Janine Windolph, right, and her auntie Irene. (National Film Board of Canada)

By Derek Cornet

indigenous voices

La Ronge filmmaker releases documentary through National Film Board of Canada

Jun 24, 2024 | 4:02 PM

A filmmaker who was born and raised in La Ronge has released her third project through the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

Our Maternal Home was released online last month, and it follows Janine Windolph and her family’s return to their maternal homelands of Waswanipi Cree Nation in Quebec. She was joined by her two teenage sons and her younger sister.

“The idea was pitched by my oldest son Dawlari Windolph, who had heard a lot of our maternal family line being situated in the Far East and he had wanted to make an authentic connection to our home community from my kookum’s (grandmother) side,” Windolph explained.

“We decided to document it because it follows the intergeneration healing of my family in terms of reconnecting and putting together that part of our identity and history.”

The group spent seven days visiting Waswanipi in August 2022, where they curated a series of opportunities to connect through berry picking, visiting Old Post, foraging, putting tobacco down at their ancestor’s graves, visiting family and taking time to connect both on and off screen.

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“We wanted to take it to the community of Waswanipi before it really went out to the world, so we went there just this last December to share the film with the community and reconnect with my auntie Irene,” Windolph explained.

“It went over really well. I don’t really get nervous when it comes to screenings, but when I take anything back to the community, whether it is Waswanipi, La Ronge or Regina, there’s all of the little nerves that kick in at those type of events, mostly because I really made it for my communities and my families and so it was really heartwarming to see them laugh, connecting, crying and just really appreciating that the story has been told. I think that is really what opened up the conversation to sharing stories about my grandmother when she was younger.”

Windolph previously worked with the NFB on Life Givers: Honouring Our Elders and Children (2007), as well as Stories Are in Our Bones (2020).

Stories Are in Our Bones was filmed in La Ronge and is about Windolph bringing her two sons to the area to go fishing with their grandmother, a residential school survivor who retains a deep knowledge and memory of the land. Having been born and raised in the city, the act of reconnecting with their homeland is a cultural and familial healing journey for the boys and it creates a powerful form of resistance for the women.

“I feel like they (NFB) really hold on to what importance family stories do have and how these are Indigenous stories that can connect to many other people, not even just Indigenous people, but it resonates with other non-Indigenous people who are disconnected from their land as well,” she said.

“Their ongoing support to help foster these story bundles is super important and I like they do distribution strongly because it helps get the stories out into the world.”

Our Maternal Home can be viewed free online here. The film can also be screened free of charge by contacting the NFB.

Windolph currently lives in Banff, Alta., where she works as the director of Indigenous Arts at the Banff Centre.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com