Animation inspired by NWT author has world premiere in Toronto

Complimentary exchanges years ago have paid off for Tłı̨chǫ author Richard Van Camp and Métis filmmaker Amanda Strong.

Strong’s latest work, titled Inkwo for When the Starving Return, had its world premiere at this month’s Toronto International Film Festival, or Tiff.

The film is an animated adaptation of Van Camp’s short story Wheetago War, published in his 2015 collection Night Moves.

Inkwo from Richard Van Camp’s perspective: Listen to Afternoons at the Cabin from 12-3pm on Friday, September 13 for the author’s take on turning a short story into an animation at Tiff.

“We were kind-of just fans of each other’s work,” Strong said of Fort Smith writer Van Camp.

“This is probably seven-eight years ago. I think he was emailing me about one of the films I had finished, Four Faces of The Moon. He was just in awe of the work. And I was aware of his writing.”

Strong decided to make a pitch to him, asking him if any of his stories would suit animation.

Wheetago War is the story Van Camp sent back.

The end result is Inkwo for When the Starving Return, an 18-minute film featuring Dove, a young warrior starting to comprehend the gifts and burdens of their Inkwo, or medicine.

Dove uses the Inkwo to defend against an army of starving creatures.

The film can be seen as a call to action against the evils of greed and consumption, though Strong said it can mean “different things to different people.”

“That’s something I’m always excited about,” she said. “There’s an element that allows people to take their own messages from it or have their own experience of what it meant to them.”

Strong, who lives in Sechelt, BC, said various aspects of this Van Camp story appealed to her, especially parts of Dove’s character that she felt were “really resonating around the sort of spectrum of gender.”

“I’ve never really seen a character written like that before, especially who is Indigenous. That is something I personally connect to. And I know I definitely am not the only one,” she said.

Strong, the owner and executive producer of Spotted Fawn Productions, co-produced the film with the National Film Board of Canada. She expected to complete it within a couple of years, but it ultimately took seven years to finish.

“Covid had a lot to do with it,” she said. “Also, I had a baby. There was lots of change and different things … it was an organic being that kind-of shifted and grew. It kind-of gained momentum as we worked on it.”

Strong added though the story might be uncomfortable for some, she believes it’s one that had to be told.

“There’s a lot of challenge around greed and how humans are treating the land and the water, how we’ve forgotten about medicine and language, and I think it’s an important story,” she said, describing how she had sought to make the animation’s focus “the return of power and medicine to the land in a time where it’s predominantly governed by greed.”

“To me, it’s an important story. It’s relevant. It’s timeless.,” she said.

“To me, it means the same as it did eight years ago. I don’t think many stories can hold that sort of power for that long.”

Strong said Van Camp and other advisors were frequently consulted throughout the making of the film.

“It was extremely important for me to have Richard’s involvement 100-percent along the way,” she said.

Inkwo for When the Starving Return had its world premiere at Tiff on September 7 as part of the festival’s Short Cuts programming. It will screen again at the Toronto festival on Thursday.

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