Kinnie Starr's Haida Raid 3 named one of the Best New Music Videos by CBC

 

Haida Raid 3 has been named one of the best new music videos by the CBC, along with new videos by Owen Pallett, Bahamas and more.  

"Starr’s song is an incredible call to action, and the stop-motion animation music video, directed by Amanda Strong, is a beautifully rendered and thought-provoking part indictment, part wake-up call."

Haida Raid 3 reaches the CBC

Woohoo! A big Haw'aa to Kim Wheeler at the CBC for the coverage of Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters. It's great to see Haida Raid 3 getting out there... and, if you take a look at the comments on the CBC piece, you'll see that there are lots of mainstream folks who don't agree with the Haida perspective. After reviewing some of the comments, I get the impression that mainstream people don't realize how dangerous the Hecate Strait is, and don't understand that there is currently a moratorium on tanker traffic, and that the proposal would bring over 300 tankers a year to these dangerous and unpredictable waters. And reading the comments, it seems like some people don't get that the Haida and other First Nations groups still depend very much on the sea for their food and way of life. Take a look for yourself and leave a comment! And also, don't forget to tell people about Haida Raid 2: A Message to Stephen Harper.

Haidawood Retrospective

I've put together a Sway on Haidawood, that pulls together all the animations in one place and also gives some back ground on the project. Take a look here.

Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters released!

Here it is: Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters! Directed by Amanda Strong and featuring the song "Who Will Save Our Waters" by Kinnie Starr, with a cameo by Ja$e El Nino. Haida Raid 3 won Best Music Video at the 2014 ImagiNATIVE Film Festival. Enjoy!

Taaw animation featured on new Naikoon Park webpage

Naikoon Park has built a new interactive webpage full of hidden features. And, they include a link to the Taaw story at the blowhole site. Take a look for yourself and see if you can uncover the Taaw story!

Haida Raid 3 wins Best Music Video at ImagiNATIVE

Happy to report that Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters won Best Aboriginal Music Video at the 2014 ImagiNATIVE Film Festival. We've had a lot of challenges with this production, including working with limited funds, limited time, and dealing with a hard drive crash that lost us a lot of footage. Kudos to director Amanda Strong for pulling together what we had to make a winning video!

Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters premieres at ImagiNATIVE

We premiered Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters yesterday at the ImagiNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto. The animation was screened with a series of documentaries on water. Amanda Strong and I were both in attendance and we did a short Q & A at the end of the session. HR3 was well received and it was a nice contrast to the documentaries. Amanda has a few more small tweaks to do in post production and I expect we'll be uploading the completed animation some time soon. We are also exploring the possibility of having the animation broadcast on television.

I am pleased to announce that we've just released the Nuu (Octopus) story online today (as it happens, the day after Indigenous Peoples Day). Nuu was a real labour of love and I am thankful to my many collaborators for their help in bringing the project to completion. I'd like to say a special Haw'aa to Jaalen and Gwaai Edenshaw, Danny Dee, and Shannon Reynolds for their respective roles in the production. Nuu won an honourable mention at last year's ImagiNATIVE Film Festival. This year, we will be premiering Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters at ImagiNATIVE on Oct. 24th.

In the meantime, please sit down and relax and watch the Nuu (Octopus) story. And, if you are a Haida language learner, you may want to watch the version with Xaad Kil subtitles. Enjoy!

We are pleased to announce that Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters will be premiering at the 2014 ImagiNATIVE Film Festival on Friday Oct. 24th at 12:30 pm in Toronto. We will upload HR3 to the Haidawood YouTube channel shortly after the premiere. Haw'aa for your patience!

It's taken longer than anticipated to bring Haida Raid 3 to closure. The Indiegogo campaign was more work that any of us expected. And, during the first production shoot in June we had a hard drive fail and lost some scenes. In the end, we had to ship many of the sets and puppets from Masset down to Vancouver to complete the shooting. This is our first time working with Metis director Amanda Strong, aka, Spotted Fawn. I have been impressed with her perseverance, in spite of the obstacles the production has faced. I am looking forward to being in Toronto for the big day!

Welcome to Waterloo

After 3.5 years living on Haida Gwaii, I have now moved back to Waterloo Ontario, to be closer to my aging parents. And, I've brought my partner, the lady Shannon, and 2 young boys, Journey and Phoenix, with me.

