Voices on the Rise with Eli Hirtle

Filmmaker Eli Hirtle will present a 45-minute long documentary piece titled Voices On The Rise.

The film follows the nêhiyaw artist as he travels to Indigenous communities to explore language revitalization efforts across the Canadian province of Alberta. Viewers will also witness Eli undertaking his own language journey along the path to learning the Cree language.

Eli Hirtle is a nêhiyaw(Cree)/British/German filmmaker, beadworker, visual artist and curator based in Victoria, BC, Canada. His practice involves documenting Indigenous cultural resurgence and revitalization, as well as investigating his nêhiyaw identity through beadwork. His current areas of research are learning how to speak his ancestral language, making documentary and experimental films, and mentoring Indigenous youth.

Eli is currently the Indigenous Curator at Open Space Arts Society. Past curatorial projects include Sacred (Victoria City Hall), Pretty Good Not Bad Festival, IndigeVision Film Showcase, and the Wapakoni Cinema on Wheels Tour.

Film projects include RESIST: The Unistoten’s Call to the Land (2013), Voices on the Rise (2016), and Lekwungen: Place to Smoke Herring (2018).

This program is a collaboration with BOXO Projects.