“We hardly ever see the Outaouais region on screen. I was very happy to be able to film that land.”
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Montreal-based filmmaker Caroline Monnet expects to be a little nervous when her latest work, Bootlegger, screens Sunday night at Ottawa’s Asinabka Festival.
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“I’m a little more nervous than usual about presenting the film,” says Monnet, a 37-year-old Anishinaabe French artist who spent much of his youth in Aylmer. “It is the first time that my childhood friends will be able to see the film.”
Additionally, Monnet’s award-winning 2021 film was largely filmed in Kitigan Zibi, the Anishinabeg reservation north of Ottawa. Then people in that community, including Monnet’s cousins, will be able to see Bootlegger when it is displayed on the open-air terrace of the Ottawa Art Gallery.
“We hardly ever see the Outaouais region on screen. I was very happy to be able to film that land,” Monnet says of her decision to film in the community where she is her mother.
Monnet likens making a movie to “running a marathon” and says it takes him five years to write, direct and produce one. In Bootlegger’s case, he began work on his script in 2015 and shot the film during the fall of 2019 in Kitigan Zibi, Montreal and Oka.
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While Monnet’s previous work includes around a dozen short films, including documentaries and experimental films, Bootlegger is his first full-length narrative story.
The film tells the story of Mani, a young woman who returns to the remote northern Quebec community where she grew up. Mani, played by Kahnawake-born actress Devery Jacobs from the television series Reservation Dogs, becomes involved in the debate surrounding a referendum to allow free alcohol sales. Mani meets Laura, a liquor smuggler played by Quebecois actress Pascale Bussières, who profits under the protection of the community council. The positions of the two women divide the community.
“The film is about resilience and determination, and how the Indian Law that still governs indigenous communities today is affecting families from generation to generation. Alcohol is just an excuse to talk about it,” says Monnet.
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Monnet says that indigenous stories have often been told by non-indigenous filmmakers. “It was important to me to bring an authentic take on things that was full of love, showing harsh reality, but in a calming way.”
Bootlegger, with dialogue in Anishinabemowin and subtitles in French and English, was released last year. Unfortunately, the circumstances of the pandemic meant that the film, which features music by throat singer Inuk Tanya Tagaq and Toronto drummer Jean Martin, was not shown widely in theaters.
However, he has played on the festival circuit, collecting awards. Bootlegger premiered at last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, where it earned Monnet the award for best emerging filmmaker.
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At the 2021 ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival in Toronto, Bootlegger won the award for best dramatic film. Monnet calls winning “the highest award… The community loves the film and sees it as authentic and compelling.”
Bootlegger also won this year’s Quebec Iris Award for the most successful film outside the province.
Monnet says it was important for the Kitigan Zibi community to see Bootlegger before anyone else. Prior to its festival run, the film was screened more than a year ago at a summer drive-in in the community.
“People were in their trucks. There were many honks. He was nervous,” says Monnet.
While Monnet was studying sociology and communications at the University of Ottawa, he quickly found his way as a visual artist and filmmaker.
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“I think artists and filmmakers are a bit like sociologists. We have to respond to the world around us. We have to propose dialogue”, says Monnet. “My work always has a great social component.”
He says that instead of dividing his time between visual arts and film, he does them simultaneously. “I just love both worlds and both mediums,” she says.
“The visual arts keep me on my toes and stimulate me creatively. I don’t want to choose between one or the other. I’m really invested in both.”
In 2020, Monnet won the $25,000 Sobey Art Prize in recognition of his multidisciplinary work.
She will arrive in Ottawa on Friday, two days after the Asinabka Festival of Indigenous Arts begins.
The festival, marking its eleventh year of support Film, video, media art, music and performance made by indigenous people “have their own signature,” says Monnet.
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She points out that the festival is international in scope, showcasing works by indigenous artists from around the world. This year’s edition will feature artists from Canada, the United States, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela and New Zealand, as well as films from Australia, Malaysia, Norway and the Philippines.
“It becomes a center for exchange and dialogue on indigenous issues,” says Monnet, who hopes to see films on Saturday before his closing presentation of the festival. Each movie day features five or more screenings.
“It’s a place where you can discover works you wouldn’t see anywhere else,” she says.
Asinabka Film and Media Arts Festival
What: In-person and online festival of indigenous film, video, media art, music and performance
When: August 10-14
Where: Ottawa Art Gallery, Club Saw, Gallery 101
Schedule and information: asinabkafestival.org
Tickets: eventbrite.ca, search for “Asinabka”
Bootlegger
What– 81-minute award-winning film largely shot in Kitigan Zibi
When: August 14, 21:45
Where: Ottawa Art Gallery Outdoor Terrace
