Skoden Indigenous Film Festival – the course

We're excited to announce that the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival, initiated by SCA film students Carr Sappier (Wolastoqiyik) and Grace Mathisen in an effort to "to showcase Indigenous filmmakers and to Indigenize the SFU community," has been redeveloped to become a new SCA course, lead by the SCA's Sky Hopinka.

Open to all interested SFU students, the goal is to have the course lead directly to the production and presentation of the next iteration of the Festival, which will be held again here in our Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, with the support of the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology.

We're still hearing about the details, but in the meantime, here's the full course outline:

Skoden Indigenous Film Festival
Tuesday / Thursday, 11:30am – 12:20pm
Room: TBA
Instructor: Sky Hopinka (Sky_hopinka@sfu.ca)

COURSE DETAILS

This is an introductory film course, where prior experience with film exhibition and programming is not required. However, the ability to work independently and in groups is vital. Students will be called upon to be in committees that determine locations, fundraising, publicity, programming, exhibition and projection and other areas needed for a successful festival. The focus of the programming is on Indigenous film from Canada, and through this class we hope to offer another avenue for practicing decolonization and providing a platform for under represented filmmakers and artists. This is an interdisciplinary course and we welcome students from outside the School for the Contemporary Arts. Interested students must email the instructor for approval.

SKODEN INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL

Used by Indigenous communities from coast to coast to coast, Skoden is a unifying word that transcends a single language. Skoden is slang for “let's go then”. It’s an attitude and a battle cry and we’ve decided to take it to heart. Skoden is a film festival featuring the works of Canada based Indigenous filmmakers and talent. The festival was created to showcase Indigenous filmmakers and to Indigenize the SFU community.

Held within the heart of xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories, the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival will feature indigenous cultural traditions including a welcome ceremony and witness. We welcome new traditions and invite anyone who is interested in making our community more inclusive to come, learn, and share with us in the spirit of Skoden.

This course is designed to facilitate the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival. Working collaboratively, students will take an active role in organizing and running the festival. This involves learning about presenting films in a cinema space, details around exhibition, skills as a projectionist, programming and screening film submissions, fundraising, and what it’s like to work in the film festival industry. Students who have taken CA 334 under a different topic can take the course again for further credit.

Grading

• 60% Performance & Participation (Fulfilling the duties you promise to do) Including performance on 2 committees (one major and one minor)
• 15% Guest Response papers
• 15% Film Festival research report
• 10% Final Individual review and wrap report
• Attendance: points will be taken off the final grade if there are attendance issues during class and the festival.

Materials: None required
Readings: Made available via Canvas.