Tkaronto
| Tkaronto | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Shane Belcourt |
| Produced by | Shane Belcourt Duane Murray Jordan O'Connor Michael Corbiere |
| Written by | Shane Belcourt |
| Starring |
Duane Murray Melanie McLaren Lorne Cardinal |
| Music by | Jordan O'Connor |
| Cinematography | Shane Belcourt |
| Edited by | Jordan O'Connor |
| Distributed by | Kinosmith |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
81 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
Tkaronto is a Canadian drama film, which premiered in 2007 at the ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Festival in Toronto. Directed by Shane Belcourt, the film went into commercial release in the summer of 2008.
The film, named for the Mohawk word from which the city of Toronto derives its name, stars Duane Murray and Melanie McLaren as Ray Morrin and Jolene Peltier, who meet while in Toronto on business. Ray, a Métis cartoonist from Vancouver, is in town to pitch an animated series called Indian Jones to a television network, and Jolene, an Anishinaabe artist from Los Angeles, is in town to paint a portrait of Max (Lorne Cardinal), a local aboriginal elder.
The film's cast also includes Cheri Maracle, Jeff Geddis, Mike McPhaden, Rae Ellen Bodie, Jonah Allison, Abby Zotz and Tricia Williams.
Ray and Jolene experience a common struggle: as creative professionals living in big cities, they share a sense of disconnection from their aboriginal heritage. Both struggle with the question of how to live as an aboriginal person in an urban setting devoid of many of the stereotypical signifiers of aboriginal identity. Neither was raised with the language, religion and customs of their ancestors; Jolene doesn't even know how to pray. Both are also in relationships with non-aboriginal partners: Ray, whose girlfriend is pregnant, is ambivalent about becoming a father, while Jolene's husband is dismissive of her search for a deeper sense of her heritage.
As their attraction to each other grows, Ray and Jolene are forced to confront the choice of whether to throw away their current lives in order to be together.
In a 2008 interview, Belcourt told The Globe and Mail that the film's themes were inspired by conversations with his sister Christi and a friend of hers, Inuit rock singer Lucie Idlout, about how they balanced their own aboriginal identities with their urban lifestyles.
...
Wikipedia