The award-winning studio-on-wheels Wapikoni Mobile comes home to Montreal this fall, offering local youth opportunities for hands-on training in audiovisual techniques, scriptwriting and music recording.
The workshop will be held throughout the fall at the Bonsecours Market’s Eleven Nation exhibition room. Sessions will be held from 5 pm to 8 pm, Monday through Wednesday, and from 11 am to 2 pm on the weekends, starting on September 22 and continuing through to November 11.
Professional filmmakers François Jacob and Melanie O’Bomsawin supervise the workshops and, along with their team, impart their knowledge and experience in the fields of shooting, miking and editing film and animation, as well as recording music in a professional studio.
All First Nations youth aged between 15 and 30 are eligible, and all that is required is a keen interest in making a short film and learning about the film- or music-making process. And thanks to help from the Forum jeunesse de l’Ile de Montréal, the workshops are free.
Wapikoni Mobile, founded in 2004 by documentary filmmaker Manon Barbeau, operates on the mandate of connecting Aboriginal youth through audiovisual and filmmaking workshops. In doing this, Wapikoni aims to provide youth with a route to lessen their isolation and open their access to outside cultures; the youth then become liaisons between the underrepresented contemporary Native culture and the wider Canadian and international communities.
The Commission on Human Rights and the rights of Youth in Quebec recently awarded it the “Droits and libertés 2011” award for their work with Aboriginal youth.
For more info: www.wapikoni.tv
