Ep. 100: Can a Film Preserve an Endangered Language?

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">TIFF Long Take</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Geoff sits down with Jonathan Frantz, a filmmaker, producer, and member of Isuma, an Inuit-led media-arts collective founded by</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">Zacharias Kunuk. Frantz recently produced '</span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Edge of the Knife'</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a drama set in the 19th century and directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown. The film is particularly notable as the first feature made entirely in Haida, an endangered language spoken fluently by fewer than 20 people. '</span><em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Edge of the Knife'</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, which features a Haida cast and was made in collaboration with the Council of the Haida Nation, premiered at TIFF in 2018 and will screen as part of our Canada’s Top 10 series in 2019.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Frantz talks about the history and mission of Isuma, the long but rewarding process of making '</span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Edge of the Knife'</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and what he hopes the film will do for the Haida language and nation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He also discusses working with Edenshaw, Haig-Brown, and Kunuk, how he approaches projects such as this one as a non-Indigenous person, and the best resources for movie lovers looking to see more Indigenous films.</span></p>