Short film about MMIW shot in Saskatchewan
Director made film after seeing many posters of missing Indigenous women in Regina
A short film, shot in Regina, examines the lives of two Indigenous women dealing with the grief of a lost loved one.
"Where's my Sister?" is director Pasquale Marco Veltri's response to his time spent living in Regina.
Veltri, with the help of Indigenous script advisors and actors, created what he calls an honest and clear examination of loss.
The non-profit film itself is sparse in dialogue, letting the body language and the surrounding city do the talking.
At roughly 11 minutes long, the camera follows a young woman and her mother as they search for their missing sister and daughter.
'There is a tragedy out there'
The film has a small cast of four people.
Patsy Tuba, from Lac La Ronge, plays the mother in the short film.
"There is a tragedy out there," she said of the more than 1,200 missing and murdered indigenous women, a number that continues to climb each day.
"It is an important issue and we must come together to find the strength and help each other," Tuba said.
Tuba, who is a mother to two children, had to ask herself what she would feel or do if her own daughter went missing.
She has seen families affected by a missing family member in her community. Seeing the sense of loss but also hope helped her draw inspiration for the role.
"It's not like you could say 'good-bye' because they're still missing," she said. "It's a dead end."
Tuba hopes the film will be well-received.
"I hope the message doesn't fade away but gets stronger."
Veltri calls the film a metaphoric representation rather than a story about one specific family.
"This film is my attempt to understand someone else's point of view," he said.
None of the characters have names, a choice by Veltri to potentially avoid the same name as someone who has gone missing and bringing up trauma for families affected.
The director said he would walk around the city, up and down streets like Broad, Victoria and Dewdney, and he would see posters everywhere with the faces of missing women. During one trot down Victoria Avenue, Veltri said he was actually stopped by someone who was looking for a missing person.
- Body of Deanna Desjarlais, 27, found in Surrey, B.C.
- Women walk from Winnipeg to Regina to spread awareness about MMIW
Veltri is a man and not First Nations, but he said the film is an attempt to start a dialogue.
He feels there is a disconnect between communities and wants the film to act as a bridge.
"I'm not an activist or a politician. I'm just a filmmaker so I can't really make change happen but I could make a little five minute, ten minute short film that might help communicate, or at least help me understand the situation," Veltri said.
"You can walk across many different images of people that are missing. It just feels like it's sort of omnipresent."
With files from The Morning Edition