Star Wars film in Ojibwe language holds world premiere in Winnipeg

August 9, 2024

0 0 1 minute read

Star Wars film in Ojibwe language holds world premiere in Winnipeg

A project years in the making in a galaxy far, far away marked a major milestone Thursday night.

Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council, Disney, Lucasfilm, APTN and the University of Manitoba held the premiere of the Ojibwe language version of “Star Wars: A New Hope.”

The movie is the same science fiction classic that has entertained audiences for generations, but all of the dialogue has been translated into Ojibwe.

For actors involved in the film, exposing people to their language on the big screen is something important for them.

“I hope it gives a lot of people an opportunity to hear the Ojibwe language for the first time in a lot of spaces where they never get to you,” said Ajuawak Kapashesit, who voiced Han Solo in the film.

“We have immersion schools, we have different opportunities like that, which is great, and we need more and more of those, but we need to expand the use of domains for the language. We need people to have different opportunities to hear the language, beyond just the classroom, or beyond ceremony. So, a film like this gives an opportunity for people to have it in their home for some time.”

Theresa Eischen, who voices Princess Leia, is from Little Grand Rapids First Nation in Manitoba. To prepare for the role, she recorded Carrie Fisher’s lines from the film, got the cadence down in English, and then tried to replicate it in Ojibwe.

She said she wants to inspire people in her community to keep learning their language.

“It’s a good feeling when you know your worldview, your indigenous Ojibwe worldview, and your oral histories connected to your own communities,” she said.

See also Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tough Bronx persona is under fresh scrutiny with a resurfaced childhood nickname from her suburban upstate New York upbringing casting doubt on that publicly portrayed image. The progressive champion’s latest spat with President Donald Trump over the Iran strikes again called into question her true upbringing when she declared on X she was a “Bronx girl" to make her a point against the president. The 35-year-old congresswoman wrote in part on X: "I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully," she said, referring to the president’s upbringing in Queens as she called for his impeachment over his decision to bypass Congress in authorizing U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx but moved to Yorktown – which is nearly an hour outside New York City -- when she was 5 years old and went on to attend Yorktown High School where she graduated in 2007. She was considered an accomplished student there and well thought of by teacher Michael Blueglass, according to a 2018 report by local media outlet Halston Media News. “There, known by students and staff as ‘Sandy,’ she was a member of the Science Research Program taught by Michael Blueglass," the report states. “She was amazing," Blueglass said, per the report. “Aside from her winning one of the top spots and going to the [Intel International Science and Engineering Fair], she was just one of the most amazing presenters in all of the years I've been at Yorktown. Her ability to take complex information and explain it to all different levels of people was fantastic." After high school, Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations, per the report. Ocasio-Cortez’s “Sandy" nickname — which carries a more suburban and preppy tone — appears to undercut her politically crafted image as a tough, inner-city fighter, one she has portrayed since her famous 2018 congressional campaign where she eventually ousted former 10-terms Congressman Joe Crowley. New York GOP Assemblyman Matt Slater, who now represents Yorktown, added to the scrutiny of Ocasio-Cortez’s persona in the wake of her brash with Trump and released images of Ocasio-Cortez from his high school yearbook. He claimed he and the rising Democratic star attended Yorktown High School at the same time when she was a freshman and he was a senior. "I saw the attacks on the president and her [Ocasio-Cortez] claims that she's a big, tough Bronx girl," said Slater. "To sit there and say that she’s a Bronx girl is just patently ridiculous." "Everybody in our community knows this is just a bold-face lie," said Slater on "Fox & Friends First" last week. "She grew up in Yorktown, she was on my track team." "She's lying about her background, she's lying about her upbringing," Slater claimed. Slater’s post sent social media ablaze and prompted Ocasio-Cortez to respond after an image if her family’s home was posted online. “I’m proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X Friday responding to the post. “My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors’ homes in exchange for SAT prep." “Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality & it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!"

The film will have a limited release for the public in Winnipeg and other cities.