How People Got Fire Explained

How People Got Fire
Director:	Daniel Janke
Producer:	Svend-Erik Eriksen, Martin Rose
Narrator:	Louise Profeit-Leblanc
Music:	Daniel Janke
Cinematography:	Brian Johnson
Distributor:	National Film Board of Canada
Runtime:	16 minutes
Country:	Canada
Language:	English French^[1]

How People Got Fire is a short, poetic animated film from the Yukon.

Synopsis

In a snowy village, a talented young girl listens to her grandmother's story of how Crow got fire for the people. A magical realist exploration of aboriginal American spirituality, oral story-telling, and a northern childhood.

About the film

"This short film is based in part on the story told by the late Kitty Smith of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation."^[2]

The film was shot in Carcross-Tagish, Yukon and rotoscoped,^[3] with the addition of charcoal drawings by Christopher Auchter, and a contemporary classical sound track by Daniel Janke.^[4]

The film was the 2009 World Indigenous Film Awards Winner for Best Animation, and received the 2009 American Indian Film Festival Award, Best Animated Short. It received an award for Best Short Documentary at the 2009Imagine Native Film + Media Arts Festival, Toronto, and the TEUEIKAN Second Prize at the 2009 First Peoples' Festival (Land InSights), Montréal.^[5] The film was a finalist for the Writers Guild of Canada 2010 Screenwriting Award for Short Subjects.^[6]

Festivals

• "Tromsø International Film Festival, Frozen Land-Moving Pictures", Jan. 18-23, 2011^[7]
• "Atlantic Film Festival", Sept. 16-25, 2010, Halifax, Nova Scotia^[8]
• "Sprockets: Toronto International Film Festival for Children", April 17–23, 2010^[9]
• "ECOFILMS: Rhodos International Films + Visual Arts Festival", 2010^[10]
• "Animation Celebration!", Museum of the American Indian, New York, February 2010^[11]
• "American Indian Film Festival", Nov. 6-14, 2009, San Francisco, CA^[12]
• "ImagiNATIVE Film - Media Arts Festival", Oct. 14-18, 2009, Toronto^[13]
• "Reel to Real International Film Festival for Youth, Vancouver BC, 2009^[14]
• "The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival", 14–29 October 2009^[15]
• "Dreamspeakers Film Festival", June 18–21, 2009^[15]
• "Available Light Film Festival," Yukon Arts Center, 2009

See also

• Angela Sidney
• Raven in mythology
• Prometheus
• Kwanlin Dün First Nation
• Carcross/Tagish First Nation

External links

• How People Got Fire - Local reactions
• Daniel Janke
• It Came From the Great White North - Skeptical review from Toonzone News
• Animation Insider review
• DVD Verdict review
• Watch How People Got Fire at the National Film Board of Canada website (requires Adobe Flash)

Notes and References

1. Graduate Scholarship Will Be Legacy of "How People Got Fire" . National Film Board of Canada . 2006-05-08 . 2010-02-20.
2. Web site: How People Got Fire - DVD/Comment les humains ont obtenu le feu - DVD . National Film Board of Canada . 2006-05-08 . 2010-01-26.
3. News: How People Got Fire Premieres at ALFF . "What's Up Yukon, All Northern, All Fun" . 2009-02-20 . 2010-02-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718035148/http://www.whatsupyukon.com/index.php/current-issue/931-how-people-got-fire-premieres-at-alff.html# . 2011-07-18 . dead.
4. Web site: How People Got Fire excerpt . Daniel Janke . 2010-02-20 . 2010-02-20 .
5. Web site: Film Collection, National Film Board of Canada, How People Got Fire . National Film Board of Canada . 2010-08-03 . 2011-07-24.
6. Web site: The Finalists! . Running with my Eyes Closed, Life at the Intersection of Television and Digital . 2010 . 2010-06-26.
7. Web site: FFN – POLAR FOCUS 2 . Tromso International Film Festival . 2010 . 2010-06-26.
8. Web site: How People Got Fire . Atlantic Film Festival . 2010 . 2010-06-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091031092742/http://atlantic.bside.com/2009/films/howpeoplegotfire_atlantic2009 . 2009-10-31 .
9. Web site: How People Got Fire . Sprockets 2010, Toronto International Film Festival for Children . 2010-02-20 . 2010-02-20 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100313134849/http://www.sprockets.ca/filmsandschedule/films/howpeoplegotfire/default.aspx . 2010-03-13 .
10. Web site: Competition short length films . ECOFILMS: Rhodos International Films + Visual Arts Festival . 2010 . 2010-06-26.
11. Web site: How People Got Fire . Animation Celebration!", Museum of the American Indian, New York, February 2010 . 2010-02-20 . 2010-02-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100202025411/http://www.nmai.si.edu/subpage.cfm?second=ny&subpage=events . 2010-02-02 . dead .
12. Web site: 34th Annual American Indian Film Festival . American Indian Film Institute . 2009 . 2010-06-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110707094908/http://www.aifisf.com/aiff/2009/?fMenu=&q=&fContent=film&id=247 . 2011-07-07 .
13. Web site: Shout Out Loud Youth Program- . ImagiNATIVE Film - Media Arts Festival . 2009 . 2010-06-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091214162542/http://www.imaginenative.org/program.php?id=74 . 2009-12-14 .
14. Web site: How People Got Fire . Reel to Real International Film Festival for Youth . 2010-02-20 . 2010-02-20.
15. Web site: Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences . British Film Institute . 2009 . 2010-06-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090914084351/http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/338 . 2009-09-14 .