Residency.

Indigenous Artist in Residence 2021
May 1 - November, 30 2021

Siku Allooloo

Indigenous Artist In Residence: Siku Allooloo Siku Allooloo next to her artwork, Akia, commissioned for the HEXSA’AM: To Be Here Always exhibition (2019). Photo provided by the artist.


Cineworks is honoured to welcome Siku Allooloo as our first Indigenous Artist in Residence. This residency supports Siku to develop filmmaking skills and techniques related to her larger independent project, titled Indígena. This multilayered project explores the untold story of a revolutionary who ran an Indigenous women-led newspaper at the heart of the American Indian Movement and sparked the return of the Taíno nation - a resurgence movement more than 500yrs in the making. This revolutionary was Siku’s mother and the project underway centres on her newspaper in a journey that spans the entire lifetime of Indigenous resistance in the Americas, right up to today.

This residency is focused mainly on mentorship and cultivation of skills as Siku expands her artistic practice as a filmmaker and develops a short documentary of her project. Siku will engage with a number of Vancouver-based film professionals and participate in various Cineworks workshops to develop technical skills and insight toward her project. She will also lead an independent study of archival research, experimentation, and creative development as she works towards the completion of a 15-minute documentary film that incorporates her tactile visual language with the archival imagery, storyline and context of her larger Indígena project. In the spirit of skill-sharing and community-building, Siku’s residency will conclude with an artist talk and a screening of the short film in development.

Siku Allooloo is an Inuk/Haitian/Taíno interdisciplinary artist, emerging filmmaker and community builder. She hails from Denendeh (Northwest Territories), based now in Whitehorse, YT and Vancouver Island, BC. She is an avid leader in Indigenous resurgence working across the arts, decolonial advocacy, and cultural land-based education. Siku specializes in multimedia, poetry, and creative non-fiction, and is currently expanding her practice into documentary and experimental film.

Siku’s writing and multimedia work have been featured in The Guardian, Canadian Art Magazine, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, The Malahat Review, and various art galleries. Her artwork, Akia (pictured in the photo), was commissioned for the HEXSA’AM: To Be Here Always exhibition (2019). This was part of a two-year project, Mirrored In Stone. This project was commissioned by Cineworks and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia, in partnership with the Dzawada̱'enux̱w First Nation. Akia is currently showing at Qaumajuq (Winnipeg Art Gallery), the world's largest Inuit Art centre and exhibition space for Indigenous art.

Siku has just completed the first DOC BC/YT/NWT Breakthrough Program, where she began the early development of her film project, Indígena, which she will continue to develop during this residency.

Siku Allooloo. Photo provided by the artist. Siku Allooloo. Photo provided by the artist.

The Indigenous Artist in Residence program was created to celebrate and support the creative works of Indigenous artists in Canada. As settlers on the unceded Indigenous territories, it is imperative that we center transformative relationships with Indigenous artists and communities and dedicate meaningful resources that uplift the original peoples of these lands. In this light, we are truly honoured to expand on our previous relationship with Siku Allooloo and to welcome her as our first Indigenous Artist in Residence.

Follow her on Instagram(@discobou) to stay updated.

More on the Indígena Film Project by Siku

Siku’s mother, Marie-Hélène Laraque, co-founded the first bilingual Indigenous newspaper in North America. Through groundbreaking journalism led by Indigenous women in English and Spanish, the paper centered voices and struggles overlooked by mainstream media, catalyzing a solidarity network across the Americas. It also amplified the voices of Indigenous women in a movement and society constrained by patriarchy - and awakened a nation thought to have gone extinct after the arrival of Columbus in 1492. As her mother passed away in 2000, both the newspaper and her legacy are all but forgotten - though they remain foundational to many Indigenous movements to protect Earth, culture, sovereignty, inherent rights, and womankind today. This film is about recovering that important legacy and bringing it forward for current and future generations.

Previous works by Siku

Volunteering.

Cineworks membership includes mandatory volunteering components and only members may volunteer with us.

Production Membership includes commitment to 10 hours per year assisting Cineworks operations, and 10 hours per year assisting fellow members' productions.

General Membership includes commitment to 10 hours per year assisting Cineworks operations.

Cineworks Analog Centre.

Cineworks Analog Centre

Over the course of our 43-year history, Cineworks has saved a wide-range of artisanal analog filmmaking equipment & practices including cinema film processing machines, optical & contact film printers, flat bed editors, & extremely rare animation stands for hand drawn stop-frame animation. With the generous assistance of the BC Arts Council, we were able to renovate a space located at 312 Main in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to create our Cineworks Analog Centre (CAC) focusing on creating, presenting & mentoring analog film practices. The CAC reflects an important investment in analog film processes and allows us to identify further opportunities for intergenerational skill-sharing & knowledge related to analog filmmaking. The tactile nature of analog film practices carries inherent potential for creating poignant points of connection through analog filmmaking & film processing as participants come together to process celluloid film side-by-side in our two darkrooms. The CAC offers a full range of analog filmmaking equipment & facilities (including 2 darkrooms) focused on creating, producing, presenting & mentoring analog film practices that include celluloid cine film processing.

We recommend doing an orientation for those interested in learning more about the CAD. It is a mandatory step before using the facilities. To schedule an orientation, please contact equipment@cineworks.ca.

Please note that the CAC does not have regular office hours. If you want to go to the CAC you have to book an appointment so the Analog Film Technician can meet with you.

For other inquiries about the CAC, or to attend an orientation meeting, please send an e-mail to equipment@cineworks.ca.

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