15th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Returns Today

The 15th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival returns today, October 22-26, 2014 but the celebrations begin in June with National Aboriginal History Month. imagineNATIVE will commemorate National Aboriginal History Month with several special free events.

June 2: imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival reminds artists and filmmakers to submit their work for the 15th Anniversary Festival at http://www.imaginenative.org/home/How-to-Submit.

June 6: Voting begins for the favourite film from the imagineNATIVE 2014 Film + Video Tour, as part of the Youth Video-Making Contest from June 6-30, 2014. The winning filmmaker will be brought to the Festival this October to present their film in the annual youth shorts programme. More details can be found at www.imaginenative.org starting June 6.

imagineNATIVE's indigiFLIX Community Screening Series is expanding their programming for National Aboriginal History Month by presenting three FREE events throughout the month of June. indigiFLIX presents an incredible selection of films shown at previous imagineNATIVE festivals.

June 13: In co-presentation with the Bloor/Gladstone Toronto Public Library, the Festival Award Winner Shorts Programme will feature drama, comedy and documentary works from past festivals on themes of survival, strength and perseverance. The shorts will include Amaqqut Nunaat (The Country of Wolves), Throat Song, Fighter, My Story, Le Reve D'Une Mere (A Mother's Dream), Red Girl's Reasoning, and Mohawk Midnight Runners, which will be followed by a Q&A with the film's director, Zoe Hopkins.

June 19: In co-presentation with the Spadina/Bloor Toronto Public Library, the imagineNATIVE Youth Shorts Programme will showcase the best shorts by or about youth, which offer personal, traditional, comedic and inspiring perspectives from Canadian Indigenous artists. Titles include Wave A Red Flag, My Story, Nuu (Octopus Story), Ou Tu Va Toi?: Diane, Eagle vs. Sparrow, and Fusion.

June 25: indigiFLIX will wrap up with indigiFLIX: Under The Stars, an initiative of the Regent Park Film Festival's popular outdoor screening series, with a return screening of Empire of Dirt, the Canadian Screen Awards (CSA) Best Picture nominee by Peter Stebbings, produced by Jennifer Podemski and starring CSA-nominated actors Cara Gee and Jennifer Podemski.

June 21: imagineNATIVE, in partnership with TIFF, co-presents a special screening of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, fully translated into the Navajo language. Ats'ahoniyee' nil holoo doo: May the force be with you!
June 26: Wrapping up National Aboriginal History Month, imagineNATIVE will participate in the 5th annual Aboriginal History Month Celebration at Yonge-Dundas Square. imagineNATIVE will be there all day long with prizes and giveaways, as entertainers such as Digging Roots, Métis Fiddler Quartet and Derek Miller perform throughout the day.

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous media arts festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media. Each fall, the Festival presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from Canada and around the globe. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world's Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of Native art and culture in contemporary media. The 15th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival will be held October 22-26, 2014.

imagineNATIVE celebrates NATIONAL ABORIGINAL MONTH with a series of free events (schedule):

Friday, June 13 @ 6pm
indigiFLIX: Festival Award Winner Shorts Programme
Toronto Public Library, Bloor/Gladstone1101 Bloor Street West

Thursday, June 19 @ 6pm
indigiFLIX: Youth Shorts Programme
Toronto Public Library, Spadina/Bloor Branch10 Spadina Road

Saturday, June 21 @ 3:30pm
Navajo Star Wars
TIFF Bell Lightbox350 King Street West
For more information: http://tiff.net/programming/specialevents/free-events/navajo-star-wars-1

Wednesday, June 25 @ 7pm
indigiFLIX Under The Stars: Empire of Dirt @ Regent Park Film Festival
Daniel's Spectrum, 585 Dundas Street East

Thursday, June 26 @ 10am - 7pm
imagineNATIVE @ Aboriginal History Month Celebration
Yonge-Dundas Square

For more information, call 416.XX or visit www.imagineNATIVE.org or follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imagineNATIVE and Twitter: twitter.com/imagineNATIVE.

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