Overview
Edge of the Knife (, ) is a 2018 Canadian drama film co-directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown. It is the first feature film spoken only in the Haida language. Set in 19th-century Haida Gwaii, it tells the classic Haida story of a traumatized and stranded man transformed into , the wildman. With input from Haida Gwaii residents, the screenplay was written in 2015 by Gwaai and Jaalen Edenshaw, Graham Richard, and Leonie Sandercock with an aim to preserve and teach Haida, an endangered language. Contributors to the film's budget of included the Council of the Haida Nation, the Canada Media Fund, and Telefilm Canada. The film was created primarily by indigenous people, including the co-directors, a mostly amateur crew, and the Haida cast. In 2017, the actors were taught to speak Haida at a two-week training camp and throughout the five weeks of filming.
First shown on 1 September 2018 to residents of Haida Gwaii, who the film's creators said were the primary audience, Edge of the Knife made its public premiere six days later at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, which named the film in its annual Canada's Top Ten list.
Plot
In a 19th-century summer, two large families gather for their annual fishing retreat on the far-removed island of Haida Gwaii. , a charming nobleman, causes the accidental death of his best friend 's son and hastens into the wilderness. is tormented by what he has done and spirals into insanity, becoming , a supernatural being crazed by hunger. He unexpectedly survives the winter, and at next year's gathering, the families try to convert , back to , while also wrestles with a desire for revenge.<!-- The following cast list was taken from IMDb; it is currently hidden because the actors' names are unreferenced and the order is simply alphabetical
Cast
* Curtis Brown as Attendant / gaagiid dancer * Diane Brown as Nanaay * Greg Brown as Gaasʹ Xaantsʹii: Son of Kwaa and Hlaaya. Gaas's death leads Adiits'ii to madness. * Toddi Lauren Brown as Fish cutter * Delores Churchill as Naanii 1 * Zachary Collison as Tsʹacklii * Russel Davis as Watcher * Sam Derrick-York as Tluujaad * Sherri Dick as Naanii 3 * Leo Gagnon as Kwa's father * Merika Gladstone as Raven Child * Emma Grinder as Eagle Child * Xiila Taayii Guujaaw as Skʹayuu * Sphenia Jones as Daasjaadee * Brandon Kallio as Adiitsʹii's father * Deanna Kallio as Way Hi Yo crew * Fraser Kallio as Way hi yo crew * James Kallio as The Red rectangle * Preston Kallio as Way Hi Yo crew * Jane Kristovich as Naanii 2 * Trey Rorick as Guustlaas * Willy Russ as Kwa: A serious member of the Southern family, husband of Hlaaya and father of Gaas.
He "carries a resentment towards those who are more free than he". * Erica Jean Ryan-Gagne as Adiitsʹii Aaw ga. "I had no problem with the pronunciation," Ryan-Gagne said. "It was already in me." * Richard Williams as Attendant * Vernon Albert Amos Williams as Sgaalanglaay * Tyler York as Adiitsʹii / Gaagxiid / Gaagiixid * Adeana Young as Hlaaya: Wife of Kwa and mother of Gaas. * Benjamin Young as Attendant -->
Development
The idea to make Edge of the Knife came from University of British Columbia professor Leonie Sandercock and Haida Gwaii community organizers who wanted to encourage learning Haida, classified as an endangered language with fewer than 20 speakers at the time of the movie's production. After an idea submission contest, Haida brothers Gwaai and Jaalen Edenshaw, as well as Graham Richard, joined Sandercock in 2014 to begin work on the script.
Over twelve months, with advice from fluent Haida speakers Diane Brown (the Edenshaws' grandmother) The writers tried to give equal screen time to the northern dialect, from Old Massett, and the southern one, from Skidegate, "to encourage members of both communities to learn their own dialect and to have a film that would showcase both," as Sandercock wrote. which refers to a Haida proverb: "The world is as sharp as the edge of a knife; as you go along you have to be careful or you will fall off one side or the other." Edge of the Knife was co-directed by Gwaai Edenshaw (in his directing debut), who is Haida; and Helen Haig-Brown, who is Tsilhqot'in. With Edge of the Knife, filmmakers intended to preserve Haida language and culture for future generations.
