2023 Asinabka Festival
2023 Asinabka Festival
Join us for our 12th annual Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival in Ottawa, Canada on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Nation, over 6 days from August 8 to 13, 2023. Our Festival showcases a wide variety of films, in different genres and lengths, from Indigenous cultures and nations from around the world. These films, will be presented alongside curated art exhibits, workshops, panels, industry events, and cutting-edge music and performance events. We look forwards to seeing you there!
2023 Festival Schedule
TUES. AUG. 8 • Festival Opening
Opening Welcome & Outdoor Film Screening
We Are Still Here (90min)
Location: Club SAW Courtyard (67 Nicholas St.)
Doors: 6:30pm / Screening: 8:30pm (Free Event)
*Tacos for sale 6:30-9:00pm
WED. AUG. 9 • FILMS
Location: Alma Duncan Salon & South Terrace,
Ottawa Art Gallery, 3rd Floor (50 Mackenzie King Bridge)
-Matinee-
Time: 2pm
Portraits: Short Docs (84m)
Time: 4pm
Sacred Currents: Shorts (91.5m)
-Evening-
5:45pm
Imagining The Indian (1h 30m)
7:30pm
L'Inhumain (1h 25m)
9:15pm (South Terrace)
Dark Twists: Shorts (94m)
THURS. AUG. 10 • FILMS
Location: Alma Duncan Salon & South Terrace,
Ottawa Art Gallery, 3rd Floor (50 Mackenzie King Bridge)
-Matinee-
Time: 2pm
Whetū Mārama – Bright Star (1h 33m)
Time: 4pm
Returning Home (1h 26m)
-Evening-
5:45pm
Strong Convictions - Dramatic Shorts (1h 33m)
7:30pm
Broken Angel (1.5h)
*Director Jules Koostachin in attendance!
9:15pm (South Terrace)
Love & Decay: Scifi Shorts (87m)
FRI. AUG. 11 • FILMS
Location: Alma Duncan Salon & South Terrace,
Ottawa Art Gallery, 3rd Floor (50 Mackenzie King Bridge)
-Matinee-
Time: 2pm
Legends Unleashed: Animated & Live Action Shorts (89m)
Time: 4pm
My Indian Name (82m)
-Evening-
5:45pm
Heart Medicine: Métis Shorts (1h 12m + 15m Q&A)
7:30pm
New Beginnings: Wapikoni Shorts (1h + 15m Talk)
9:00pm
(South Terrace)
Wairoa - Maori & Pacifica Shorts (1h 15m + 15m Talk)
10:45pm
Hot Air - Late Night Shorts (71m)
SAT. AUG. 12 • ART & Music
-Networking Event-
Lucha Libre: Photography Exhibit ft. Raúl M. Becerra
For Artist & Industry Pass Holders
Time: Noon-2pm
Power-Up: Art Exhibition Opening
Location: Gallery 101 (280 Catherine St.)
Time: 2-5pm (Free Event)
Galactic Beats: Indigenous Music Showcase
Location: Berlin Nightclub (56 Byward Market Square)
Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7-11pm / Afterparty: 11pm-Late
*Tickets: $20
SUN. AUG. 13 • Festival Closing
Closing Night Outdoor Film Screening
Rehab (1h 30m)
Location: Club SAW Courtyard (67 Nicholas St.)
Doors: 6:30pm / Screening: 8:30pm
*Tacos for Sale 6:30pm-9:00pm
Power-Up: Art Exhibition Opening
- Curated by Asinabka Festival -
Featuring:
Colin Van Loon
Meagan Byrne (Achimostawinan Games)
Hiona Henare
Pōhaikealoha / Craig Commanda / H3xtacy / Justin Gerona
Steven Paul Judd
Welcome to “Power-Up” an immersive exhibit that considers how Indigenous artists employ cutting-edge technologies, such as virtual reality, video, video games, and digital art, to connect with cultural heritage and expose the hidden histories of colonial violence.
In the world of video games, powering-up means your avatar regains their strength, their energy, their health, their ability to keep going, their ability to survive, and their ability to eventually win the game. Similarly, this Art Exhibit titled “Power-Up”, features 5 Indigenous artists that use technology based-mediums to tell stories of survival and connection, and stories that reclaim our power and agency as Indigenous peoples to survive, thrive, exist, and even win within systems not designed for us.
Colin Van Loon’s cinematic VR experience “This is not a ceremony” shares stories from Indigenous people about the darker side of living life in Canada, challenging the viewer to act and to make things better. “Hill Agency: PURITYdecay” from Indigenous owned and operated studio Achimostawinan Games, is a cyber-noir detective mystery game set in the year 2762 where you play a tough-as-nails Indigenous P.I. to solve petty crimes, murder, and global conspiracies. Māori artist Hiona Henare spent time in the Amazon jungle in June of 2022 and collaborated with award-winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasathakul, where she produced her stunning and immersive 3-Channel video installation “Purple Flame”. Pōhaikealoha's “Seasons of Life”, is a point-and-click game that features gorgeous glitch photography, custom music, ambient nature sounds, vocal poetry, and combines four views from four indigenous artists on the varying seasons we each experience; while Steven Paul Judd’s playful mashups of historical photographs with pop-culture imagery, nudge us to view the world from alternative perspectives.
