Film producer Ernest Webb (Rezolution Pictures, Montreal) will be guest at the Institute of Anthropology

Conversation with Cree Filmmaker Ernest Webb (Rezolution Pictures, Montreal)

Do 15.12., 14-16 Uhr, Raum C007

It is our pleasure to welcome Canadian Cree media producer and filmmaker Ernest Webb at our department. After working for many years at a Cree radio station, Ernest became the co-founder of the Nation newspaper in 1993, serving the autonomous Cree region of Eeyou Istchee in Quebec. This self-governed territory was formed after the ratification of the James Bay Cree and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975. In 2001, Ernest also co-founded the independent film and television production company Rezolution Pictures, which gained wide recognition through documentaries like Reel Injun (2010) and Rumble: the Indians that rocked the world (2017) the docu-series Gespe'gewa'gi: The Last Land (2021) as well as the sit-com Mohawk Girls (2010–2017). For his 6-part documentary Down the Mighty River (2009) Ernest accompanied a canoe team of Cree youth from Nemiscau to Waskaganish on the Rupert River, before that watershed was diverted to make way for a big hydro project. Also known as James Bay 2, this project represents a sequel to the original James Bay dam that made way for the self-governed regions of Eeyou Istchee (Cree) and Nunavik (Inuit). Though the James Bay Agreement meant progress in terms of Indigenous self-determination, it came at the high price of sweeping environmental destruction and relocation of settlements. Ernest always kept the troubled rivers of his home in mind and is called upon frequently to capture the destruction of the forests on film.

Ernest will be accompanied by renowed journalist Claus Biegert, who has been covering the James Bay Agreement as well as American Indian and Canadian First Nations social movements since the early 1970s. While Down the Mighty River (2009) will be screened at the Museum 5 Kontinente in the evening on the same day (Dec 15th), our afternoon session will offer ample opportunity to engage in a conversation with its producer Ernest Webb.

Pic copyright www.rezolutionpictures.com