Lawrence Project Trailer

I'm up in the Haida Gwaii these days, aka, the Queen Charlotte Islands. I'm here with Sharmeen, and I'll be working on the Haidawood project over the new two weeks, which involves making stop-motion animated movies with Haida youth in the Haida language. You can see the proof-of-concept movie here.

Just by chance, the Whistling Bones Aboriginal Arts Festival was in town, and I got a chance to participate in a filmmaking workshop with Mi'kmaq filmmaker Catharine Martin. She encouraged me to work on a teaser for the Lawrence Project movie as part of the workshop.

It was a lot of work, and I didn't have much time, with only 2 1/2 days to shoot and edit the movie. I am reasonably happy with the results, and the film was shown at the closing ceremonies of the Whistling Bones festival here in Old Masset. I didn't have access to the footage I shot in South Africa - that's all down in Pemberton. My plan is to spend two weeks in Pemberton in September to make a start on the project.

As I think about the Lawrence Project, it's clear to me that I'll want to balance the tone between the seriousness of some of the content, including discussions of apartheid, satyagraha, etc., and my own sense of humor. I think balancing the tone will be important in making a watchable short movie.