Writing the land
Type
Audio/Visual
Authors
Category
Audio Visual and Multimedia Materials
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Publication Year
2007
Publisher
National Film Board of Canada, Canada
URL
[ private ]
Duration
7 min 37 s
Tags
Musqueam First Nation, Halkomelem language, British Columbia, British Columbia -- Vancouver, Indigenous peoples -- Cultural assimilation -- British Columbia, Indigenous peoples -- British Columbia -- Languages, Indigenous peoples -- British Columbia -- Vancouver, Indigenous peoples -- Cultural assimilation -- North America, Indigenous peoples -- North America -- Languages
Abstract
In this short documentary, a Musqueam elder rediscovers his Native language and traditions in the city of Vancouver, near where the Musqueam people have lived for thousands of years.
Writing the Land captures the ever-changing nature of a modern city - the glass and steel towers cut against the sky, grass, trees and a sudden flash of birds in flight and the enduring power of language to shape perception and create memory.
Writing the Land captures the ever-changing nature of a modern city - the glass and steel towers cut against the sky, grass, trees and a sudden flash of birds in flight and the enduring power of language to shape perception and create memory.
Description
The Musqueam people have lived for thousands of years in and around what is now the city of Vancouver. (The word Musqueam is an anglicized term describing "where the Muxqui [river grass] grows.") Director Kevin Lee Burton's new film Writing the Land meticulously combines film language with Hunkamenum words to recreate Musqueam elder Larry Grant's experience of rediscovering his language and cultural traditions.
When Larry Grant was growing up in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Strathcona, he made the conscious decision to stop speaking his native tongue. It wasn't unil he enrolled in a language course at UBC in 1998, that his ancestral language re-emerged - a process Grant likens to "opening up an old book." Over the course of his family's lifetime, his people have witnessed and been affected by the rapid evolution of technology. Rediscovering his language was for Larry Grant a path back to a sense of pride and identity.
Fluid roaming camera movement captures the ever-changing nature of a modern city - the glass and steel towers cut against the sky, grass, trees and a sudden flash of birds in flight. In this mutable, multifaceted environment, the enduring power of language to shape perception and create memory is etched onto the wind and water. In Larry Grant's own words, "I am from Musqueam... We have been here forever."
When Larry Grant was growing up in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Strathcona, he made the conscious decision to stop speaking his native tongue. It wasn't unil he enrolled in a language course at UBC in 1998, that his ancestral language re-emerged - a process Grant likens to "opening up an old book." Over the course of his family's lifetime, his people have witnessed and been affected by the rapid evolution of technology. Rediscovering his language was for Larry Grant a path back to a sense of pride and identity.
Fluid roaming camera movement captures the ever-changing nature of a modern city - the glass and steel towers cut against the sky, grass, trees and a sudden flash of birds in flight. In this mutable, multifaceted environment, the enduring power of language to shape perception and create memory is etched onto the wind and water. In Larry Grant's own words, "I am from Musqueam... We have been here forever."
Number of Copies
1
