Films

4 Directions Series Info

4 - 4 min. experimental shorts
**** all camera, editing, writing and direction was fully done by Darlene Naponse, with Music on Waiting for the Ice to Melt by Julian Cote

Winter - North - White ~ hibernation 2006

Hibernation is a look at winter and our habitual habits and characteristics we undertake while living in this season. With an abated soundtrack and imagery relating to the landscape of Northern Ontario.
Screened; Mobile Media 2, Ontario Arts Council - Sudbury & North Bay

Summer - South - Red ~ longing

Fall - West - Black. ~ Storing 2004

Storing is about what we store within ourselves with parallel imagery of Mother Earth preparing herself for winter. Seasons transform in nature, we to transform with nature. This video represents the season fall in Northern Ontario, Canada as we get prepared for Mother Earth to freeze herself into a cold winter.
Screened; imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto

Spring - Yellow ~ Waiting for the Ice to Melt 2003

An experimental vision of ice melting, signifying what we wait for and what waits for us.
Screened; imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto

Cradlesong

Cradlesong, 72 min. musically driven feature film (drama)
2002 - 2003 Writer/Director/Producer
Screened; Official Selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival 2003, 2nd Annual Native American Palm Springs Film & Video Festival 2003, imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto, Native American Film and Video Festival - Smithsonian NY, New York

Synopsis
Cradlesong is a dramatic musically driven film about the people around you. It takes place at 47_ 20' longitude, 81_ 15' latitude (a small Ojibway community). The story starts at 5:37pm, following several characters as they interrelate and culminate to a moment that changes everything and everyone in the community. The film is essentially about dysfunction and how everyone around the source is infected. Cradlesong is an independent “Rez Style” film shot on DV Cam, in real-time.

Credits
Director; Darlene Naponse
Director of Photography; Jeff Tranchemontagne
Original Music; Julian Cote
Original Screenplay; Darlene Naponse
Producers; Bill Huffman, Darlene Naponse, Niki Naponse
Production Manager; Tammy McGregor
Editor; Jeff Tranchemontagne
Introducing; Liz Wabegijig, Nathan Hunter, Schuyler Webster, Thea Pattison, Lisa-Marie Naponse, Shkebe Landry, Randy Pitawanakwat, Ghislaine Goudreau, Madeline McGregor, Martina Osawamick, Gertie Manitowabi, Paula Naponse, Greg Tremblay

Graciously Supported by the
Canada Council for the Arts
Cinecan
Pine Needle Blankets Productions

Retrace

5 min. experimental short film
2001 Writer/Director/Camera
Screened; Official Selection of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, American Indian Film Festival - San Francisco 2002, imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto, Heard Museum Indigenous Film Festival - U.S.A. 2003, Museum London - London, On. 2003, Native American Film and Video Festival - Smithsonian NY, New York
Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Retrace
6 minutes, experimental short film, Director: Darlene Naponse

Ojibway Elder Eddie retraces and weaves through his own memory, creating a landscape of questions. We travel in time with Eddie in this experimental short, facing the realities of First Nation communities and the sense of abandonment. Retrace is essentially a entanglement of thought and vision.

Cast: Young Eddie - Randy Pitawanakwat; Old Eddie - Daisia Nebenionquit; Memory Woman - Lisa-Marie Naponse. Credits: Writer/Director/Camera - Darlene Naponse; Producers - Darlene Naponse and Jeff Tranchemontagne; Co-Producer - Niki Naponse; Original Guitar Music - Julian Cote; Original Drumming and Singing - Paula Naponse; Edited by - Jeff Tranchemontagne and Darlene Naponse.
Shot on Whitefish Lake First Nation, Ontario, Canada. © 2001 Pine Needle Blankets Productions

$4 dollar Indian

2 min. experimental doc
2000 Writer/Director/Camera
Screened; Saskatchewan Art Board Tour - England, Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival - Toronto, Faculty of Education, York University “Negotiations - Staking Claim(s)” - Toronto, Canada

Abandoned Houses on the Reservation

2 min. Independent Film
2000 Writer/Director/Camera
Screened; Official Selection of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, imagineNATIVE Film Festival 2000, Toronto, Image Nation - Vancouver Aboriginal Film and Video Festival 2001, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 2001
Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Credits
Writer/Director/Producer/Camera: Darlene Naponse
Producers: Darlene Naponse, Jeff Tranchemontagne, Niki Naponse
Editors: Darlene Naponse, Jeff Tranchemontagne
Original Music: Julian Cote, Shawn Corbiere
Starring: Lisa-Marie Naponse, Sage Petategoose, Darlene Naponse, Julian Cote
Technical Help: Jeremy Cooper

Film Synopsis
Abandoned Houses on the Reservation is a short experimental film shot on mini dv, and edited on a Premiere non-linear system. The film is a poetry narrated driven piece with images to capture and portray the words & imagery. The director’s vision was to balance out the negative with healing images and beauty. She also wanted to capture the relationship between texture, music, words and images. Including adding a soulful feeling weaved together to create the story of a young girl who watches a woman be abused through the years. The story is a metaphor for all the negativity we see daily within our communities and around the world, and how we deal with what our eyes and spirit see. We must find a balance, and Abandoned Houses on the Reservation tries to find that balance. This is part one of seven Abandoned Houses on the Reservation short films. This is the only one produced so far to this date.

Black Water Creek

15 min. Independent Film.
1998 Writer/Director
Screened; Saskatchewan Art Board Tour - England 2003, Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival - Toronto 2003
Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Old hall with Shelly & Cheryl Pic *****

it never happened .....

4:20 min. Independent Experimental short
1997 Writer/Director/Camera
Screened; NIIPA Film & Video Festival, SHORT Winner1998, Herland Feminist Film/Video Festival 2003,
Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, & (WTN) Woman Television Network
Krystal on Bed pic *****

**** All films available for screening or purchase by Director or at V-Tape Distributions Toronto

Copyright © 2007 by Pine Needle Blankets Productions.