“All the work I’ve done is about change and the possibility of doing it together.” ^[1]

– Marjorie Beaucage

Marjorie Beaucage has been making films and videos for more than thirty years and her unique filmic language of layered images, non-synch sound and shared communal space within her films are just a few of the contributions to the genres of documentary and experimental narrative filmmaking. Her practice is about valuing and sharing the tools at hand. Many of her projects have created spaces for individuals and communities to tell their own stories sharing personal and underrepresented perspectives. 

Her work is respectful, honest and involves mentoring, building relationships and creating connections. This way of making in relation to the world is what scholar and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha refers to as speaking nearby and “A speaking that reflects on itself and can come very close to a subject without, however, seizing or claiming it.” ^[2] Beaucage brings nuance to what will be carried forward as many stories will continue to travel. 

These programs provide only a glimpse into her extensive filmography. The first program In Her Own Words features her filmic style, family connections and Métis culture. The second program Standing in the Middle shows her documentary work related to land including her work with connecting across cultures.

The third program, Otipemisiwak - A People Who Own Themselves, consists of newly digitized vignettes created for Metis History and Early Distance Education courses at the University of Saskatchewan (1996).  Also featured in this screening are two short films, Rougarou, a story about the spirit of a traditional Métis shapeshifter who transforms people's lives. And Batoche…One More Time, a video portrait of contemporary Métis culture profiling some of the artists who create it.  

– Lisa Myers

Author, Curator
 

[1] See Bell, Lynne and J. Williamson. “On Crossing Lines and Going Between: An Interview with Marjorie Beaucage” Tessera (online).
[2] Nancy N. Chen, ""Speaking Nearby: A Conversation with Trinh T. Minh-ha," Visual Anthropology Review8, no. 1 (1992), 87.

PROGRAM 1: Marjorie Beaucage: In Her Own Words 
Running Time: 82 min
RPL In-Person Screening: Friday November 13, 7 PM

“They are the subjects of their story, not the objects of my story.” – Marjorie Beaucage

In Her Own Words features her filmic style, family connections and Métis culture. Beginning with Marjorie Beaucage’s first film then into a film about her family, this program presents her early filmic style, family connections and Métis culture.

FILMS

Bingo (1991), 18 mins
Good Grief (1993), 16 mins
Metis Rose: a portrait of Elder Rose Fleury (2012), 49 min

 

PROGRAM 2: Marjorie Beaucage: Standing in the Middle
Running Time: 77 mins
RPL In-Person Screening: Saturday November 14, 3 PM

“I stand in the middle of stories, in the middle of stories there is no beginning, middle and end.” – Marjorie Beaucage

Standing the Middle features portraits and gatherings from a range of perspectives where Marjorie Beaucage stands as witness and conveys important moments for women and Indigenous people. This program features only a few of her many documentary works attendant to social and environmental concerns here on Turtle Island and around the globe.

FILMS
Giving Back (preceded by Self-Government PSAs), (2017), 16 mins
Land Solidarity Healing, (1993), 28:00 mins
Speaking to Their Mother, (1992), 26:00 mins
Idle No More Midtown Mall Saskatoon SK January 10, (2013),  07:00 mins

 

PROGRAM 3: Otipemisiwak - A People Who Own Themselves
Running Time: 67 Minutes
RPL In-Person Screening: Saturday November 14, 7 PM

This program features a series of newly digitized vignettes created for Metis History and Early Distance Education courses at the University of Saskatchewan (1996). Also featured in this screening are two short films, Rougarou, a story about the spirit of a traditional Métis shapeshifter who transforms people's lives. And Batoche…One More Time, a video portrait of contemporary Métis culture profiling some of the artists who create it.  

FILMS

MARJORIE BEAUCAGE

Marjorie Beaucage is a proud Métis Two-Spirit Filmmaker, cultural worker, and community-based video activist. Her work as a community based independent artist, seeks to question, empower, and change the ways we look at ourselves...seeing from the inside out. Marjorie was a cofounder of the Aboriginal Film and Video Art Alliance. As a ‘Runner’ she worked as a cultural Ambassador to negotiate self governing partnerships and alliances with the Banff Centre for the Arts, V-tape, the Canada Council for the Arts which resulted in the development of Aboriginal Arts programs. She also programmed the first Aboriginal Film Festival in Toronto in 1992.

ABOUT: https://vucavu.com/en/artists/b/marjorie-beaucage

LISA MYERS

Lisa Myers is an independent curator and artist with a keen interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. Myers has a Master of Fine Arts in Criticism and Curatorial practice from OCAD University. Her recent work involves printmaking, stop-motion animation and performance. Since 2010 she has worked with anthocyanin pigment from blueberries in printmaking, and stop-motion animation. Her participatory performances involve sharing berries and other food items in social gatherings reflecting on the value found in place and displacement; straining and absorbing. She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions in venues including Urban Shaman (Winnipeg), Art Gallery of Peterborough and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her writing has been published in a number of exhibition publications in addition to the journal Senses and Society, C Magazine and FUSE Magazine. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (formerly Faculty of Environmental Studies) at York University. Myers is a member of Beausoleil First Nation and she is based in Port Severn and Toronto, Ontario.

ABOUT: https://lisarosemyers.com/home.html
 

JESSIE RAY SHORT

Jessie Short is a curator, writer, and multi-disciplinary artist and emerging filmmaker whose work involves memory, multi-faceted existence, Métis history and visual culture. Short obtained an MA degree in 2011 and an Undergraduate degree in 2006, and has also received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts council for her curatorial and film making practice. Short worked in the visual arts department at The Banff Centre for the Arts, and she also spent two years as the executive director of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective in Toronto, Ontario. She is currently working on various contracts as a curator and documentary filmmaker.

ABOUT: https://vucavu.com/en/artists/s/jessie-short