Introduction and Q&A with Darryl Nepinak
Darryl Nepinak (Anishinaabe/human/little bear scampering out of the forest) works as an arts facilitator with inner city youth in Winnipeg, MB. Nepinak was previously on the board of Urban Shaman Gallery and currently serves on the board of Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art. Nepinak’s films have been supported and archived by the National Film Board, and have screened at numerous venues around the world including at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Art Festival in Toronto, the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, and the Berlin International Film Festival.
A widely celebrated and esteemed filmmaker, Darryl Nepinak burst onto the Winnipeg filmmaking scene in the early 2000s and has since created a radical canon of satirical short films that are as big-hearted as they are scathing. He lists the Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) as his influences. Socially engaged and committed, Nepinak’s community includes Skownan Reserve on Turtle Island to Ngati Parou in Aotearoa. Nepinak exemplifies the filmmaker as community leader and social critic, one who is mercifully seeking catharsis and understanding through satirical humour. Nepinak explores themes of cultural property, systems of image-making, and the intricacies of inter-cultural misunderstanding on Treaty One land. Working variously in found-footage collage, docu-fiction, animation, mockumentary, music video and comic sketches, Nepinak’s filmmaking trajectory is both deeply challenging and resolutely upbeat. Recently, he has been working with individuals suffering from mental illness and addiction.
The program will feature the following films:
Bigfoot (2007) 13:39 min
Bannock (2006) 7 min
Script reading w/ Darryl Nepinak and Walter Forsberg via Zoom (Sundown at the Dusty Trail (2006) 2:17min in background)
Indian (2008) 1:40min
Good Morning Native America (2006) 5:08min
Zwei Indianer Aus Winnipeg (2008) 2:40min
POUNAMU AOTEAROA (2005) 22mins (WORLD PREMIERE)
This retrospective screening in conjunction with the 2021 Manitoba Film Hothouse Award for Creative Development is generously supported by the Manitoba Arts Council and William F. White International.
