Stompbox: COLD JOURNEY - 50th Anniversary Screening + Q&A with Lawrence Dunn & Kevin Howes!
Schedule
Tue, 30 Sep, 2025 at 06:30 pm
UTC-04:00Location
400 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada, Ontario M6R 2M9 | Toronto, ON
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50th Anniversary screening! Presented by Stompbox, the NFB and Canadian International Pictures!In-person Q&A with Lawrence Dunn - son of COLD JOURNEY composer and Mi'kmaq music icon Willie Dunn - and Kevin Howes (Voluntary In Nature), curator/writer behind the Grammy-nominated compilations Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology and Native North America, Vol 1.
With bonus archival 16mm screening of THE BALLAD OF CROWFOOT, the celebrated 1968 short by Willie Dunn, the first Indigenous-directed film released by the National Film Board of Canada.
COLD JOURNEY - 15-year-old Buckley (Adventures in Rainbow Country’s Buckley Petawabano) is coming of age torn between two worlds: his stifling experience in a residential school and his hunger for the old traditions of the reserve. But when he returns to visit his family over summer break, his distance from their way of life – and even the Cree language – is painfully apparent. During a disastrous stint living with a white foster family, Buckley meets Johnny (King of the Grizzlies star Johnny Yesno), a caretaker at the school who becomes a bridge to Indigenous history and community. Despite this fleeting connection, Buckley grows increasingly disaffected, and his alienation begins to sow the seeds of personal tragedy.
Loosely inspired by the haunting true story of Anishinaabe boy Chanie “Charlie” Wenjack, the sole fiction feature from National Film Board of Canada documentary veteran Martin Defalco is both deeply empathetic and bracingly unsentimental. Featuring a supporting performance by Chief Dan George (Little Big Man) and several songs by celebrated musician-filmmaker Willie Dunn, Cold Journey remains an essential and withering portrait of Canada’s now-infamous residential school system and its devastating impact on First Nations youth. (Canadian International Pictures)
Partial Programmer proceeds will be directed to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
Partial proceeds from Revue concessions for the day will also be directed to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
ABOUT STOMPBOX:
Stompbox is a music-on-film event, screening and performance series active since 2016, curated by David Bertrand.
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Where is it happening?
400 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada, Ontario M6R 2M9Event Location & Nearby Stays:
