Wapikoni Mobile
{{short description|Indingenous audio-visual non-profit organization}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Wapikoni
| logo = Wapikoni Mobile logo.png
| type = Non-profit organization
| headquarters = Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| founded = {{start date and age|2004}}
| founding_location =
| key_people = Manon Barbeau, Council of the Atikamekw Nation and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Youth Network
| staff = 12 (60 contract workers)
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
Wapikoni Mobile is a Canadian non-profit organization based in Montreal, Quebec that hosts educational workshops and film screenings to raise awareness and educate the wider public about Indigenous cultures, issues and rights.{{cite web|url=http://www.wapikoni.ca/a-propos/services-offerts/ateliers-de-decouverte-et-de-sensibilisation|title=Ateliers de médiation et de sensibilisation - Wapikoni mobile|website=www.wapikoni.ca}}
Each year, an average of 300 youth participate in the workshops creating 50 short films and 30 musical recordings.{{cite web|url=https://icasc.ca/directory/wapikoni-mobile-0|title=Wapikoni Mobile {{!}} Art for Social Change|website=icasc.ca|access-date=2019-02-01}}
Wapikoni Mobile has visited over 29 Indigenous nations in Canada and abroad (including Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Panama, and Finland).{{cite web|url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/wapikoni-mobile-becomes-official-unesco-partner-656336763.html|title=Wapikoni Mobile becomes official UNESCO partner|date=9 November 2017|website=News Wire|access-date=2 February 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://reconciliationcanada.ca/reconciliation-on-film-wapikoni-mobile/|title=Reconciliation on Film: Wapikoni Mobile|date=13 December 2015 |access-date=2019-02-01}} The program has produced over 1000 short films{{cite web|url=http://www.netnewsledger.com/2018/08/08/wapikoni-mobile-trailer-prepares-indigenous-youth-with-empowerment-and-direction/|title=NetNewsLedger - Wapikoni Mobile Trailer prepares Indigenous youth with empowerment and direction|first=Amanda|last=Perreault|date=2018-08-08|website=NetNewsLedger|access-date=2019-02-01}} and 600 music recordings giving a voice to over 4,000 Indigenous youth.
History
In the early 2000s, filmmaker Manon Barbeau shot a feature-length film with 15 Atikamekw youths from the Wemotaci community in Quebec.{{cite web|url=http://www.informactionfilms.com/fr/realisateurs/manon-barbeau.php|title=InformAction - manon-barbeau|website=www.informactionfilms.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.wapikoni.ca/about/who-are-we/history|title=History - Wapikoni mobile|website=www.wapikoni.ca}} Wapikoni is named after one of Barbeau's collaborators on the project, a young woman named Wapikoni Awashish, a young Cree woman who died in a car crash at the age of 20. At the time of her death, Awashish was filming a feature-length film titled "La fin du mapris".
In 2004 during the Montreal First Peoples Festival, filmmaker Barbeau along with the Council of the Atikamekw Nation and the Youth Council First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (currently known as First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Youth Network) founded Wapikoni Mobile and launched the first of the mobile studios that the organization operates today.{{cite web |url=http://www.gestion.evalorix.com/cas/leadership-et-comportement-organisationnel/manon-barbeau-le-lien-lautre/ |title=Manon Barbeau : Le lien à l'autre - Gestion.eValorix |website=www.gestion.evalorix.com |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140929024108/http://www.gestion.evalorix.com/cas/leadership-et-comportement-organisationnel/manon-barbeau-le-lien-lautre/ |archive-date=29 September 2014 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.fnyouthnetwork.com/ |title=Welcome - AFNQL |website=www.fnyouthnetwork.com |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030165820/http://www.fnyouthnetwork.com/ |archive-date=30 October 2010 |url-status=dead}} The National Film Board of Canada was also a founding partner.{{cite web|url=http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/wapikoni-mobile-10-years-of-mediation-and-intervention-through-audiovisual-creation-514301541.html|title=Wapikoni Mobile: 10 years of mediation and intervention through audiovisual creation|website=Canada News Wire|access-date=2017-05-16}}
A notable participant from the project's inaugural year was Samian, an Algonquin rapper from Pikogan in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, who is now a Wapikoni spokesperson and organizes fundraising concerts for the organization.{{cite web|url=https://voir.ca/musique/2012/10/25/samian-wapikoni-mobile-lallegorie-de-la-hache/|title=Samian / Wapikoni mobile : L'allégorie de la hache|last=Péloquin|first=André|website=Voir.ca|language=fr-CA|access-date=2019-02-01}} Other Wapikoni participants have gone on to work at Telefilm Canada as well as the CBC.{{cite web|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/327648/cinema-ottawa-porte-un-coup-aux-jeunes-createurs-autochtones|title=Cinéma - Ottawa porte un coup aux jeunes créateurs autochtones|website=Le Devoir|date=18 July 2011 }}
