New film-makers rising among indigenous groups

Montreal

EMILIO Wawatie, a member of Canada's indigenous Anishnabe community, says he was tired of the stereotyping of his country's indigenous peoples on the silver screen, so he launched his own career in film-making. He was then 18.

"You don't have to go back to black-and-white films. Not that long ago, aboriginals were represented as 'wild Indians' in popular cinema, a cliche perpetuated by whites," he said. Now 25, he is part of a new generation of indigenous Canadian film-makers who are unafraid to turn their cameras on the brutal poverty, violence and other problems their communities face.