![](//www.4rfv.com/images/no_image.jpg)
By Marja B l Nango
For Indigenous artists, a component of the creative process is to commune with our ancestors as well as with descendants that are yet to come. Merata Mita understood this when she endeavored to realize her film, 1988's Mauri. In seeing her work through, she became the first Indigenous woman - and the first M ori woman - to solely write and direct a dramatic feature film. Her legacy is one of fearlessness, a dedication to her people and a cornerstone of Indigenous Cinema.
Named in her honor, the Sundance Institute's Merata Mita Fellowship cultivates a stage for Indigenous women worldwide to tell their stories and offers a year-long continuum of support, mentorship, and a trip to the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Applications for the 2022 Merata Mita Fellowship are now open; submit your materials by Monday, October 11, for a chance to be considered.
In January, during the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Marja B l Nango (Sami) - writer and director of award-winning shorts like 2019's The Tongues - was announced as the recipient of this year's Merata Mita Fellowship. Below, hear what Nango had to say during the 2021 Festival.
I'm honored to be taken under the wings of Merata Mita's name as a fellow at Sundance. To have my name intertwined with Merata Mita's is not only a honour but a responsibility I take seriously, as she embodies the strong Indigenous woman in every sense of that saying - in her filmmaking, but also in how she powered through challenges in her personal life and still managed to make great films.
The ownership of S mi stories - all Indigenous stories - should and shall be with us.
-Marja B l Nango
Her life on earth ended before my life as a filmmaker even started, but we - the Indigenous people - are all intertwined. We are intertwined by our common history of colonization that unfortunately looks all too familiar, whether it be in S mpi, New Zealand, or the USA. That also makes the history of filmmaking somewhat similar.
To use Merata's words, I've always felt strongly that our land gets taken, the fisheries and forests taken, and in the same category is our stories.
Our land was colonized, and now our stories are in line. That goes for all our Indigenous stories across the world. In some countries, they have set policies of inclusion to get financing for Indigenous stories on film: They have to have Indigenous advisers, Indigenous key creatives, or even partly Indigenous ownership.
In S pmi - the area of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia - we have no such inclusion policies. After the success of Amanda Kernell's narrative feature S mi Blood in 2016, the non-S mi saw how it was critically acclaimed, and a hunger for S mi stories arose. Suddenly our stories had value, after being recognized by the leading film festivals in the world.
But the institutions want our stories in the hands of non-S mi. They have proven this over the years by not granting S mi filmmakers finances to produce narrative features. The last S mi narrative feature directed by a S mi filmmaker and produced on the Norwegian side of S pmi was 13 years ago. The total of narrative features with mainly S mi content directed by a S mi in all four countries in total is only four - only four films in the span of a 30-year-long narrative S mi film history.
The ownership of S mi stories - all Indigenous stories - should and shall be with us.
As I work on my first feature, I Love My Guo oheaddji, I want to change the structure of how films are produced. I want the majority of ownership of our filmmaking to lie within our people. I can sometimes feel the burden of this goal, but I remind myself of all the Indigenous filmmakers who once were the first to do something.
I humbly step down the paths that other Indigenous filmmakers have tread before me, such as Merata Mita - trailblazers clearing the road for us to come behind. If not for them, the road would still be unpaved. And I hope that one day someone can walk in the new paths I have tread.
When Merata Mita explained why she, as an Indigenous woman, was to the one to tell a story on film versus a non-Indigenous filmmaker, she said, The reason they gave me for wanting me to make the film, rather than, say, television or other people in the media, was that they felt it was important that, for once, the story should be told as it is felt by M ori people.
Her work and words remind me of how connected the Indigenous film community is, as her words ring true to this day. And I want to end by borrowing her words: For once, the story should be told as it is felt by S mi people.
UP NEXT:
Sundance Institute Announces Marja B l Nango as 2021 Merata Mita Fellow
Leya Hale on the Legacy of the Late M ori Filmmaker Merata Mita
Perspectives: Cousins Directors Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith on Making Films - and Making History
Most recent headlines
07/09/2024
The official kickoff to the college football season provided another reminder of how football can boost audiences across all platforms, with ESPN and ABC report...
07/09/2024
CAMBRIDGE, U.K. Adder Technology, a provider of connectivity solutions and high performance IP KVM technologies, has announced a new addition to its KVM matrix ...
07/09/2024
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) has promoted Sean Franklin to vice president and general manager for WLEX, the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate in ...
07/09/2024
AMSTERDAM Cobalt Digital has announced that during the IBC Show it will be sharpening its focus on IP-based solutions by adding a scalable software-based multiv...
07/09/2024
The IBC Talent Programme will look at how the industry can collaborate to foster new talent, make training more accessible, and develop common standards for div...
07/09/2024
The non-profit association aims to reduce risks and support trust in media, in the face of increasing threat levels
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: September ...
07/09/2024
Cerberus Tech, a leader in cloud-native IP contribution and distribution, today announced a series of updates that combine to increase user control in working w...
07/09/2024
Interra Systems, a leading provider of end-to-end quality assurance solutions to the digital media industry, today announced a strategic partnership with Videli...
07/09/2024
oMoVo, an innovator in AI-driven digital asset management (DAM), is launching ioPilot, a new feature in its game-changing DAM platform. Designed to streamline c...
07/09/2024
Creativepool Annual 2024: The Most Awards Launched at Sinfonia Smith Square
Brie Clayton September 7, 2024
0 Comments
The creative industry's mo...
07/09/2024
Meredith Veloz has been named news director at WRMD Tampa, part of NBC Universal Local's Telemundo Station Group. She starts in early October and will repor...
06/09/2024
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fes...
