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Je m'appelle humain

Directed by Kim O'Bomsawin
Canada, 2020 (documentary, 78 minutes, colour, French / Innu-aimun)
Also known as "Call Me Human"

Film Description [in French] :
"« Sauvage » dit Joséphine Bacon, « ça veut dire être libre entièrement. » Lorsque les anciens nous quittent, un lien avec le passé disparaît avec eux. La femme de lettres innue Joséphine Bacon incarne cette génération témoin d'une époque bientôt révolue. Avec charisme et sensibilité, elle mène un combat contre l'oubli et la disparition d'une langue, d'une culture et de ses traditions. Sur les traces de Papakassik, le maître du caribou, Je m'appelle humain propose une incursion dans l'Histoire d'un Peuple multimillénaires aux côtés d'une femme libre qui a consacré sa vie à transmettre son savoir et celui de ses ancêtres. Dans sa langue, innu veut dire « humain »."
-- Terre Innue (source)

Film Description:
"There is no Innu word for 'poetry', notes Josephine Bacon at the beginning of Kim O'Bomsawin's enchanting, affectionate and transporting portrait of the septuagenarian writer, filmmaker, translator and, yes, poet. 'I don't think we needed one. We were poets simply by living in harmony with the water and the land.' Bacon only published her first volume of poems in 2009, but is already recognized as one of the most important Montreal writers. O'Bomsawin enjoys a deep rapport with her gregarious subject, who recounts her life primarily through celebrating the friendships she found along the way, during 14 years at a residential school, arriving with nothing in the big city in the late 60s, and indelibly, in her forays north, to the back country where she learned firsthand from elders and began to comprehend the complex and fragile, interlocking legacies of land, language and lore bestowed upon her. Bacon's poetry is a vehicle to keep her people's ancient tongue alive. Her words—and O'Bomsawin's layered and lovely images—convey just how precious a gift this is. [...]"
-- Vancouver International Film Festival (source)


Film Credits (partial):
Written by: Kim O'Bomsawin
Produced by: Andrée-Anne Frenette, Alexandre Bacon, Ian Boyd, Josée Rock, Florent Vollant, Réginald Vollant
Participants: Joséphine Bacon
Cinematography: Hugo Gendron, Michel Valiquette
Film Editing: Alexandre Lachance
Music: Alain Auger
Production Company: Terre Innue
(sources)

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