For several years, the Indigenous-run Asinabka Film and Media Arts Festival has created spaces in Canada’s capital where Indigenous people – national and international – can tell their own stories.

One of these rooms has been created in Lansdowne Park and features a wintry setting with a snow movie screen – where audiences this year can experience the tradition of Inuit and Sami storytelling with new twists.

Five short films made by Indigenous filmmakers from the North will be screened here on February 3 and 4, followed by a musical performance with a DJ.

– We want the public to experience the strength, beauty and innovative power of northern Aboriginal cultures. These are crops that not only survive, but also thrive in a relatively extreme climate. We also want people to have fun and have a sense of community while enjoying the unique movies, festival co-director Howard Adler told High North News.

The snow cinema is one of the festival’s most important annual events for the dissemination of modern indigenous art, Adler points out and describes the background:

– In Canada, Aboriginal peoples constitute a small part of the population. We believe it is very important that our voices as Indigenous peoples be heard and shared through film and art – especially in Ottawa, the center of political power in the country. For us, it is also important to include other indigenous voices from the circumpolar Arctic.