FILM: I Have Lived Four Lives | STAR KNOWLEDGE

Wilfred Buck by Lisa Jackson | 92 min
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/wilfred-buck
New trailer: vimeo.com/942488273/38a2dbba43

 

Wilfred Buck is an Ininiw (Cree) astronomer, author, educator, Knowledge Keeper and lecturer originally from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN). He graduated from the University of Manitoba with two degrees in Education and has 25 years of experience as an educator, working with students from kindergarten to university. Considered the foremost authority on Indigenous astronomy in the world, Wilfred is the author of Tipiskawi Kisik: Night Sky Star Stories (2018), the semi-autobiographical I Have Lived Four Lives (2021) and Kitcikisik (Great Sky): Tellings That Fill the Night Sky (2021).

A new film by Director Lisa Jackson, Wilfred Buck: I Have Lived Four Lives. 

MORE:  https://www.canada.ca/en/national-film-board/news/2024/05/cree-elder-and-astronomer-overcomes-a-harrowing-history-to-take-us-to-the-stars-lisa-jacksons-wilfred-buck-opens-in-canadian-cities.html

The film was screened in June featuring a live Q&A with filmmaker Lisa Jackson.

Weaving together moments of his life today as an expert in Indigenous cosmology and his past as a troubled young child and teen, charismatic Cree Elder Wilfred Buck shares his embodied wisdom and profound reflections on colonial trauma in this expertly crafted adaptation of his autobiographical memoir, I Have Lived Four Lives.

When his family is cruelly torn from their land during the Sixties Scoop, Buck is left to survive on his own, falling into the darkness of addiction, until he discovers the cosmological teachings of his people and finds his way, guided by the celestial beings that become his compass and the focus of his life’s work. Using archival footage, stylized re-enactments, poetic imagery and vérité, director Lisa Jackson brilliantly jumps between genres to craft a constellation of Buck’s key life moments and memories, charting his journey to a knowledge system that survived colonization by going underground, now revived by Buck’s endless curiosity and marvel of the Ininew night sky.

About Lisa Jackson

Lisa Jackson is an Anishinaabe (Aamjiwnaang) filmmaker whose work has garnered two Canadian Screen Awards, been nominated for a Webby and screened at top festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Berlinale and Hot Docs. Her NFB VR experience Biidaaban was viewed by more than 25,000 people, while her film Indictment won Best Doc at imagineNATIVE and is one of CBC’s top watched documentaries. She won the 2022 Chicken & Egg Award and the 2021 DOC Vanguard Award, and has an MFA from York University.

You can hear Buck tell the Mista Muskwa story here: https://soundcloud.com/scifri/wilfred-buck-tells-the-story-of-mista-muskwa

 

This webinar is the first of what will become a series. Facilitators recommended also learning from  Native Skywatchers, the Anishinaabe Sky Star Map, and resources from Elder Wilfred Buck.

WEBINAR:  https://windspeaker.com/buffalo-spirit/webinar-explores-indigenous-ways-knowing-stars

Star Knowledge Why do we accept as universal the teachings of constellations by their Greek names and stories? Indigenous peoples have their own stories and names for the star formations. These stories capture teachings about the land, medicines, animals and our relations. We don’t need to replace the Indigenous worldview. It’s just as valid.

 

 

 

National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive

 

Announcing the Launch of the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive (NIBSDA)

NABS is proud to announce the launch of the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive (NIBSDA), the first-ever digital archives database on Indian Boarding Schools. NIBSDA is a groundbreaking project aimed at preserving and bringing to light the history of the U.S. Indian Boarding School era. Over the last four years, NABS has been dedicated to compiling and digitizing records from Indian boarding schools.  

Through NIBSDA, survivors, families, researchers, educators, tribal leaders, and the general public will have the ability to access information that allows them to gain a better understanding of what happened at Indian boarding schools. This digital repository will include documents, photographs, and oral histories, offering invaluable insights into the experiences of those who attended these institutions and the impact they had and continue to have on Native communities.

"This initiative marks a significant milestone in NABS commitment to truth, healing, and justice," said NABS CEO Deborah Parker (Tulalip Tribes). "The majority of all Indian boarding school records are currently not available to the public, by making these records accessible, we are taking a big step towards honoring the history and strength of Native peoples and building a more just and equitable future."

SEARCH: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/nibsda/