Calgary animation festival features Blackfoot animations
Posted Mar 15, 2023 11:36 am.
Last Updated Mar 15, 2023 11:40 am.
The Blackfoot Language Animation Project will be on display across the city as part of Calgary’s International Festival of Animated Objects.
“I do like to see that people are it keeps growing and people are still talking about it.”
The project is a series of short-animated features which share and teach Blackfoot expressions.
As the success coordinator on the project, Sandra Lamouche highlighted the importance of accessibility.
“That’s one of the things that was taken through … residential schools, so [we’re] making it accessible for our people, and not only our people but everyone,” she told CityNews.
Twenty-nine episodes will be shown at venues across the city as part of Calgary’s festival of animated objects.
The Blackfoot words Tsimakitsitaopih’pa, which means “Where do you live?” from a short Blackfoot animated series. (Courtesy of Calgary Animated Society)
The cartoons combine the efforts of students from F.P. Walshe High School in Fort Macleod, as well as artists across Alberta.
“An important part of a successful education system is to include language, culture and indigenous history,” Lamouche said.
The animations feature some 80 Blackfoot words and will run as part of the festival until April 2.
Lamouche says they encourage viewers to bring the Blackfoot language home.
“This is probably one of the biggest showcases,” Lamouche said.
“I hope it is being used more because I know just at home in my family, we use it, and it’s fun.”
The Blackfoot Language Animation project was funded by a series of grants, including the Indigenous Languages in Education Program.
