Trailer: https://youtu.be/YcvE_16Of10
Fragments
Distribution and MAX FILMS are proud to announce that the feature documentary CHAAKAPESH
directed by Roger Frappier and Justin Kingsley will be released at the ByTowne
Cinema in Ottawa on January 31st, February 1st and
February 2nd.
The
film is still screened in Montréal at the Cinémathèque québécoise on
January 11th at 1:30 pm and January 15th at 4:35 pm, then
at Cinéma moderne on January 16th at 6:30 pm followed by a
Q&A and on January 22nd at 6:30 pm.
An orchestra and its famed conductor go on tour in
Quebec’s great northern tundra to visit Cree, Innu and Inuit communities and
share an Indigenous chamber opera whose mission is to teach white men how to
laugh, and therefore love more. In fall 2018, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
created the chamber opera Chaakapesh: The Trickster’s Quest, a
lighthearted story of the hero who founded the Innu people narrated in three
languages (Innu, Cree and Inuktitut) by Florent Vollant, Ernest Webb and
Akinisie Sivuarapik. The opera is an ingenious musical adaptation by
contemporary composer Matthew Ricketts of renowned Indigenous playwright Tomson
Highway’s wonderfully imagined and written Chaakapesh: The
Trickster’s Quest. Maestro Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
showed remarkable boldness of vision by programming the opera for opening night
of the OSM’s last season in Montreal and then taking it on tour to Nunavik and
the Lower North Shore. As Nagano so aptly says in the film,
“As artists, we’re used to taking risks.” Kuujjuaq, Salluit, Kuujjuarapik, Oujé-Bougoumou, Mashteuiatsh, Maliotenam… Much more than just a tour, CHAAKAPESH, the film, puts the audience front row centre in an absolutely unique meeting place for the artists and the community. Poignant testimonies, important discussions and Maestro Nagano as we’ve never seen him before. Produced by MAX FILMS, CHAAKAPESH is released in Canada by Fragments Distribution.
