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By Andrea Smith
Windspeaker.com Contributor
VANCOUVER
Chris Hsiung was naïve when he first started out filming “Elder in the Making”. He didn’t know anything about Indigenous history in Alberta at that time, but was eager to learn.
With help from Cowboy Smithx, filmmaker and founder of RedX Talks, and a few other crew members, Hsiung was able to find answers to the many questions he had, and bring those answers to audiences.
“It started out, really, with a question about Treaty 7, because I had heard it being referenced more and more. And around this time there was more of a focus on the history of Indigenous people here in Alberta, Canada. But I had this blank, because I didn’t really know much about that,” said Hsiung.
After looking into it more, Hsiung found that it was more the circumstances around the treaty—both present day, and past—that was so interesting, rather than the treaty itself. But the story was “too big” to make that the focus, so Hsiung searched for someone who could tell it from a personal perspective. After meeting Smithx, the two decided they would travel across Alberta together, filming their discoveries about Indigenous history there.
“Cowboy was kind of poking me to come out in front of the camera… like, ‘Hey, this is your journey, too’,” said Hsiung, of how he arrived at the decision to feature himself in the film, as well as Smithx.
“The whole thing probably took about two-years... The bulk of the filming was probably on-and-off around two months,” he said.
Credits are also due to Danny Cox, director of photography, Keith Rowe, boom operator, Kamala Parell-Nuttall, production assistant and researcher, and Yuwei Xia, a high school intern who acted as an assistant and photographer, for helping create the film.
The story line is based on Smithx’s look into his own heritage. Smithx is Blackfoot, from the Piikani Nation. The film takes viewers into his backyard—literally, where he grew up in southern Alberta—and also to Fort MacLeod to learn about Colonel MacLeod; on an exploration of smallpox; and onto bison ecology, just as examples of what viewers will delve into while watching.
“All throughout, there is the thread of exploring what it means to be an Elder… And we meet a number of Elders along the way. This idea of Elder in the Making… there’s a nuance there. ‘Making of an Elder’ implies you’re going to see an Elder be made… Whereas ‘Elder in the Making’ implies it’s going to be an ongoing journey,” said Hsiung.
But despite the positive direction the film was going in while in production, tragedy struck, leaving the crew in a state of shock and grief. Three people working with the film crew were killed in a car accident in February 2015; Narcisse Blood, who was featured in the film as a wise Elder, Lacy Morin-Desjarlais, featured as a powwow dancer, and Michael Green—founder of One Yellow Rabbit Theatre company—who acted as an inspirational lead for Hsiung. The loss of these special people brought into perspective for Hsiung the importance of what he was really doing at the time, he said.
“I came to see this as something everybody should strive to do… become a wiser person... The tragedy really locked that into place, in the sense that, all of our Elders are going to pass away at some point, and we have to carry that torch,” said Hsiung.
Due to the film’s popularity, it has been taken in a few different directions since officially being released two-years-ago. It has been screened in various locations across the country, has been shown to school children in classrooms, and even screened to local Calgary RCMP for cultural competency training.
The latest development from the film is a curriculum currently being built around it, for Education students at Mount Royal University. Hsiung still has yet to review the materials, but he is happy the film is being used in this way, because that was his intention all along, he said.
Smtihx, being a Blackfoot man, was not as naïve about Indigenous culture as Hsiung, who is Chinese-Canadian, when they started out together. But he still found he had much to learn. And because he was already an accomplished filmmaker at the time, he was able to guide Hsiung through the filmmaking process, as well as act as a cultural guide, said Smithx.
“It’s interesting watching somebody learn and absorb the complexity and dynamics of our (Indigenous) communities… And yeah, I discovered a lot. It’s always difficult for an Indigenous person to confront these very contentious and traumatizing elements of their past,” said Smithx, adding that it was particularly difficult “drumming up” issues related to Indian residential school.
Given how it’s transpired into something even schools are using to educate youth, Smithx is also happy about the film’s success. He’s even happier it’s being used as a wake-up call to First Nations and non-First Nations alike, regarding the reconciliation process.
“The biggest mission was to remind people about their obligation to the treaty, regardless of whether they were first generation, or second generation, or tenth generation… or new Canadians, Indigenous, or immigrants or refugee... Everybody’s responsibility to that treaty is still here in 2017,” said Smithx.
“The film was a beacon and an invitation to join in on the very difficult work, not just reconciliation but conciliation… innovation and healing,” he said.
The film is showing this Saturday at The Drum is Calling festival in Vancouver. Both Smithx and Hsiung will be present for a discussion afterward. To follow the film and find out other viewings and show times go to: http://elderinthemaking.com/