(Submitted photo/ Lois Standing)

By Nigel Maxwell

Preserving one's culture

Dakota language activist aspires to create documentary

Feb 28, 2021 | 10:00 AM

A woman from the Wahpeton Dakota Nation, who has spent the past year working with first-language speakers and the Northern Dakota Language Group on the retention of the Dakota language, has focused her attention now on bringing those lessons and stories to film.

Following a competitive application process, which involved the submission of an actual film idea, Lois Standing was one of only eight people selected for the National Screen Institute’s (NSI) 2021 IndigiDocs program. The part-time online program offers customized training for Indigenous documentary filmmakers who have an idea for a 10-minute film, and Standing will be taught by some of Canada’s top documentary professionals. Program co-manager Kaya Wheeler told paNOW Standing shows a lot of promise.

“The jury really enjoyed her story and we are just very much looking forward to seeing how it develops over the next five weeks,” she said.

Standing, project lead for the Northern Dakota Language Group at Wahpeton, started the initiative last fall in collaboration with her father, who leads the sessions along with three other first-language speakers.

When interviewed at the time by paNOW, Standing said the program grew out of the desire of first-language speakers to connect with the community and share their knowledge.

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“To share some of their stories, the language, the culture, and some of the traditions that are specific to our community,” she said. “And what they remember growing up when the Dakota language was the main language spoken in Wahpeton.”

Today, only 2,000 Dakota and Lakota speakers remain worldwide.

“This is a critical time for our language,” said Standing. “There are very few fluent speakers left in the world and even in our community.”

Standing said her goals are to bring Dakota language, history, and stories to light with film. Although she doesn’t have an extensive background in film, she’s been encouraged by first language speakers to help tell the story of her community’s history and language.

Training and jury selection

At the end of online training, students will submit a market-ready film proposal. A jury will then select up to four students to go into production and receive a cash award of up to $16K and approximately $10K of in-kind services.

Final post-production will be done through the National Film Board and completed films will then be broadcast as a one-hour special on APTN.

To date, NSI IndigiDocs has developed the skills of 54 Indigenous filmmakers, produced 28 short documentaries, and created 359 jobs in independent productions with an overall budget of $582,943.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell