Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life Joan Prowse, Canada, 2007, 58 minutes
Monday, May 10 | 7:00pm | Pacific Cinémathèque
“You have to stand up and break through,” says Robbie Robertson of his friend and fellow musician Buffy Sainte-Marie. That is precisely what Buffy Sainte-Marie has done, forging her own unique path as a singer-songwriter, activist, artist and teacher.
Born in rural Saskatchewan, and adopted by an American family, Buffy grew up in time of radical change. The singer-songwriter movement that came out the critical mass established in New York City by the group of musicians that included Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell, helped to launch Buffy’s career.
Even as protest songs like Universal Soldier cemented her reputation as a gifted songwriter, Buffy was not a woman easily pigeon-holed. Her career has also included appearances on Sesame Street, immersion in the Native rights movement in the US, being a United Nations spokesperson, as well as mother to her son Cody. Throughout her integrity has remained absolute: “They only have to hold you underwater for four minutes and you’re dead for a long time,” says Buffy. She went her own way, moving to Hawaii, raising goats, discovering digital art, as well as being one of the first musicians in the world to record songs and mix tracks using the internet.
Joan Prowse’s film captures Buffy in her element, writing songs, making art, teaching kids and generally having a hell of a good time. Whether she is being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, playing an after-hours gig with The Sadies, or performing at the 150th Anniversary of the Smithsonian, she has been carrying medicine for a long time, and sharing it freely with the world.
Director's biography
Joan Prowse is a documentary-maker with two decades experience as a writer, producer, director and editor. She co-founded the Toronto-based independent production company, CineFocus Canada, in 1991 to make thought-provoking, insightful television shows and documentaries. Since then she’s created more than 20 hours of prime-time arts, biography and social issue documentaries. Prowse is a graduate of Ryerson’s Radio and Television Arts program and is an alumnus of the Interactive Project Lab at Norman Jewison’s Canadian Film Centre. In 2001 she went to MIPTV in Cannes as part of the National Screen Institute’s Global Marketing Program.
Preceded by: THE DELIAN MODE Kara Blake, Canada, 2009, 25 minutes
One of the pioneers of electronic movement was a Canadian woman named Delia Derbyshire. In addition to composing the theme music for Doctor Who, Delia’s inventive approach to the art of sound influenced generations of musicians. Kara Blake’s portrait is as visually and aurally curious as the woman who inspired it.
