L’íl’wata was conceived and produced as a series of educational filmstrips in the early 1970s, as Alanis Obomsawin began working with the National Film Board of Canada. Filmstrips were widely used in educational settings until the early 1980s, and the NFB was a leading producer of multimedia kits on a wide range of subjects. Obomsawin, an established artist but a relative newcomer to the world of cinema, would use the filmstrip form to begin her ambitious documentary career – one based on giving First Nations control over their own image while telling their own stories. Working in solidarity with the people of L’íl’wata – approaching them as a fellow Aboriginal rather than an outside “expert” – Obomsawin reframed Indigenous experience from the inside, providing young Canadians with a more complete knowledge of the country’s first peoples.
L’íl’wata was conceived and produced as a series of educational filmstrips in the early 1970s, as Alanis Obomsawin began working with the National Film Board of Canada.
Filmstrips were widely used in educational settings until the early 1980s, and the NFB was a leading producer of multimedia kits on a wide range of subjects. Obomsawin, an established artist but a relative newcomer to the world of cinema, would use the filmstrip form to begin her ambitious documentary career – one based on giving First Nations control over their own image while telling their own stories.
Working in solidarity with the people of L’íl’wata – approaching them as a fellow Aboriginal rather than an outside “expert” – Obomsawin reframed Indigenous experience from the inside, providing young Canadians with a more complete knowledge of the country’s first peoples.