Notes from a programmer: Remembering the past, looking to the future

100 years of Saskatchewan women filmmakers

In March 2020, filmmaker and programmer Sandra Staples-Jetko presented the first in a screening series dedicated to the history of Saskatchewan women filmmakers. Sandra shares her personal programming notes with Splice. 

By Sandra Staples-Jetko

In September 2017, I was accepted into the Interdisciplinary MFA program, Media Production, and Education at the University of Regina. I had recently returned to university and discovered an interest in film. While doing unrelated research at the Provincial Archives several years ago, I came acrosssome film footage shot in 1919. When I decided I wanted to research women who had worked in film in Saskatchewan, I found that the films were not often catalogued by women filmmakers’ names. In addition to my work at the Provincial Archives, I also researched women directors at the NFB, Saskatchewan Filmpool, and University of Regina Archives. I had originally thought to provide an overview of women filmmakers in Saskatchewan by selecting and screening one film per decade in its original format, but the logistics of finding the range of projectors required were complicated; The films in question exist in 35mm, 16 mm, 8mm and older formats — not to mention digital. I discussed presenting my research with established filmmakers here in Regina, and both Gerald Saul and Dianne Ouellette suggested I start with screening a short program of more contemporary work.  

In September I asked Trudy Stewart if I could screen From Up North as part of the program, and if she would be on the panel. She agreed, but sadly, two weeks later, she died. I decided to honour her gentle approach to looking at the past in order to improve the future. I consulted with Janine Windolph to see if it would be appropriate to dedicate the event in Trudy’s honour.Janine was Trudy’s friend and professional colleague. Janine explained the relationship between them; “The adoption of a sister is based on wahkohtowin values, and bringing families together to become one family. As a Nehiyaw (Cree) family, we build a community of family to help raise the next generation.” Later, when complications came up, Janine brought Jhaik Windy Hair, their adopted Father and Record Keeper for the Windy Hair clan, to my house. I gave him tobacco in accordance with Treaty 4 protocol, and had I made bannock, the protocol I was taught by Treaty 6 people. Janine and Jhaik explained that, before he died, Starblanket had given Trudy permission to show the film. 

It was important to me that the venue was accessible to everyone.  The Shumiatcher Theatre at the MacKenzie fit the bill. The Filmpool agreed to host the screening.

REMEMBERING THE PAST, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Elaine Pain, originally from Saskatoon, retired from the University of Regina in 2009 after teaching film for 25 years. In her film, Thinking of You, she reads a note, reconnecting with an old friend, expressing regret for losing contact in her postcard-style film.  

Amalie Atkins, from Saskatoon, is a multi-disciplinary artist whose repertoire includes video work. In her experimental film, Listening to the Past/Listening to the Future, twins use megaphones to call the past and future, each appearing on an opposite wall. On a single screen, as it was presented in this program, the images are presented side-by-side.

A PAUSE 

Here, Jhaik Windy Hair explained that we were pausing with respect to those whose protocol is to not speak the name or view the image of the deceased for a year, to leave during the screening of From Up North. 

Trudy Stewart, raised in Regina, was an internationally recognized filmmaker and activist for Indigenous rights. In the film, the late Noel Starblanket tells his story. Trudy had recorded residential school survivors' stories for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. From Up North is a glimpse into her experience as she recorded these painful memories.

Tasha Hubbard, from Peepeekisis Nation, is an Associate Professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. Her animated film, Buffalo Calling, tells the story of the buffalo's importance to the people of this region. The film covers the buffalo’s early times, their near extinction, and their recent reintroduction to the plains. 

Dianne Ouellette, from southern Saskatchewan, is an independent filmmaker and communications specialist at the University of Regina. A week after the screening, she successfully defended her MFA project — a book and film based on her Métishistory and connection with wolves. Land of the Free, an experimental film, was shot in Grasslands National Park in collaboration with artist and activist Margaret Orr as a response to Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation.

Candy Fox is a filmmaker and actor from Piapot First Nation. Fox's ahkameyimo nitanis / Keep Going my Daughter, tells of Indigenous kinship systems and healing trauma through the written journals of a young couple as they await the birth, and greet the arrival, of their daughter.  

Tessa Cook (previously Desnomie), from Peepeekisis First Nation, is a live-event director, producer, and community events coordinator. Cook's film, ati-wîcahsin (It's Getting Easier), is one of two films she made as part of First Stories, an NFB emerging filmmaker program for Indigenous youth. The film uses gentle humour to share life on the trapline as Cook’s grandmother, Jane Merasty, teaches a young girl how she made brooms on the trapline. 

Janine Windolph, a filmmaker, educator, and storyteller, was born in La Ronge. Windolph's film, Stories Are in Our Bones, was produced by the NFB, and illustrates intergenerational teaching as Marion Otter teaches fishing skills to her city-raised grandsons. 

The screening was well attended, despite being presented only two days before the MacKenzie was forced to close due to COVID-19. It was followed by a panel discussion and Q&A, as filmmakers Cook, Windolph, Fox, Ouellette, and Pain discussed their films, filmmaking, and connections to Trudy. I would like to thankthe Saskatchewan Arts Board, NFB, MacKenzie Art Gallery, and projectionist Tim Bird for their additional support.

I am currently planning Female Gaze, an online program of films made between 1996 and 2020, for the Filmpool. 

While this research started as a side project while I complete my MFA, it has since grown, and I look forward to continuing to explore, document, and screen examples of work from in the past 100 years by Saskatchewan women filmmakers.  

Born in Saskatoon, Sandra Staples-Jetko is a filmmaker, researcher, and curator. She received her first film award at the Mexico International Film festival in 2017. Later that year, Sandra was accepted into the MFA program at the University of Regina. Her work focusses on community engaged video animation.