Still from POOS, directed by Celestine Twigg (courtesy Calgary International Film Festival)
Alberta teacher and filmmaker Celestine Twigg has recently released her first short film/cartoon written entirely in the Blackfoot language.
Entitled POOS, it will have its world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival on Sept. 23.
It will then be shown in October at the New West Film Fest in New Westminster, British Columbia and at Red Nation International Film Festival in Los Angeles in November.
Twigg is a Blackfoot language teacher at Piikani Nation Secondary School in Southern Alberta. She says she “is thrilled that POOS is fulfilling her lifelong dream of creating cartoons to share the Blackfoot Language ‘like Sesame Street,’” according to the news release.
POOS shares the daily life of Twigg’s cat, Thumper, and is narrated by Twigg’s late son, Troy Emery Twigg, who was a renowned dancer and performer.
“POOS is a beautiful example of Blackfoot storytelling through animation. The transference and preservation of the language is so important for the survival of the Blackfoot way of being,” says artist and Galleries West contributor Adrian Stimson, who was part of the team that worked to develop the short film.
The new film also builds on the Blackfoot Language Animation Project (BLAP,) which was produced by Xstine Cook and Calgary Animated Objects Society (CAOS) from 2020 to 2023.
Source: Xtine Cook, Calgary Animated Objects Society
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