RPM at imagineNATIVE 2011

Last week, RPM was in attendance at the 2011 imagineNATIVE festival in Toronto, Ontario. It was five days filled with inspiring, moving, and important films, and equally inspiring and exciting connections with community.

For a festival celebrating Indigenous film and new media there was plenty of Indigenous music, and musicians, on site, screen and stage.

The opening night party brought A Tribe Called Red to get everyone on the dance floor; the experimental short film program included Make Your Escape - an audiovisual mash-up directed by Bear Witness of ATCR, and Jesus Coyote TeeVee by multi-disceplenary artist Chris Bose; and Friday night the festival presented a panel discussion with Buffy Sainte-Marie hosted by Wab Kinew.

Sunday was the premiere screening of Music is the Medicine, something we've been looking forward to and talking about here at RPM for some time. Derek Miller was in attendance, along with producers Jody Hill and Rod Ruel, and it was thrilling to see the documentary on the big screen. A number of Derek Miller fans were there, cheering throughout the film and grabbing signatures and photos from Derek afterwards. Here's Derek, Jody and Rod stopping for the cameras on the way into the theatre:

It was a celebratory vibe in the theatre and we were glad to be there to say a few words before the film - the last few of which were congratulations to the filmmakers, and to Derek, and we're so glad to be connected to the project.

The sense of community throughout the festival was ever present and there wasn't a bad film in the bunch. Thank you, and congratulations also, to imagineNATIVE for pulling off such a remarkable event - we'll be back next year!