Hi, my name is Megan Roberts and I am currently doing my masters degree in documentary film making at the University of Manchester. As part of the Granada Centre which creates ethnographic films about people, communities and changing cultural relations, I will be creating my first self- shot 30 minute documentary this summer and I have some pretty special people collaborating to tell their amazing story.
‘More than Survivors’ (a working title) is a collaborative film project working alongside members of the First Nation Snaw-naw-as people of the Nanoose Reserve in Canada. These inspirational people are part of the residential School survivors who suffered at the hands of the government to have ‘the Indian taken out of them’ through often harsh and ignorant boarding school systems set in place to destroy their culture and heritage. Thankfully this has not been the case and though damage has been done, the proud Snaw-naw –as people still today fight and preserve their indigenous customs while progressing in a way that does not hold them in an embittered cycle of pain.
This documentary will focus on three different generations of the Snaw- naw- as, interweaving their different stories through their own unique voices. Yes I’ll be holding the camera, but the journey is taken out of my hands and into theirs as they show me the way to not only survive but to flourish and embrace what the past government tried to take from them: their identity.
What I need:
The crew is simple, I am operating the camera and the sound, though with it being a collaborative project, I have no doubt there will be plenty of help once I set foot in Canada. That is where you come in. I need help to get this project off the ground, and in that, get me off the ground. Travel costs are the main expense of this film. Flights to get there and get this film made are around £700 so any help is greatly appreciated.
Also archive footage will need to be purchased in post production of some of the residential schools that will be spoken about in the film, again the costs of this would be significantly less money than flights but are of equal importance in order to bring this film to life.
My hosts are the most wonderful people and the fact it is self-shot does make things cheaper, but this project does need me to land in Vancouver island come July to capture these inspirational stories on film so any contribution would be genuinely brilliant!
The impact:
Too many voices have been silenced and lost already in this story. Yes the government issues an apology to the first Nation people for their treatment in the residential schools, but more powerful than this is the people themselves being able to tell their story and have it not only listened to but created by themselves with a little help from a small welsh girl and her camera! This is a wonderful opportunity to be part of a community project that will hopefully enrich people’s understanding of contemporary indigenous people in Canada as well as an opportunity for the youth of Snaw-naw-as to explore their heritage further and learn about their past.
If you liked what you have seen and read on my page, any and all support would be greatly appreciated. And of course feel free to share this webpage with anyone you think might be interested too!
Thank you!