Shirley Cheechoo Internationally Acclaimed Filmmaker/ Artist

[Native Culture on Film]

Internationally Acclaimed Filmmaker and Artist

Shirley Cheechoo, first First Nation woman to write, produce, direct, and act in a feature-length film from Canada

She is the founder of the De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group at Wikwemikong . . .
http://www.debaj.ca

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Among her accomplishments . . .

Documentaries - Shadows in Deep Waters and Pikutiskwaau

Feature-length film - Bearwalker

Shirley Cheechoo first gained international acclaim in 1992 with her one-woman play, Path With No Moccasins. It gave her an opportunity to speak about her life, the struggle to retain her identity, and her Cree heritage. Her vast training includes: directing at Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Centre, attending directing and writing labs at the Sundance Institute, and drama writing workshops at CBC Television.

Cheechoo, with her unbridled determination and artistic bent, has now established herself as a significant Canadian filmmaker.

In her debut directorial film, Silent Tears, Cheecho chronicles the events of one harsh winter trip with her parents to a northern trap line when she was eight years old. The trip was both devastating and heartbreaking but, she says, it was also a time when she lost her innocence, and gained her strength.

In 1998, she formed Spoken Song Productions and in 1999, Girls From the Backroads Productions with Phyllis Ellis. She has continued to write and produce acclaimed documentaries, and her feature-length film, Bearwalker, won several awards.

A stage, film, television and radio actor, she is founder of De-Ba-Jeh-Mu-Jig Theatre group, a unique company and training environment for Native artists.

A respected visual artist, her paintings have been exhibited worldwide. Her commissions include: Christmas cards for UNICEF, Amnesty International, The Ontario Native Women's Association, and The Hospital for Sick Children. She also provided the illustrations for Basil H. Johnston's book, Tales the Elders Told.

Shirley is passionately involved in a feasibility study to develop a film institute on Manitoulin Island. This not-for-profit organization will enhance the artistic vitality of independent filmmakers from such culturally diverse backgrounds as Aboriginal, Native American, African American, and Latino. The goal is train, develop, guide, and support these artists, and help discover new voices.

Shirley is a member of the Cree Nation, James Bay. She lives on Manitoulin Island and has one son, Nanoshkasheese. Shirley is a former student at Shingwauk Residential School, now known as Algoma University College.

The most powerful play she wrote and published was "Path With No Moccasins. "This one-woman show is a gripping revelation of her personal experiences in residential schools, and reveals some astounding truths about realities and abuse suffered by too many native children in their formative years." Playwrights Guild

What critics said about "A Path With No Moccasins"

"Introspective, haunting and appalling in its blunt blast ofreality to anybody who claims to know what life was like inIndian residential schools." ? Regina Leader-Post

"The imagery is exceptionally vivid and the work issensitively and intelligently crafted." - Globe and Mail

"Path With No Moccasins confronts painful memories in agentle style full of good humour and sharp observation andrich in remembered detail." -NOW

"It blends big, dramatic moments and wonderful wry humourwith touching moments of pathos and insight." ? VancouverSun

About Pikutiskwaau
Mother Earth of the Cree provides the gift of life for those who live off the land. She feeds us and gives us medicine. She warms us, and gives us strength, both physic g Mother Earth.ally and spiritually. In this poignant documentary, Cree elders share stories passed down by their ancestors that help explain how appreciating and honoring our mothers also means respecting Mother Earth.

"Cheechoo captures both the stories and the knowledge — of the land and the Cree people, and the symbiotic relationship between the two — conveyed by her elders, with the hope of providing a document that will both educate and inspire younger members of the Cree nation. She succeeds in crafting a distinctly cinematic look at the philosophy and humanist teachings of her people that will appeal to all audiences." NSI Film Exchange 2003


About Bearwalker
The feature-length film is set on a fictional Canadian Cree reserve on Manitoulin Island in 1976. It is the haunting story of four sisters-one of whom played by Cheecho-who constantly struggle to overcome oppression, racism, police corruption, violence, and murder. It is also a story of family love, where combined loyalty and unbounding resilience help combat the spiritual and human forces of destruction.

One of a select group of promising filmmakers, she was invited to attend workshops at the prestigious Sundance Institute with creative advisor Robert Redford. It was here that she worked on Bearwalker.

Shirley Cheechoo is a member of the board of directors of the Trillium Foundation. Here is the write up they give her . . .

"Dr. Shirley Cheechoo appreciates the importance of diversity and artistic expression in Ontario’s communities. She is an actress, writer, producer, director and visual artist. Dr. Cheechoo is the first person from a First Nation to write, produce, direct and act in a feature length dramatic film in Canada, titled Bearwalker (aka Backroads) and has won many awards for her documentaries and short dramatic films.

Bearwalker (aka Backroads) won awards including Best Director, Best Film, and Best Actress at the Reel World Film Festival, the Reel Island Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Festival. It was the Official Selection-American Spectrum at the Sundance Film Festival, was voted third most popular film at the Vancouver International film Festival and received honorary mention at the Lake Placid Film Festival.

She was appointed to the Ontario Trillium Foundation's Board of Directors in September 2004."

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More about Shirley Cheechoo, the artist . . .
http://www.whetung.com/cheechoo.html