In 2011, lost nearly half a million dollars in operating grants from Service Canada.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/wapikoni-mobile-goes-to-lac-simon-que-1.1225425|title=Wapikoni Mobile goes to Lac-Simon, Que. |date=March 3, 2012 |website=CBC|access-date=2019-02-01}} Thanks to a grant from Health Canada's suicide prevention strategy, the organization was able to visit Algonquin territory in October 2011. In 2012, Wapikoni Mobile received a three-year $520,000 grant from the McConnell Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://mcconnellfoundation.ca/grant/wapikoni-mobile/|title=Wapikoni Mobile|website=McConnell Foundation|access-date=2019-02-01}}
As of 2012, Wapikoni has two permanent studios: one each in the Kitcisakik and the Wemotaci First Nations communities.{{cite web|url=http://www.wapikoni.ca/Content/documents/Revuedepresse/The%20Gazette_20121028.pdf |title=The Gazette |publisher=www.wapikoni.ca |date= |accessdate=2019-12-18}} In 2014, it hosted an international symposium with the goal of creating RICAA (Réseau International de Création Audiovisuelle Autochtone), a network of Aboriginal production companies.{{cite web |url=http://cdc-ccd.org/Symposium-international-sur-la?lang=en |title=Symposium international sur la création et la diffusion du cinéma autochtone qu'organise le Wapikoni mobile, 30 juillet au 2 août |website=cdc-ccd.org |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518093020/http://cdc-ccd.org/Symposium-international-sur-la?lang=en |archive-date=18 May 2015 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/cinema/421196/le-festival-du-nouveau-cinema-souligne-le-10e-anniversaire-de-wapikoni-mobile|title=Le Festival du nouveau cinéma souligne le 10e anniversaire de Wapikoni mobile|website=Le Devoir|date=16 October 2014 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.pressegauche.org/Quand-le-cinema-cree-des-ponts-Premier-symposium-international-du-Wapikoni|title=Quand le cinéma crée des ponts |website=www.pressegauche.org}}
In 2017, Wapikoni Mobile became an official UNESCO partner to provide consultation services on the expression of Indigenous youth and the issues affecting them.
Wapikoni Mobile employs a dozen people in its offices and 60 contractual field workers (a third are Aboriginal).
Programming
The organization provides mentorship and training in audiovisual creation to Indigenous youth mostly in Canada in the hopes of creating jobs and educational opportunities, countering high rates of suicide, drop-out and addiction.{{cite web|url=http://www.wapikoni.ca/about/who-are-we/innovative-approach|title=Innovative approach - Wapikoni mobile|website=www.wapikoni.ca}}
Participants accompanied by two filmmaker-mentor, an Indigenous assistant filmmaker-mentor, a local youth outreach worker, and a coordinator from the community.{{cite web|url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/wapikonis-2018-season-begins-682152221.html|title=Wapikoni's 2018 Season Begins|website=www.newswire.ca|access-date=2019-02-01}} Youth are trained on technical aspects of film making with professional equipment. The month-long workshops focus on documentary film making and musical recording, offering participants training in writing and directing, along with other behind the scenes work such as filming, sound recording, and editing.{{cite web|url=http://www.wapikoni.ca/about/who-are-we/wapikoni-in-brief|title=Wapikoni in short - Wapikoni mobile|website=www.wapikoni.ca}}
Each mobile studio is an RV equipped with an editing station, a small sound studio, a projection and screening area, desktops with Final Cut Pro, and HD cameras and microphones to film with.{{cite web|url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Montreal+Diary+Wapikoni+mobile+offers+creative+outlet/7455199/story.html|title=Montreal Diary: Wapikoni mobile offers a creative outlet|last=Beeston|first=Laura|website=www.montrealgazette.com}} The organization has been credited with providing Aboriginal youth an outlet for expressing themselves, as well as the tools and skills to do so.[http://www.wapikoni.ca/Content/documents/Revuedepresse/The_Gazette_SOSWapikoni_26_juillet_2011.pdf]{{dead link|date=December 2019}}
The films are screened in their communities of origin and often go on to be screened more widely to non-Aboriginal audiences.
Awards and recognition
- Participants have won 152 awards and honours from national and international Human Rights organizations and film festivals.{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/education/channels/event/weekly-indigenous-film-series-series-short-films-wapikoni-mobile-282324|title=Weekly Indigenous Film Series: A series of short films by Wapikoni Mobile|website=Faculty of Education|access-date=2019-02-01}}
- 28th Grand Prize of the Montreal Council of Arts, film category
- 2011, Rights and Freedoms Prize, the Honorable Mention Award at Plural +
- 2014, Intercultural Innovation Award from the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)
- 2017, finalist for the 2017 Global Pluralism Award.
In 2024, the organization's 20th anniversary wias marked with a special retrospective program of some of its short films at the 2024 Festival du nouveau cinéma.[https://ctvm.info/53e-fnc-le-meilleur-du-cinema-mondial-en-primeur-a-montreal-du-9-au-20-octobre-2024/ "53e FNC: le meilleur du cinéma mondial en primeur à Montréal du 9 au 20 octobre 2024"]. CTVM, September 25, 2024.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wapikoni}}
Category:Non-profit organizations based in Montreal
Category:Indigenous film and television production companies in Canada
Category:First Nations in Quebec
Category:Arts organizations established in 2004