‘Stars Wars’ in Ojibwe set to premiere in Canada
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By Miles Morrisseau | ICT
This story comes to you from ICT through a partnership with MPR News.
The all-Ojibwe version of “Star Wars: A New Hope” (Anangong Miigaading) is set to blast off Aug. 8 with a premiere in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council, APTN and the University of Manitoba are part of an alliance with Disney/Lucasfilm that created the dubbed Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) version of the iconic 1977 film.
The film will launch onto the big screen with the world premiere at Winnipeg’s venerable Centennial Hall, and starting on Aug. 10, will debut in limited release in the city and other select markets.
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Walt Disney Studios Canada is collaborating with exhibitors to offer free screenings.
The project brought together a wide range of talent and multigenerational Anishinaabe speakers to serve as advisors and performers. The dubbing was done over a 10-day period in early May in Winnipeg, with the final mix completed at director George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound in California.
“We had to come up with some new words, like lightsaber,” Dennis Daminos Chartrand, Pine Creek First Nation, who is the voice of Darth Vadar and an associate translator on the project, said in a trailer for the film.
“My children will be able to hear this into the future and learn from it and use it.”
Other key Ojibwe-speaking voice actors spoke in the trailer about their experiences working on the film, which has also been dubbed into the Navajo language.
“Breaking down the words, the differences between English and Ojibwe, the characters, there are kind of parallels to Anishinaabe people and beliefs,” said Theresa Eischen, Little Grand Rapids, the voice of Princess Leia.
“It’s great to be a part of it,” enthused Dustin Gerald Morrow Aagimewikamig, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Ojibwe dub was directed by Ellyn Stern Epcar, who also directed the Navajo dub, and produced by Michael Kohn. The voice actors also included Aandeg Jedi Muldrew, Anishinaabe, as Luke Skywalker; Ajuawak Kapashesit, White Earth Ojibwe Nation, of Ashinaabe, Cree and Jewish descent, as Han Solo; Tomantha Sylvester Nimi Anungo Kwe, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, as C-3PO; Jeff Monague Myiingan Minaakwhe, Beausoleil First Nation, as Grand Moff Tarkin; John-Paul Chalykoff, Michipicoten First Nation, as Uncle Owen; and Wanda Barker Giwedinoonz, Hollow Water First Nation, as Aunt Beru.
The Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council consists of six member nations: Birdtail Sioux First Nation, Dakota Tipi First Nation, Long Plain First Nation, Roseau River First Nation, Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation and Swan Lake First Nation.
The project is supported in part by the Canadian government through the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program from Canadian Heritage. Dougald Lamont, a former member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, helped launch the project in 2021 after proposing it to Pablo Hidalgo, a former Winnipegger and Lucasfilm executive, as a language revitalization project in support of reconciliation.
The film will make its debut on Disney-plus and APTN at a future date that is expected to be announced soon.
This is not the first time that Disney/Lucasfilm have worked with Indigenous communities on official translations and dubs of the film.
In 2013, a Navajo version of “Star Wars: A New Hope” was released and played in theaters throughout the Navajo Nation. That version is currently available on Disney-plus.
As viewers will hear in the Ojibwe version, “Gi-ga-miinigoowiz Mamaandaawiziwin.” (“May the force be with you.”)