Oka story wins national film fest

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Alanis Obomsawin's long-awaited documentary of the Mohawk standoff near the town of Oka made its Canadian debut at the Festival of Festivals in Toronto this month.

And Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance took top honors. An international jury granted Obomsawin's film the 1993 $25,000 Toronto-CITY Award for best Canadian feature.

Kanehsatake: 270 Year of Resistance is a compelling and honest account of the crisis at Oka, shot from behind the barricades during the 11-week Mohawk standoff against the Quebec police and the Canadian army in 1990. Obomsawin, 61, was working on another film when she heard that the Quebec police had invaded Kanehsatake, and dropped everything to go behind the barricades where she stayed, filming, for 78 days.

Three years later, the documentary opened to sold-out audiences in Toronto, and began to open many people's eyes to exactly what went on in Quebec during those three months.

The documentary clearly shows the unity, hopes, frustration and laughter of those who defended their land near Oka.

When Oka municipal council voted to proceed with a housing development and golf-course expansion into the Pines, they set off a reaction that reverberated throughout the Native communities in North America.

Obomsawin, who wrote, directed, co-produced and narrated the movie, clearly documents the blatant misuse of police and military power, and the duplicity of government officials in dealing with the crisis. Through individual reflections the people behind the barricade, the audience becomes familiar with the inner feelings and motivations of the Mohawks, as well as their determination to protect their land, and their traditions.

Editor Yuij Luhovy and Obomsawin spent six months reviewing the footage that was shot at Kanehsatake. The first rough draft of the film lasted 12 hours, and the final cut was condensed to two hours long. Obomsawin intends to make a series of short films with the remaining footage, with different people who were involved in the crisis.

Obomsawin, an Abenaki, was born in New Hampshire and lived on the Odanak reservation outside Montreal until she was nine. In 1967 she was hired the National Film Board to work as an advisory on a film about Aboriginal people, and has been working for them ever since. In 1983 Obomsawin was made a member of the Order

of Canada in recognition of her dedication to the preservation of First Nations' cultural heritage through her film-making and activism.

"The crisis at Oka has changed the lives of all Aboriginal people in this country. We cannot go back," observed Obomsawin.

During the last weeks of the standoff, Obomsawin remained without a crew at the Kanehsatake Treatment Centre, filming events herself on video camera.

"I hardly slept that summer," she recalled of her experience. "I always had to be ready, working 24 hours a day. For a while, I had a day crew and a night crew, but I was always there. I slept outside in the sand, just half an hour at a time because helicopters were always going by. There were many times when I'd wonder if I was going to come out alive."

After the first viewing in Toronto, where the 760-seat theatre was filled to capacity, the film wound up with the chilling and brutal treatment Mohawks were subjected to the army when they came out from behind the barricades. Obomsawin rose to a standing ovation to speak to the crowd.

"The crisis changed all our lives and I think the people who make the stand make it for people across the country...it was for all the reserves, all the communities."