God's Lake Narrows (film)

God's Lake Narrows is an interactive visual essay, written and directed by Kevin Lee Burton, co-created with Alicia Smith, sound design by Christine Fellows, and photography by Manitoba-based Anishinabe artist Scott Benesiinaabandan.[1][2] The visual essay is hosted online by the National Film Board of Canada and was funded in partnership with imagineNATIVE Digital Media Partnership.[3][4]

God's Lake Narrows began as the RESERVE(d) project by Kevin Lee Burton and Caroline Monnet.[5] RESERVE(d) art installation from the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg featured film, photography, archival images and sounds from the reserve at God's Lake Narrows.[5]

Burton's intent for God's Lake Narrows was to highlight the resilience of people living on reserves.[4] Burton states. "$3.8 billion has been spent on reserve housing over the last decade and people think we're so privileged: living off the backs of everyone else in this country. In my childhood, most of us were still hauling sewage out in pails.[1]"

God’s Lake Narrows is a series of 26 slides that seeks to encourage viewers to experience the virtual reserve community through photographs of the exteriors of homes and portraits of the people who live there.[5] The purpose of the visual essay is to breakdown the stereotypes of Native reserve life.[6]

God's Lake Narrows was the 2012 winner of the Webby Award for photography.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Winnipeg artist Kevin Lee Burton shares surprising glimpse of his hometown". CBC Manitoba. June 25, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  2. ^ MacDonald, Kerri (January 11, 2012). "An Interactive Project With No Reservations". The New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  3. ^ "God's Lake Narrows". National Film Board. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Smith, Kenton (May 2014). "Kevin Lee Burton - The Queer Cree Filmmaker". Outwords. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Gaertner, David (July 20, 2014). "INDIGENOUS PROTOCOL IN CYBERSPACE: HOSPITALITY AND KEVIN LEE BURTON'S GOD'S LAKE NARROWS". Novel Alliances. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  6. ^ L., Dowell, Kristin (December 2013). Sovereign screens : aboriginal media on the Canadian West Coast. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803245389. OCLC 859155627.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "God's Lake Narrows". The Webby Awards. 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.