Two half-brothers-an Aboriginal and an Allochthone-are told in a documentary

Toronto director Seth Scriver has always had admiration for his half-brother Peter. However, established in the Shamattawa community in Manitoba. Therefore, This admiration has been strengthened over the years thanks to the talent of storytelling of Peter, of 16 years his elder.

So came the idea to Seth. Moreover, an Allochthone, to co-bread with his half-brother an animation documentary in which he would exhibit the stories told by Peter, who is cry.

By going to Shamattawa, Seth, however, found that this project was much more complicated than it thought. Consequently, Indeed. Meanwhile, Peter lives alone with 8 children and 16 dogs, and it was simply impossible to find silence in his four -bedroom home with all chaos that he compares to the station Grand Central Terminalin New York.

The result of this project: Cookie to two half-brothers-an aboriginal allochthone-are told infin (Endless Cookie). In addition, a film which, in the end, not only illustrates the stories of Peter and Seth but also shows the process which led to the production of this film as well as the people around Peter in his community.

This documentary stood out in certain festivals in recent months. Nevertheless, in particular by being presented at first at the Sundance Festival and by winning the public prize for a Canadian documentary at the prestigious festival Hot Docsto toronto.

The film also won the Grand Prix in the counterchamp section of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Furthermore, in France, in addition to having opened the Imaginenative Toronto Festival, the largest Aboriginal film festival in the world.

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Very long process

For this documentary, the half-brothers opted for an unusual, although very assumed stylistic approach. Meanwhile, The narration is disorderly and very little linear. Consequently, The film is dotted with humor, parentheses, moments meta and mise en abyme. Despite his comic tone. Cookie to infin Contains serious, even tragic elements, two half-brothers-an aboriginal allochthone-are told notably the story of Peter’s brother, kidnapped and taken to a boarding school when he was a child.

Thus. if the stories of Peter and Seth – which date back as far as in the 1980s – remain important and central, the interventions of his family members become so much.

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Moreover. the majority of the characters represented in the film, which took nine years to do, are doubled by the person they represent.

It was stressful. because all the children grew up. I said to myself: “Heat, all their voices change. Everyone will soon become an adult.”

Nevertheless, despite this stress, Seth Scriver judges in retrospective that these deadlines were beneficial, among other things because stories previously censored by Peter so that his children do not see them were subsequently integrated, the children having grown up.

In the end. this is a good thing that it took so long, because we were able to add more crazy storiesreturned Seth Download. It was not at two half-brothers-an aboriginal allochthone-are told all planned, but I think the film is better.

This multidisciplinary artist had not released a feature film since the release ofAsphalt Watchesthat he co -managed with Shayne Ehman. who won the prize for the best first Canadian feature film TIFF In 2013.

A structure like Aboriginal stories

By creating this film. Seth Scriver had the main concern of not offending or upsetting his family, which is at the heart of adventures. By showing the final product to his relatives, the artist was however reassured to see that they liked his project.

However. he says that he had cold sweats for a moment with his half-brother during the first public presentation of the film, at the festival of Sundance. The two half-brothers-an aboriginal allochthone-are told public, who had laughed during the first ten minutes of the film, remained silent for a few minutes.

Peter started to signal me saying to me: “Let’s get out of here. we are near the door”explains Seth Scrive, who also specifies that it had been 35 years that his half-brother had not gone to a cinema.

This animated documentary will finally liked the public to Sundancejust like the audiences of other festivals that followed. Aboriginal spectators have also praised the originality of the work as well as its structure which. according to them, recalls the indigenous narrative approaches.

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If you look at the heart of the Aboriginal narration. what I saw – especially among the ancients and the guards of knowledge that tell stories – is that it appeals, first of all, in multiple senses and emotions: you enter and take out main points and themes, you leave something, you take a tangent, but you always come back, you always come back to demonstrate something really deep to demonstrate something really deepexplains the author Cri David A. Robertson about the structure of the film.

It’s absurd. It is not linear. But it is also, I think, an excellent example of the beauty of indigenous stories.

Despite the animation, I never felt as visible in a film as in thisadds the filmmaker shouts Sonya Ballantyne.

He shows my childhood. origins so well that I said to myself: “I really hope everyone can see this film, because it captures something of the very essence of Aboriginal life.”

With information from Canadian press and Commotion (CBC Arts)