imagineNATIVE’s Culture Shock program to have its European premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on December 18, 2008 under Berlinale International Film Festival, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival | 
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival announced today the official selection of the festival’s Culture Shock program for the Forum Expanded section of the Berlin International Film Festival. This program of works was commissioned by the imagineNATIVE festival and will have its European premiere in Berlin in February 2009.
Curated by Steven Loft (Mohawk), Culture Shock is a program of video works by Canadian Aboriginal artists Bonnie Devine (Ojibway), Keesic Douglas (Ojibway), Darryl Nepinak (Saulteaux) and Bear Witness (Cayuga) commissioned by the imagineNATIVE festival in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Toronto and V tape. Curatorial participation for the project was supported by the National Gallery of Canada, and production was supported by Charles St. Video, SAW Video and the Winnipeg Film Group.
For the program, four artists were selected to respond to two films from West and East German film collections, provided by the Goethe-Institut Toronto. The films represented classic German cinematic interpretations of Indigenous North Americans from the 1960s, such as the infamous Winnetou films based on Karl May’s novels popular in West German cinema and the so-called “Red Westerns” created by East Germany’s legendary DEFA studios. The artists created four new video works in response to the two films that had their world premiere at imagineNATIVE in October 2008. The Culture Shock program was accompanied by a publication provided by V tape with essays by curator Steven Loft and guest writer Stephen S. Foster.
imagineNATIVE’s Artistic Director Danis Goulet stated: “The presentation of Culture Shock will be a landmark showing of Canadian Indigenous-made works at the Berlin International Film Festival and represents a breakthrough year. It is a significant accomplishment for the artists and curator of the program to have their incredible works presented in such a renowned and international forum.”
