How People Got Fire

How People Got Fire is a short, poetic animated film from the Yukon.

Synopsis
In a snowy village, a talented young girl listens to her grandmother's story of how Crow got fire for the people. A magical realist exploration of aboriginal American spirituality, oral story-telling, and a northern childhood.

About the film
"This short film is based in part on the story told by the late Kitty Smith of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation."

The film was shot in Carcross-Tagish, Yukon and rotoscoped, with the addition of charcoal drawings by Christopher Auchter, and a contemporary classical sound track by Daniel Janke.

The film was the 2009 World Indigenous Film Awards Winner for Best Animation, and received the 2009 American Indian Film Festival Award, Best Animated Short. It received an award for Best Short Documentary at the 2009 Imagine Native Film + Media Arts Festival, Toronto, and the TEUEIKAN Second Prize at the 2009 First Peoples' Festival (Land InSights), Montréal. The film was a finalist for the Writers Guild of Canada 2010 Screenwriting Award for Short Subjects.

Festivals

 * "Tromsø International Film Festival, Frozen Land-Moving Pictures", Jan. 18-23, 2011
 * "Atlantic Film Festival", Sept. 16-25, 2010, Halifax, Nova Scotia
 * "Sprockets: Toronto International Film Festival for Children", April 17–23, 2010
 * "ECOFILMS: Rhodos International Films + Visual Arts Festival", 2010
 * "Animation Celebration!", Museum of the American Indian, New York, February 2010
 * "American Indian Film Festival", Nov. 6-14, 2009, San Francisco, CA
 * "ImagiNATIVE Film - Media Arts Festival", Oct. 14-18, 2009, Toronto
 * "Reel to Real International Film Festival for Youth, Vancouver BC, 2009
 * "The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival", 14–29 October 2009
 * "Dreamspeakers Film Festival", June 18–21, 2009
 * "Available Light Film Festival," Yukon Arts Center, 2009