06/09/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 22: (L-R) Eugene Grygo, Phoebe Hoffman, Lana Wilson, Michael Kim, and Nikenya Hall attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Look Into M...
06/09/2024
The highly anticipated opus from director Quentin Tarantino doesn't disappoint. It's a typically outrageous conglomeration of comedy and shock laced wit...
06/09/2024
Cinema, the most voyeuristic of mediums, is uniquely placed to convey both the act of surveillance and the psychology of the surveilled. In Seberg, director Ben...
06/09/2024
In February 2019, director J.J. Abrams called Cut! for the last time during principal photography of the ninth chapter of the long-running Star Wars saga. Sta...
06/09/2024
In a cinematic universe expanding with superheroes, the creative challenge for filmmakers is to set newcomers apart from the crowd. The task is doubly important...
06/09/2024
Having photographed episodes of the Showtime horror drama Penny Dreadful's second and third seasons, John Conroy, ISC was eager to reteam with showrunner Jo...
06/09/2024
The psychological thriller Homecoming returns for its sophomore season with fresh twists, nail-biting cliff-hangers, and more of the unnerving cinematography th...
06/09/2024
Based on the series of novels by Eoin Colfer, the feature Artemis Fowl finds its namesake a precocious, hyperintelligent 12-year-old boy (played by Ferdia Sha...
06/09/2024
Vincent lives in Los Angeles, Anthony in New York City. They met on a dating app and have been talking for months, but the physical distance between them has ke...
06/09/2024
What are we going to talk about today? cinematographer Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC asks almost immediately after answering his phone. It's late July when Pana...
06/09/2024
The recent features and bear a number of similarities. Chief among them: Both were shot by cinematographer Hillary Spera. Each story also exists in the realm of...
06/09/2024
Angeliena follows the adventures and self-discovery of its namesake heroine (played by Euodia Samson), a lovable parking attendant who harbors dreams of traveli...
06/09/2024
Pair a British-born songwriter-director who's collaborated with musicians like Jay-Z with a Romanian cinematographer known for shooting intense dramas, and ...
06/09/2024
It was June 2019 when director Baz Luhrmann first approached cinematographer Mandy Walker, ACS, ASC about collaborating on the new biopic Elvis. I was extremel...
06/09/2024
Based on the best-selling mystery novel of the same name, the feature Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a young woman who grew...
06/09/2024
Johannesburg, 05 September 2024 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF),...
06/09/2024
Video over IP, in the sense that's used in film and television, sometimes feels like a newer idea than it really is. That might be because the high-end, unc...
06/09/2024
The ability of NFL football to attract large audiences in an era of declining viewing for linear TV was on full display in the NFL seasons opener, with an avera...
06/09/2024
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has beefed up its team in EMEA and APAC with the addition of three new positions intended to enhance its growth and better serve customers...
06/09/2024
NEW YORK FutureB2B, a world-leading provider of business intelligence and networking services, is proud to announce the appointment of Joe Palombo as the publis...
06/09/2024
Adventurer A/V, a leading Taiwanese broadcast production company and equipment rental service provider based in Taipei City, has invested in latest-generation U...
06/09/2024
At IBC 2024, Hall 1 B33, leading video software provider, Synamedia, will unveil a raft of new video network solutions as it solidifies its position as a key te...
06/09/2024
LiveU today launched its Lightweight Sports Production solution making fully featured, professional live sports production accessible and affordable for every e...
06/09/2024
Osprey Video
IBC2024 Show Preview
Sept. 13-16
Various Partner Stands
At IBC2024, Osprey Video's encoding/decoding technology will be on display at sever...
06/09/2024
GB Labs, the leader in intelligent, centralized media storage, today announced the launch of NebulaNAS, a transformative new cloud storage solution developed fr...
06/09/2024
Suitest, provider of test automation for OTT applications, today announced the full availability of image- and object-based test automation capabilities in a si...
06/09/2024
France 3 Nouvelle Aquitaine (.3NoA) is a 100% regional channel that aims to promote culture and creativity at regional level.
At the beginning of 2024, the cha...
06/09/2024
At IBC 2024, Camera control specialists Videosys Broadcast will be announcing a new bidirectional radio camera system that will simplify wireless workflows, as ...
06/09/2024
Magnifi by VideoVerse, an AI-driven video technology company and powerful video-editing SaaS platform, has announced a partnership with Storyteller,a leading Sa...
06/09/2024
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices and services, is proud to announce its selection as the official vendor for the HbbTV ...
06/09/2024
LTN and Skyline Communications announce a new collaboration to drive enhanced broadcast monitoring and control for Tier 1 media, sports, entertainment, and tech...
06/09/2024
IBC2024 today announces the line-up of speakers and sessions for the first-ever dedicated IBC Talent Programme, taking place on Monday 16 September in the Showc...
06/09/2024
Kiloview, a leading provider of IP-based video transmission solutions, is set to make a significant impact at IBC 2024 with the unveiling of three groundbreakin...
06/09/2024
The newly combined entity of Fabric and Xytech Systems, currently known as Fabric x Xytech, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kira Baca as Chief Revenue...
06/09/2024
Student Spotlight: Mateo Londo o The producer talks about leaving Berklee to grieve the passing of a close friend and fellow student and then returning to fin...
06/09/2024
More rough news for grownups in traditional media. According to a new study from Precise TV, teens prefer the ads on YouTube and are turning to Netflix and YouT...
06/09/2024
A data-driven campaign created by Samsung Ads and Davis Elen Advertising for the...
06/09/2024
Glen Dacy has been named VP of news content and streaming at WFLD-WPWR Chicago, starting September 9. He most recently worked with the CBS Network News Special ...