A beautiful introduction to the festival made by Redwire Magazine, Mahsi!

Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Society and W2 Community Media Arts Society Present:
The First Annual Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival

November 10-13th, 2011 at W2 Media Cafe, NFB Pacific Region Theatre, and SFU Woodwards

The Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival (VIMAF) in partnership with W2 Community Media Arts Society is proud to present it’s first Inaugural Media Arts Festival November 10-13, 2011 at the historical Woodwards Building in conjunction with Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the National Film Board (NFB).

The Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival is a multi-venue, digital storytelling & live culture festival that includes performances and panels for all people to celebrate and enjoy Indigenous culture. Vancouver’s only Aboriginal Media Arts Festival, VIMAF features works in shorts, experimental, documentaries, video art, animation, as well as feature length films.

The festival opens on Thursday, November 10th at 7:30pm with the VIMAF Opening Gala featuring Special Guest of Honor Ernie Paniccioli, historian, author, activist and premier ‘Hip-Hop photographer in America’. Author of Who Shot Ya?  - Three Decades of Hip Hop Photography. Paniccioli has recorded the entire evolution of Hip Hop, from Grandmaster Flash, to the athletic moves of the legendary Rock Steady Crew, to the fresh faces of Queen Latifah, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Eminem, and Lauren Hill.  

The Other Side Of Hip-Hop: The Sixth Element, the story of Ernie Paniccioli screens on Friday, November 11th, at 8:30pm at the W2 Media Cafe. The film will be followed by the Indigenous Music Culture Visions Program: First Nations music videos, music from DJ Deano with singer Csetkwe, installations from Bracken Hanuse Corlett, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Adrienne Greyeyes, and Jennifer Chong, and a performance by Ostwelve. Pannicioli will be speaking on the Decolonize Yourself panel with Ron Dean Harris, 2pm on Friday, November 11th. 

The Vancouver 125 Showcase and Panel on NDN Portrayal in Mainstream Media featuring award-winning director, writer and producer Loretta Todd, social justice and environmental and human rights activist, national chairperson of the Chinese Canadian National Council and president of Head Tax Families Society of Canada Sid Chow Tan, and actor, director and producer Odessa Shuquaya will take place on Saturday, November 12th at 2pm. 

On Saturday, November 12th at 5pm, join Lakota artist and curator Dana Claxton, with writer, actor and filmmaker Cowboy Smithx of the Piikani and Kainai Tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy for a discussion on The Future Of Indigenous Media featuring actor Justin Rain, filmmaker Lisa Jackson, Stephen Gladue, Visual Effects Animator, and emerging filmmaker Jay Cardinal-Villaneuve.

All VIMAF workshops and panel discussions will be held at W2 Media Cafe, 111 W Hastings Street, and admission is by donation. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

Tantoo Cardinal, accomplished First Nations actress will be MC’ing the west coast premieres of 4 full-length features, in the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at SFU Woodwards on Saturday, November 12th, and the NFB Pacific Region Theatre on Sunday, November 13th 2011: 

Up Heartbreak Hill, directed by Erica Sharf, follows three Native American teenagers who are at the crossroads of life as seniors in their Navajo Reservation high school. Barking Water, directed by Sterlin Harjo, was awarded Best Film and Best Actress in the American Indian Film Festival San Fransisco and was an Official Selection of the Sundance Film Festival. On the Ice, directed by Andrew Okpeaha Mclean and awarded the Best First Feature and the Crystal Bear of Generations at the 2011 Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival), is the story an Inuit hunter, who drives out on the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of seals and inadvertently becomes a witness to murder. Wapos Bay, directed by Melanie and Dennis Jackson and a part of the Little Bear Paws Program, is a tale of family, community and love, featuring the voice talents of Lorne Cardinal, Gordon Tootoosis, and Andrea Menard who will be in attendance. Other Featured Films Include: Two Indians Talking Drama by Sara McIntyre, and Music Is The Medicine, a documentary of Derek Miller by Lyndsay Rusheleau.

VIMAF 2011 Festival Pass

Make a donation:
http://www.gofundme.com/httpvimafcom

Location:
111 W Hastings Street

http://www.creativetechnology.org/page/w2-media-cafe