麻豆社

Film Screening & Discussion with director Courtney Montour and HIV educator Michael Keshane.

ABOUT THE FILM:

Indigenous peoples face some of the highest rates of sexual and physical violence, substance abuse, HIV and suicide in all of Canada. But statistics never tell the whole story.

Sex Spirit Strength follows Michael and Jack, two young Indigenous men, as they shed the stigma and shame associated with their sexual health and gender identity. Michael, a former addict who lived a high-risk lifestyle that left him with permanent scars, hopes his activism work will discourage other young people from going down the same path. Jack, a transgender gay man, is committed to bringing pride back to two-spirit identity through education and activism.

With a compassionate lens, Sex Spirit Strength takes a candid look at the challenges and triumphs of these two brave young men as they reconcile their past, embrace their identities, and strive to make a positive difference in their communities.

Official Trailer:

GUESTS:

Courtney Montour is Mohawk from Kahnawake. She works in the documentary film and new media fields exploring issues of Indigenous identity. She recently completed her first feature documentary Sex Spirit Strength (Mohawk Princess Pictures), and four episodes of the new APTN youth doc series Dream Big (Mohawk Princess Pictures/Rezolution Pictures). She co-directed the experimental short K-Town with Tracey Deer and Brittany LeBorgne. Her upcoming projects include directing several episodes of documentary series Mohawk Ironworkers (Mushkeg Media) and Working It Out Together (Rezolution Pictures). She currently coordinates 麻豆社鈥檚 Indigenous Field Studies course, held in Kahnawake.

Michael Keshane, 27, is a traditional Saulteaux youth living with HIV. He grew up in North Central Regina, Saskatchewan where he lived a high-risk lifestyle. With the support of his grandmother, Michael followed a path to sobriety and reconnected with his culture and traditions. He is an activist on HIV prevention, often speaking about his personal experience, and is passionate about supporting Aboriginal people living with HIV in urban areas. He embraced filmmaking as a vehicle for his own healing and creates films based on his experiences of learning how to navigate life from the people he respects. His short documentary about his grandmother Giving Up the Ghost, was screened at the 2014 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto. His fifth and most recent short doc For When Dying is a Gift documents his personal journey through the creative and emotional challenges of making art and submitting it to an important film festival. Michael will be attending Humber College in September 2015 to earn his Bachelor of Film and Media Art Production. He continues to reside in Toronto.

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In partnership with the McCord Museum, Indigenous Access 麻豆社 and First Peoples' House.