The production for Edge of the Knife was done with in funding, the Council of the Haida Nation, the Canada Media Fund, and British Columbia and federal tax credits. "The film reflects a resurgence of indigenous art and culture taking place across Canada," Catherine Porter wrote for The New York Times in 2017. Some support for the film is meant to promote reconciliation for the residential school system, which strictly prohibited indigenous students, including Haida, from learning their native languages. It was also made at a time when a Haida dictionary was being compiled and Haida pronunciations were being recorded. Casting took place in June 2016. One actor, Brandon Kallio, was a commercial fisherman whose only Haida was picked up from his children's homework.
He recalled seeing a call for auditions on Facebook, and brought his wife, Adeana Young, and their four children to his audition; they all received roles in the movie. Though Young was more hesitant to join the production than her husband, she later said that she ended up enjoying the filmmaking process and hoped to become a fluent Haida speaker.
Filming
None of the starring actors could hold a conversation in Haida before joining the film. Each day after language activities together, actors would break into small groups, sometimes individually, to be instructed by fluent speakers. After a week of language training, the actors had most of their lines memorized. The actor training cost a total of ; producer Frantz said he considered dubbing difficult lines in post-production. Women produced traditional costumes by weaving red cedar. During the recording process, actors continued improving their pronunciation of Haida words with the assistance of fluent speakers. Filming was scheduled to end on 2 July.
Post-production
Musician Kinnie Starr composed the film's score. The film was in editing in November 2017, The film has been released with English subtitles.
Release
The film's creators said the primary audience for Edge of the Knife is the population of Haida Gwaii, where the film may be a teaching tool and time capsule for the language. Edge of the Knife made its public premiere on 7 September at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It was noted as one of several indigenous-film premieres at TIFF along with Falls Around Her and The Grizzlies. It was also shown on 3 and 5 October at the Vancouver International Film Festival, It also closed the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival on 21 October. Edge of the Knife is distributed internationally by Isuma, Its Australian premiere was the opening film of the Birrarangga Film Festival in Melbourne on 26 April 2019. Edge of the Knife, Sandercock said, can be used to teach the language to Haida youth as part of a month-long "language module".
She said that some members of the cast and crew, motivated by their work on Edge of the Knife, had begun receiving new acting roles and begun training others to make movies under the Haida production company Niijang Xyaalas.
Reception
Edge of the Knife received positive reviews from critics and audiences. According to Patrick Davies of The Williams Lake Tribune in Williams Lake, British Columbia, it "generated a ton of positive buzz" after its festival showings with particular praise for "its storytelling and community-minded approach to filmmaking". National Post Chris Knight wrote: "Its heart and soul transcend language." Teresa Nieman of Screen Anarchy called Edge of the Knife "a triumph of Indigenous creativity" whose "commitment to authenticity is admirable". Nieman also wrote that the "quiet, moody, meditative" film became "truly immersive" because of untouched scenery of Haida Gwaii and because the "characters typically speak in a slow, poetic lilt".
The Globe and Mail reviewer Barry Hertz commended the filmmakers for "turning a seemingly simple story of human nature into a captivating and at times stunning work" that contains "themes of guilt and redemption" presented "in a vision so distinct and unfamiliar to audiences that the film feels abundantly fresh". Volkmar Richter of The Vancouver Observer wrote that "the film is gripping, exciting and visually stunning"—it is "high drama and very modern in both pace and look". Nieman also wrote that "the movie is gorgeously shot" except for "a few overly stylized scenes depicting 's increasingly feral perspective". Edge of the Knife won best British Columbian film and best Canadian film at the VIFF British Columbia Spotlight event on 6 October. At imagineNATIVE, it won the Sun Jury Award.
Film festivals
Edge of the Knife has been programmed at several major film festivals: * Toronto International Film Festival, 6–16 September 2018 * Vancouver International Film Festival, 27 September – 12 October 2018 * imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, 17–21 October 2018 – closing gala screening * Smithsonian Institution's Mother Tongue Film Festival, 21–24 February 2019 * Kingston Canadian Film Festival, 28 February – 3 March 2019
See also
* List of Canadian films of 2018