A new film tells the story of the buffalo

Tasha Hubbard’s new documentary, Sing the buffalo, is an epic story that spans decades and borders, looking back at dark histories and bright futures.

Indigenous artist from the Peepeekisis First Nation filmed the first footage for this documentary in 2016. But the seeds of the idea were starting to germinate well before that.

“I was adopted, grew up in a farming family and didn’t know my Cree family until I was 16,” Hubbard said. “I had no way of connecting to my past. But as we drove through the Qu’Appelle Valley, there was something that woke me up. I could imagine the buffalo and my ancestors.

The deep connection she felt with the buffalo never left her.

“As I built my film career, I often thought, ‘one day I’ll be a good enough filmmaker to make the movie that the buffalo deserves’.” Hubbard said.

After decades of celebrated work as a documentary filmmaker, she finally feels ready to tell the story of the buffalo.

Sing the buffalo is a feature-length documentary featuring visionaries, scientists and indigenous communities who are reintroducing bison to the heart of the North American plains they once defined.

It will be screened at the first Ācimowin Film Festival in Saskatoon on June 8.

He was recently part of the Hotdocs Festival in Toronto.

Hubbard said the journey of making the documentary was not short on challenges, including crossing the Canada-U.S. border during the pandemic, filming in extremely cold and hot weather, and capturing intimate images of buffalo without causing them distress or disruption of their natural movements. .

“Yet it never felt like work,” she said. “Whether on the land or in the editing room, every day spent with the buffalo was a good day.”

The film was a passion project from start to finish and the end goal was to tell the story of the buffalo.

“I always wanted people who watch this documentary to fall in love with buffalo, the same way I did,” Hubbard said.

His intense connection with the buffalo was evident to everyone involved in the film.

In fact, the producers of the documentary convinced Hubbard to appear on camera as part of the documentary and share his personal story.

She even included her eight-year-old son in the documentary, as he has been around buffalo for much of his life.

“Looking at all these beautiful images we had of him interacting with the buffalo, we thought, ‘This is what we want for all kids: to have this opportunity that he had,'” Hubbard said.

This long project also helped her better understand the bond between humans and buffalo.

“We learned from the bison how to organize ourselves as a community and how to raise our children,” Hubbard said. “These are the children and elders of the center, with the women and men who surround each other, take care of and watch over each other. »

After the festival, Sing the buffalo will be released in theaters in fall 2024. Afterwards, an abridged version of the film will be featured in an episode of The nature of things on CBC, before being broadcast in full on APTN.

She hopes the documentary will influence bison policies at the federal and provincial levels and make it easier for people to pursue this relationship with bison.

“I’m worried about the meadow. I know it’s threatened — it’s one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world,” Hubbard said. “It’s where our stories are, where our ceremonial sites are, where our our medicines. And it is the buffaloes that bring this landscape to life. I want people to be amazed by the beauty of the prairie.

She hopes the documentary will touch many minds over the next year and spark action.

“Thanks to so many people in this film, I learned to think big. People who share a vision and do this work think far ahead,” Hubbard said. “They are doing this work not because they are going to see the rewards in the immediate future, but because it has to be done.”

NC Raine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Eagle Feather News