Alanis Obomsawin, was born on August 31,1932 and is an Abenaki American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films.
29 Facts About Alanis Obomsawin
2.
Alanis Obomsawin's best known documentary is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, regarding the 1990 Oka Crisis in Quebec.
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Alanis Obomsawin, which means "pathfinder", was born on August 31,1932, near Lebanon, New Hampshire.
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Alanis Obomsawin's mother ran a boarding house and her father was a medicine maker and a guide.
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Alanis Obomsawin's father died of tuberculosis when she was twelve.
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Alanis Obomsawin's only child, Kisos Obomsawin, was born in 1969.
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In 1960, Alanis Obomsawin made her professional debut as a singer-songwriter in New York City.
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Alanis Obomsawin was featured on the Canadian Broadcasting television program, Telescope, regarding her campaign to found a swimming pool for native reserve.
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Alanis Obomsawin managed her own stage at the Mariposa Folk Festival in the 1960s.
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Alanis Obomsawin went on to direct films of her own, while continuing to perform and fight for justice for her people.
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Alanis Obomsawin directed her first documentary for the NFB, Christmas at Moose Factory, in 1971.
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Alanis Obomsawin filmed an entire series of films about a 1990 Oka crisis.
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Alanis Obomsawin's credits include Gene Boy Came Home, about Aboriginal Vietnam War veteran Eugene Benedict.
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In 2005, Ms Alanis Obomsawin completed her short drama Sigwan, following a young girl who is aided by the animals of the forest.
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In 2010, Alanis Obomsawin completed a short drama When All the Leaves are Gone, about her experiences attending public school in Quebec.
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Alanis Obomsawin began conceptualizing the film in 2010 when she was invited by Stan Louttit, Grand Chief of the Mushkegowuk Council, to film a conference the band was hosting regarding Treaty No 9.
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Alanis Obomsawin was named as that year's recipient of TIFF's Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media.
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Alanis Obomsawin taught at the Summer-Institute of Film and Television in Ottawa.
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For more than 25 years, Alanis Obomsawin has worked as an engraver and print maker, with exhibitions in Canada and Europe.
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Alanis Obomsawin's work was exhibited at the Maison Lacombe in Quebec in 2007.
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Alanis Obomsawin was named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for 2013.
22.
At the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival, Alanis Obomsawin received the $15,000 Best Canadian Documentary Award, for Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger.
23.
Alanis Obomsawin is a highly distinguished documentary filmmaker, and her prolific, internationally acclaimed output for the National Film Board, spanning almost fifty years, has addressed a huge range of themes and issues relating to Canada's Indigenous peoples.
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In March 2001, Alanis Obomsawin received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
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Alanis Obomsawin has chaired the board of directors of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal and sat on the Canada Council's First People's Advisory Board.
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Alanis Obomsawin was a board member of Studio 1, the NFB's Aboriginal studio, and a former advisor to the New Initiatives in Film, a Studio D program for women of color and women of the First Nations.
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In May 2017 Alanis Obomsawin received an honorary doctorate from McGill University's School of Continuing Studies.
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Alanis Obomsawin's awe-inspiring and unstoppable dedication to social justice and political documentary.
29.
The catalog Alanis Obomsawin: Lifework was produced on the occasion of the exhibition.