Power-up, land back, and enjoy!
Vernissage:
Saturday August 12, 2023, 2-5pm
Location: Gallery 101 (280 Catherine St, Ottawa, ON K1R 5T3)
Image from "Purple Flame" by Hiona Henare
Image from "Hill Agency: PURITYdecay" by Achimostawinan Games
Image from "Seasons of Life" by Craig Commanda, H3xtacy, Justin Gerona, Pohaikealoha
Image by Steven Paul Judd
Galactic Beats: Indigenous Music Showcase
May The Drums Be With You
Join us at Berlin Night Club (former location of Mercury Lounge) to celebrate the 12th annual Asinabka Festival. We have a great line-up of 5 talented artists to bring the beat and get you moving. The Music Showcase brings together diverse Indigenous artists and broad genres for an exciting mix of the performers you follow and the acts you’re about to love. Stick around after 11pm for the resident Berlin Nightclub DJ's.
Tickets: $20
Unfortunately Berlin Nightclub is not accessible, as it is up 2 flights of stairs.
Learn More
SAT. AUG. 12, 2023
Location: Berlin Nightclub (56 Byward Market Square)
Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7-11pm / Afterparty: 11pm-Late
Uyarakq
Melody McKiver
Melody McKiver
Aqqalu Berthelsen, also known as Uyarakq, was born in Nuuk, Greenland in the mid 80s. He is a self taught music producer/composer and DJ with a background in metal music. Growing up in Uummannaq, Northern Greenland and Nuuk, the capital, has played a large role in shaping him to be a versatile musician between two worlds.
IG: @uyarakq
Melody McKiver
Melody McKiver
Melody McKiver
Melody McKiver’s (they/them) musical work integrates electronics with Western classical music to shape a new genre of Anishinaabe compositions. A proud member of Obishikokaang Lac Seul First Nation, Melody is currently Assistant Professor of Indigenous Music (tenure-track) with the Desaultels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba and a member of the Mizi'iwe Aana Kwat (LGBTQ2S+ Council) within the Anishinaabe Nation of Treaty #3
IG: @melodymckivermusic
Alicia Kayley
Melody McKiver
Geronimo Inutiq
Alicia Kayley is a Pop R&B singer songwriter with powerful and warm vocals. She is a contemporary Indigenous artist from the Algonquin and Tahltan Nation residing in Ottawa. Alicia recently obtained a Bachelor of Music degree from Carleton University specializing in Classical voice and popular style songwriting.
Alicia is taking the next step towards her music career by creating her debut album with Crystal Shawanda’s label based in Nashville.
IG: @aliciakayleypage
Geronimo Inutiq
Geronimo Inutiq
Geronimo Inutiq
Electronic music producer known for his innovative work in remixing Inuktitut music, and for seminal film archive video remixes, Geronimo Inutiq continues to offer a unique perspective through his creative pursuits.
IG: @timespaceimage
Weather Beings
Geronimo Inutiq
Weather Beings
Weather Beings is a performance collaborative co-founded by Moe Clark and Victoria Hunt in 2019. Weather Beings was created as a site to examine the intersections of Métis wâhkôhtowin and Mâori whakapapa (kinship systems), and to assert a critical position to reclaim, restore and rematriate feminine and queer knowledge into our cultural and creative practices. As collaborators, we navigate thresholds between what is ‘known’, what is withheld or ‘unknown,’ and what is being dreamt into being, while upholding a framework of ethical co-existence and restorative co-resistance. In essence, we activate creative practices that refuse violent linearities by dreaming backwards into the future. Encoded in this dreaming are nêhiyawêwin and Te Reo Mâori languages, where old words create new worlds.
IG: @moeclark
@wikitoria_hunt
Stellar - Films Screening for the 2023 National Canadian Film Day
Stellar - Films Screening for the 2023 National Canadian Film Day
Stellar - Films Screening for the 2023 National Canadian Film Day
April 19th, 2023 @ Beandigen Cafe
Snowscreen Feb. 3-5, 2023
Stellar - Films Screening for the 2023 National Canadian Film Day
Stellar - Films Screening for the 2023 National Canadian Film Day
Our Annual Outdoor Film Screening in a Theatre made of Snow @ Lansdowne Park
Arts Court Open House Party
Come hang out with us at our brand new Asinabka Festival Headquarters located at the Arts Court. There will be music and VJ'ing and snacks and drinks. There is an open house throughout the entire building during the day, and then the Pique Music Festival in the evening!
June 11, 2023, 2-5pm // 2nd Floor, A214
Films at the Indigenous Night Market
June 23rd - Indigenous Night Market. including Indigenous foods, vendors, films presented by Asinabka Festival, and special guest performances
June 23, 2023, 5-9pm // Byward Market, William Street.
NIPD Film Screening @ Algonquin
Join us on June 20 for an early National Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration:
𝟰:𝟯𝟬 - 𝟲:𝟬𝟬 𝗣𝗠 
Indigenous short films and Q + A presented by Asinabka Festival
Details/Register: http://AlgonquinSA.com/National-Indigenous-Peoples-Day...
Cost: Free
Open To: Algonquin College students, staff, and alumni