''How People Got Fire'' is a short, poetic
animated film
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
from the
Yukon
Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
.
Synopsis
In a snowy village, a talented young girl listens to her grandmother's story of how
Crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...
got fire for the people. A magical realist exploration of
aboriginal American spirituality,
oral story-telling, and a northern childhood.
About the film
"This short film is based in part on the story told by the late Kitty Smith of the
Kwanlin Dun First Nation."
The film was shot in
Carcross-Tagish, Yukon and
rotoscoped
Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This pro ...
,
with the addition of charcoal drawings by
Christopher Auchter
Christopher Auchter is a Haida people, Haida artist and filmmaker from Canada. He is most noted for his 2019 short film ''Now Is the Time (film), Now Is the Time'', which was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Canadian Screen Award for Best Short ...
, and a contemporary classical sound track by Daniel Janke.
The film was the 2009 World Indigenous Film Awards Winner for Best Animation, and received the
2009 American Indian Film Festival Award, Best Animated Short.
It received an award for Best Short Documentary at the 2009
Imagine Native Film + Media Arts Festival, Toronto, and the TEUEIKAN Second Prize at the 2009
First Peoples' Festival (Land InSights), Montréal.
The film was a finalist for the Writers Guild of Canada 2010 Screenwriting Award for Short Subjects.
Festivals
*"
Tromsø International Film Festival, Frozen Land-Moving Pictures", Jan. 18-23, 2011
*"
Atlantic Film Festival
The Atlantic International Film Festival is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. AIFF is the largest Canadian film festival east of Montreal, regularly premiering the region's top films of ...
", Sept. 16-25, 2010, Halifax, Nova Scotia
*"Sprockets: Toronto International Film Festival for Children", April 17–23, 2010
*"ECOFILMS: Rhodos International Films + Visual Arts Festival", 2010
*"Animation Celebration!", Museum of the American Indian, New York, February 2010
*"
American Indian Film Festival
The American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated solely to Native American/First Nations films and prepared the way for the 1979 formati ...
", Nov. 6-14, 2009, San Francisco, CA
*"ImagiNATIVE Film - Media Arts Festival", Oct. 14-18, 2009, Toronto
* "Reel to Real International Film Festival for Youth, Vancouver BC, 2009
[ ]
*"
The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival", 14–29 October 2009
*"Dreamspeakers Film Festival", June 18–21, 2009
*"Available Light Film Festival," Yukon Arts Center, 2009
See also
*
Angela Sidney
*
Raven in mythology
Many references to ravens exist in world lore and literature. Most depictions allude to the appearance and behavior of the wide-ranging common raven (''Corvus corax''). Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven i ...
*
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...
*
Kwanlin Dün First Nation
The Kwanlin Dün First Nation (KDFN) or Kwänlin Dän kwächʼǟn (″Whitehorse People″) is located in and around Whitehorse in Yukon, Canada.
The Kwanlin Dün is the largest First Nation in Yukon. Linguistically, the Kwanlin Dün are aff ...
*
Carcross/Tagish First Nation
The Carcross/Tagish First Nation (C/TFN or CTFN) is a First Nation native to the Canadian territory of Yukon. Its original population centres were Carcross and Tagish, and Squanga, although many of its citizens also live in Whitehorse. The ...
References
External links
* {{imdb title, 1545307
* Watc
''How People Got Fire''at the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
website (requires
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...
)
National Film Board of Canada animated short films
Carcross, Yukon
Films set in Yukon
First Nations films
Films shot in Yukon
2008 animated short films
Rotoscoped films
Works about storytelling
2000s Canadian animated films
Animated films set in Canada