Respect for Responsibility:
A Jules Koostachin Retrospective + Filmmaker Q&A

Respect for Responsibility:
A Jules Koostachin Retrospective + Filmmaker Q&A

This special retrospective brings together the powerfully eclectic works of Cree filmmaker Jules Koostachin for the first time. Through her singular cinematic lens, Koostachin weaves together themes of family, ceremony, and spirit while demonstrating a mastery of different film genres, including personal documentary, experimental film, reality TV, and culturally inspired fantasy.

Dr. Jules Koostachin is an award-winning filmmaker who successfully completed her PhD with the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia. Born in Moose Factory Ontario, Jules was raised by her Cree speaking grandparents in Moosonee, and also with her mother in Ottawa, a warrior of the Canadian Residential school system. Jules is a band member of Attawapiskat First Nation, the ancestral lands of the MoshKeKo InNiNeWak. Her research MooNaHaTihKaaSiWew: Unearthing Spirit was focused on Indigenous documentary and positionality (relationship to stories). Through Jules’ arts practice, she involves the use of film, photography, documentary, creative writing and installation. Her practice is deeply influenced by her Ancestral ties to the MoshKeKo AsKi. InNiNiNeWak teachings in the form of story, is an integral way to ensure our Ancestors voices are remembered and heard for generations to come.

PART ONE, oskinîkiw (youth)

• Two Reflections (2011)
• Placenta (2012)
• NiiSoTeWak: 2 Bodies 1 Heart (2017)
• AskiBoyz episode 11 (2016)
• Butterfly Monument (2017)

PART TWO, kîsohpikiwin (adulthood)

• OshKiKiShiKaw (2019)
• NiiPii (2012)
• APishKweShiMon (2017)
• KayaMenta (2020)
• Without Words (2015)
• Ochiskawacho (2018)

Curated by Dr. Tyson Stewart:

Tyson Stewart is an Anishinaabe (Temagami) film and media scholar and artist who teaches Indigenous cultural expression and representation in the department of Indigenous Studies at Nipissing University.

Sponsored by Vtape and Nipissing University.

PART ONE, oskinîkiw (youth)

Niso Kakastesinowin: Two Reflections

2 Mins 30s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2011  |  Canada  |   English

Parents of Cree twin boys are guided by a spirit helper.

PLACEnta

16 Mins 29s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2012   |  Canada  |   English

A Cree woman seeks the appropriate traditional ceremony for her placenta.

NiiSoTeWak: Two Bodies, One Heart

16 Mins 11s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2017   |  Canada  |   English

NiiSoTeWak means “walking the path together.” Tapwewin and Pawaken are 10-year-old brothers trying to make sense of the world, their family and each other. They’re already grappling with some heady questions about identity. What does it mean to be a twin? What does it mean to be Cree? How do you define yourself when you’re forever linked to someone else? The twins discuss these questions with their two elder brothers — 22-year-old actor Asivak and 20-year-old basketball player Mahiigan — and their parents, Jules and Jake.

AskiBoyz – Episode Eleven / Takastepanichikewin Peyakoshap

22 Mins  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2016   |  Canada  |   English

Next stop is the Ojibway community, Chippewas of the Thames where Knowledge Keeper, Shane Henry, teaches us the very important steps in setting up a sweat lodge and participating in a sweat ceremony. Before we leave, Shane shares with us a powerful account of the community’s Residential School Legacy as we visit a monument dedicated to the survivors.

Butterfly Monument: A Tribute to Shannen Koostachin

28 Mins 40s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin and Rick Miller  |  2017   |  Canada  |   English

Next stop is the Ojibway community, Chippewas of the Thames where Knowledge Keeper, Shane Henry, teaches us the very important steps in setting up a sweat lodge and participating in a sweat ceremony. Before we leave, Shane shares with us a powerful account of the community’s Residential School Legacy as we visit a monument dedicated to the survivors.

PART TWO, kîsohpikiwin (adulthood)

OshKiKiShiKaw: A New Day

25 Mins 09s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2019  |  Canada  |   English

12 year-old identical twins Tapwewin “Truth” and Pawaken “Totem” have never cut their hair. In Cree culture, and in many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, hair represents our sacred connection to AsKi, the Earth. Growing the hair is a manifestation of the growth of spirit. Jules Koostachin, Tapwewin and Pawaken’s mom – and documentary filmmaker – learned of a sacred coming-of-age ceremony when she was in her early 20s. An Elder told her that when boys hit puberty, a ceremony around the cutting of hair is a right of passage that supports and uplifts youth as they transition into the next phase of their lives.

NiiPii (Water)

6 Mins 20s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2012  |  Canada  |   English

A Cree women in distress is lost in a dream state and forced to face her worst fears.

APishKweShiMon

10 Mins 50s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2017  |  Canada  |   English

A beautiful birthing story of resilience, as well as the sequel to PLACEnta (2012), a short documentary about finding the appropriate place for a placenta ceremony.

KaYaMenTA: Sharing Truths About Menopause

18 Mins 29s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2020  |  Canada  |   English

Five Indigenous women gather to share food and stories about a phase in life with little support or shared knowledge. KaYaMenTa invites our sisters and our viewers to face their own fears of getting older and tackles the taboo around menopause through an Indigenous woman’s lens – one that engages with sexuality, aging, spirituality and healing.

Without Words

16 Mins 30s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2015  |  Canada  |   English

Without Words speaks to the collective experience of trauma and hope regardless of cultural identity. It is a story about two survivors, one of the Holocaust and the other a survivor of the Canadian Residential school system who cross paths at a city park in Northern Ontario. Their stories of resilience, survival and hope interweave sparking the journey of healing to commence.

OChiSkwaCho

15 Mins 16s  |  Dir. Jules Koostachin  |  2018  |  Canada  |   English

Ochiskwacho is a sacred being, known to many Indigenous people as a spiritual messenger. Kokoom, an elderly (spiritually ailing) two-spirit woman has to decide whether to stay with her grandchildren or follow the Ochiskwacho.