Today I just registered to attend the 2014 ImagiNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto in October. I am excited to be going. I am interested in using the Haidawood methodology with indigenous communities here in Ontario. And, I am also exploring ways to connect with Waterloo's community of intellectuals and entrepreneurs. 

Haidawood at IACCP meeting in Reims France

I am here in Reims France, where the International Association for Cross Cultural Psychology (IACCP) meeting has just wrapped up. I've been coming to these meetings for years now with my mum, Dr. Josephine Naidoo. My mum is now professor emeritus in cross cultural psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. For the past decade, I've been coming with her to IACCP meetings around the globe, mostly to help her carry her bags and help her walk around (it is getting harder and harder for her to walk around). So far, I've gone with her to IACCP meetings in China, Germany, South Africa, and now France.

The IACCP meeting is truly international, with diverse participants from around the world. This year, I met researchers from Russia, China, Japan, India, USA, Australia, Georgia, Columbia, South Africa, Nigeria, to name just a few of the countries represented.

This year, I presented 2 posters. One on Haidawood, shown here, and one on the Health Enrichment through the Arts (HEARTs) project that I conducted with my sister Dr. Michele Leslie, up on Haida Gwaii. I had a lot of interest in both posters, and I am hoping this might lead to new possibilities to enhance Haidawood and/or apply the Community Animation approach to other indigenous communities worldwide.  

36 Hours Left in HR3:SOW Indiegogo Campaign

There are just 36 hours left in the Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters Indiegogo Campaign. So far, we've raised $10,360 in contributions, which gets us to 67% of our goal of $15,555. Although it looks unlikely that we will meet our target, we have raised a substantial portion of the production budget and we've benefited by the fact that many people have made contributions without requesting a perk in return.

We are currently animating Haida Raid 3. You can see pictures on the Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters Facebook Page. I am delighted to be working with filmmaker Amanda Strong, aka Spotted Fawn, who brings a wide range of directing, animating, and production experience. Combine this with the collaboration with music producer and singer Kinnie Starr and you have the makings of a truly remarkable collaboration. A big Haw'aa to filmmaker Helen Haig-Brown who has facilitated the participation of 3 youth with support from Access to Media Education Society (AMES).

Our plan is to animated Haida Raid 3 over the next 5 days of intense shooting, before Amanda has to return to Vancouver. Wish us luck!

Production of Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters begins

The Haida Raid 3 Indiegogo continues to move along. So far we are at 45% of our goal with 13 more days to go. We've posted pictures of the bronze cast perks and have started to reach out to allied organizations re: possible sponsorship. I've also fine-tuned the Haidawood channel and added a clickable link to Haida Gwaii CoASt website in the Haida Raid 2 YouTube video.

Alida Kinnie Starr has come on board to do the musical production for HR3 featuring her song/anthem "Who Will Save Our Waters?" Haw'aa to Alida for this video endorsement...




If you want to stay posted on the progress of our campaign, then please LIKE and SHARE the Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters Facebook Page. 

The Haidawood studio is set-up in Masset, and I expect we'll start making sets once we finalize the storyboard this weekend. Come and join us at the studio if you are interested in making sets and pushing puppets! We'll be there until the end of May.

HR3 Update: 1 week into Indiegogo campaign

We are just over one week into the "Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters" Indiegogo campaign. So far, we've raised $3,355 from 43 different contributors. I am happy to announce that veteran hip hop star and Mohawk activist Alida Kinnie Starr has officially joined the project. Her song "Water" will be featured in HR3, and she will be doing the musical production for the animation. There's also a write-up in this week's QCI Observer. You can read the article here. Please help us get the word out about this project, make a donation, and help us make "Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters" a reality!

Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters

Today we launched our Indiegogo campaign to raise $15,555 to make Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters. It took a lot of work and coordination to pull the campaign together, and it will be running until May 15th. Please do take a look, donate, and share. We've come up with lots of great perks to make it fun and rewarding to contribute. Please check out our campaign page!

Haidawood featured in Langscape

I am delighted to report that Haidawood is featured in the latest issue of Langscape, Terralingua's biocultural diversity magazine (issue 13 volume 2). The article includes a full videography of the Haidawood animations, including links to short trailers for the new Taaw and Nuu animations. You can download a free pdf of the magazine online.