Client work · 2023
NaaWas Rises
A film for the Iisaak Olam Foundation about the carving and raising of a new totem pole in Tla-o-qui-aht territory in Tofino, and what it means for the community.
In Tla-o-qui-aht territory in Tofino, a botanical garden is being turned into an Indigenous garden, Naa'Waya'Sum Gardens, and a new totem pole was raised there. NaaWas Rises follows the pole from carving to raising. Master carver Joe Martin led the work alongside other carvers.
The film mixes interviews with elders, some speaking in Nuu-chah-nulth, with vérité footage of the carving, speeches to the crowd, the raising itself and the territory around it. It is less about a single pole than about a community at a particular time and place, and what the raising means to them.
The Iisaak Olam Foundation, an Indigenous-led nonprofit Salmonberry Studios has worked with for years, gave the studio very little direction and trusted it to shape the film. The result resonated with the community it depicts.
- Made for
- Iisaak Olam Foundation
- Year
- 2023
- Where
- Tla-o-qui-aht territory, Tofino, west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia
- Our role
- Direction, production, cinematography and editing
- Running time
- 4 min
- totem pole
- Tla-o-qui-aht
- Nuu-chah-nulth
- carving
- Tofino
- Indigenous culture
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