WAPIKONI'S 2018 SEASON BEGINS: Wapikoni Mobile is back on the road, rolling towards Indigenous communities

Wapikoni Mobile’s travelling audiovisual and musical creation studios have just hit the road. Sixteen (16) Indigenous communities across Canada, including three in urban centres (Vancouver, Montreal and Thunder Bay) will welcome Wapikoni this year. On average, 300 youth take part in these creation and training workshops each year. The first community to be visited will be Mashteuiatsh, in Quebec, where our studio will be returning for the first time since 2006! Abroad, thanks to a partnership with Oxfam-Québec, youth in Jordan and Palestine will get the chance to tell their stories through film while developing their creative and leadership skills.

Accompanied by two filmmaker–mentors, an Indigenous assistant filmmaker-mentor, a local youth outreach worker and a coordinator from the community, participants are trained in screenwriting, directing and in the numerous technical aspects of filmmaking (camera, sound recording and editing) with cutting edge professional equipment. Each participant benefits from mentoring adapted to his or her experience and pace.

Thanks to these mobile studios, Indigenous youth get to express their views through shorts and original music recordings. These creative works depicting their world, their reality, their struggles, and the incredible richness of their culture and humour, are then shown in the community at the end of the workshop.

Translated in many languages, some of these films will travel the world and be screened at prestigious events such as, recently, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN‘s headquarters in New York City, major international festivals, as well as throughout Canada thanks to Wapikoni on Wheels and Vélo Paradiso.

Check our online calendar to know the dates and locations of all the workshops:

http://www.wapikoni.ca/workshops/workshop-list

About Wapikoni Mobile

Founded by the Atikamekw Nation Council, the First Nations Youth Council of Quebec and Labrador and filmmaker Manon Barbeau, Wapikoni Mobile is a travelling audiovisual and musical creation studio dedicated to Indigenous youth. Since 2004, Wapikoni has visited 25 nations and accompanied over

5,000 participants who worked to direct more than 1,000 short films translated into several languages. These films have received 160 awards and honours at national and international festivals. Wapikoni Mobile has been an official UNESCO partner since 2017.