Amanda Strong’s ‘Inkwo for When the Starving Return’ to premiere at TIFF
Inkwo for When the Starving Return (Image from the film courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada and Spotted Fawn Productions)
Canadian Screen Award and Emmy-nominated Michif/Métis filmmaker Amanda Strong‘s latest project Inkwo for When the Starving Return will see its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Adapted from Richard Van Camp’s short story Wheetago War, the stop-motion film is a co-production between Strong’s own Spotted Fawn Productions and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) featuring the voice talents of Paulina Alexis, Tantoo Cardinal and Art Napoleon.
Two lifetimes from now the world hangs in the balance. Dove, a young warrior, receives and begins to understand the gifts and burdens of their Inkwo (medicine) to defend against an army of starving creatures. Dove’s courage, resilience and alliance with the Earth culminates in a battle against these flesh-consuming monsters, who become stronger with each human they devour. Inkwo for When the Starving Return is a call to action to fight and protect against the forces of greed and consumption.
Known for her powerful work that brings stop-motion animation together with Indigenous storytelling and ideologies, Strong’s other films include Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes) for CBC Arts and Four Faces of the Moon for CBC Docs — and have been exhibited at events and venues including TIFF, the Cannes film market, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the American Museum of Natural History.
The film accompanies two other NFB productions at TIFF, including the world premiere of the live-action feature documentary Living Together (Dir. Halima Elkhatabi) and the North American premiere of the latest animated short from Academy Award-winner Torill Kove, Maybe Elephants.
Hailing from Norway and presently based in Canada, Kove has created such films as the Oscar-winning The Danish Poet and the Oscar nominated My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts and Me and My Moulton. Her latest film Maybe Elephants is rooted in family, memory and the fallible nature of both, telling the story of three sisters whose lives are uprooted when their parents relocate them from Norway to Nairobi.
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Torill Kove narrates the story of her formative teenage years growing up in a loving family who must suddenly navigate the strong pull of individual needs. The parents and three sisters swap a safe and predictable life in Norway with the fresh unknowns of vibrant 1970s Nairobi, Kenya. Featuring the return cast of Me and My Moulton, Maybe Elephants explores the many ripples flowing from a mother’s restlessness, and how this impacts her family.
This year’s TIFF will take place September 5 to 15. For more info visit tiff.net