Aboriginal Perspectives: 7th Floor Media works with the National Film Board to create a new online resource featuring the voices of Aboriginal people in Canada
VANCOUVER December 19, 2006
From its repository of more than 700 documentary films by and about Aboriginal peoples, the National Film Board of Canada, with the help of 7th Floor Media, has created a web resource for high school and upper elementary students and teachers. The site, organized into key themes, features interviews with aboriginal filmmakers and archivists providing critical commentary and historical perspective for the films. For teachers, the site provides a wealth of curriculum-based material as well as an Excerpts Library tool that allows users to create their own collections around a specific theme and share them with others.
The films span the 1940s to 2004, providing an introduction to past and current issues relating to the lives of Aboriginal peoples. "We wanted this project to help people become more familiar with Aboriginal film, and to pay tribute to its filmmakers, but most of all, we wanted to give a voice to Canada's native peoples.", says NFB collection analyst Marc St.-Pierre.
"The National Film Board has always been a powerful presence in Canadian classrooms" said Noni Mate, co-director of 7th Floor Media, "and 7th Floor Media has a long association with its work, both as teachers and as multimedia developers. The quality and breadth of the NFB collection makes it a tremendous resource for Canadians and we are very proud to have been a part of this initiative."
Visit Aboriginal Perspectives at www.nfb.ca/enclasse/doclens/visau/index.php