. This led Obomsawin to making more activist-based documentaries, notably ''Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' (1993), a look at the Oka Crisis of 1990 and during which she spent most of filming behind the barricades.

A chance interview with the CBC in the 1960s led to her interest in documentaries and a longstanding partnership with the NFB. Her first film was ''Christmas at Moose Factory'' (1971), which was made with NoBudget. It was filmed at a residential school on the Moose Factory Cree Nation Reserve and is comprised of several stills of drawings by the schoolchildren narrating their drawings. A turning point for Obomsawin was filming ''Incident at Restigouche'' (1984), about the 1981 salmon raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq Reserve by the Quebec Provincial Police. This led Obomsawin to making more activist-based documentaries, notably ''Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' (1993), a look at the Oka Crisis of 1990 and during which she spent most of filming behind the barricades.

* ''Gene Boy Come Home'' (2007)

* ''History of Manaawan, Parts One and Two'' (1972)

* ''Rocks at Whiskey Trench'' (2010)

* ''Kahnesatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' (1993)

Alanis Obomsawin (born August 31, 1932 in New Hampshire) is an Abenaki First Nations filmmaker, director, producer, musician, and engraver from the Odanak Reserve of UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}. She is best known for her documentaries, directing and producing over 50 films with the Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada which mainly focus on Indigenous peoples across Canada in a career spanning over six decades.

Born in New Hampshire, she was raised on the Odanak Reserve before moving to Trois-Rivières, where she was the only indigenous child and where she learned French. Scouted as a model, she traveled across Canada and the United States as a folk singer.

A chance interview with the CBC in the 1960s led to her interest in documentaries. Her first film was ''Christmas at Moose Factory'' (1971), which was made with NoBudget. It was filmed at a residential school on the Moose Factory Cree Nation Reserve and is comprised of several stills of drawings by the schoolchildren narrating their drawings. A turning point for Obomsawin was filming ''Incident at Restigouche'' (1984), about the 1981 salmon raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq Reserve by the Quebec Provincial Police. This led Obomsawin to making more activist-based documentaries, notably ''Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' (1993), a look at the Oka Crisis of 1990 and during which she spent most of filming behind the barricades.