Anishinaabemowin heard in a galaxy far, far away
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By Miles Morrisseau | ICT
It was unlike any viewing of the nearly 50 year screening of “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.” The first released episode of the iconic series debuted Thursday in Canada, dubbed in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Ojibwe.
The film was welcomed with the drum and dancers in regalia and a grand entry with the voice actors and representatives from the provincial and federal governments as well as the University of Manitoba, The Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council, regional Chiefs and Lucasfilm.
“I want to start with a traditional introduction from our culture”, said Wab Kinew, premier of Manitoba, who broke out his best impression of a Wookie, growling out like Chewbacca. In keeping with the generational impact of the film, Kinew’s son dressed as a Jawa, spoke out, “Stop it, dad!”
The highly popular provincial premier then broke out into the Anishinaabe language, the language of his ancestors and it was the perfect way to launch the world premiere of “Star Wars — Anangong Miigaading.”
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The theater was packed and amongst cosplayers in full Star Wars dress the assembled included a number of ministers from the provincial government, who Kinew admitted were in attendance not only to support Indigenous languages and cultures but also because they were “geeks like me.” Those in attendance included notable Ojibwe people from the area, including Minnesota as well, in advocate and author Winona LaDuke, White Earth Nation.
“Our language is growing dramatically and I see it everywhere,” LaDuke told ICT. She attended to support her son, one of the voice actors. “My father was an actor in the Westerns, and my father fell off horses for a living. And the more Indians that fell off a horse every time one White guy shot, the more money you would get. And at that time, Indians didn’t speak. And today we have a movie where Indians speak, and they speak in their own language, that is so cool.”
Dennis Chartrand takes on the role as Darth Vader and much like the Force he believes his ancestors have always stayed with him because of the language. “When I do language stuff, it’s like the people who sat with me, my grandparents, my parents are still here with me,” Chartrand said. “So it might be my voice or me coming out here, but they’re also here, even though they've moved on to the next world.”
Lucasfilm has been instrumental in the project and has been supportive of Indigenous language and reclamation including a dub of the film in Navajo. Michael Kohn, Lucasfilm producer, worked on the project from the start and before Thursday’s viewing he told the audience that the best part was still to come.
“My favorite moment hasn’t happened yet. This is my favorite moment. I sit in front of a room full of people waving lightsabers, cheering, being super excited,” said Kohn. “I’m so happy. You’re all here. This is my favorite moment of the project. Enjoy the film. Meegwetch.”
Kohn offered no spoilers but he nailed the reaction. The film is transformative in the language. Not only did the crowd cheer when the latest voice actor made an appearance, they also laughed at the smallest things like “Let’s go” and “Auntie.” It was like the crowd was either acknowledging what they knew or putting the language into the memory bank for future use.
The dub was directed by Ellyn Stern Epcar, produced by Kohn and stars Aandeg Jedi Muldrew (Luke Skywalker), Ajuawak Kapashesit (Han Solo), Theresa Eischen (Princess Leia), Dennis Daminos Chartrand (Darth Vader), Dustin Gerald Morrow Aagimewikamig (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Tomantha Sylvester Nimi Anungo Kwe (C-3PO), Jeff Monague Myiingan Minaakwhe (Grand Moff Tarkin), John-Paul Chalykoff (Uncle Owen), and Wanda Barker Giwedinoonz (Aunt Beru).
The film brought together a wide range of talent and multigenerational Anishinaabe speakers to bring this version to life. The dubbing was done over a 10-day period in early May in Winnipeg with the final mix completed at Skywalker Sound. The project is supported in part by the Government of Canada through the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program from Canadian Heritage. Dougald Lamont helped launch this project in 2021 after proposing it to Pablo Hidalgo, a former Winnipeg resident and Lucasfilm executive as a language revitalization project in support of reconciliation.
Patricia Ningewance, assistant professor at the University of Manitoba and lead translator, received one of the biggest cheers of the night recognizing her decades long role as a language warrior. Amongst the celebration, she brought a teaching not to be complacent in this revival.
“Those of us who are my age or even a decade younger, we’re the only ones that speak the language still and when we go in 40-50 years, not only the end of our language, and that is not a good thing,” said Nigawance to those at the premiere, ”We must make more projects like this, dubbed movies, even movies that are made originally in the language, so that our languages can survive.”