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Rotinonhsión:ni Ironworkers (2020)

Rotinonhsión:ni Ironworkers – Short animated film

Directed and written by
Allan Downey & Carlee Kawinehta Loft

On May 10, 2013, eighteen-hundred feet above the city streets of Manhattan, the crowning spire of the One World Trade Centre was erected marking the completion of the first of six towers planned as replacements for the buildings destroyed on September 11, 2001. Atop that tower stood the latest generation of Rotinonhsión:ni (Haudenosaunee) ironworkers to follow in the footsteps of Indigenous families who, for the last 140 years, have helped create some of North America’s most iconic landmarks.

Beginning in the 1880s, the industry quickly became a principal source of employment for Rotinonhsión:ni men who traveled to jobs throughout Canada and the northeastern United States. By the 1920s Rotinonhsión:ni families, particularly from the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) communities of Ahkwesáhsne and Kahnawà:ke, began relocating to Brooklyn where they opened a string of boarding houses and established the new community of “Little Caughnawaga.” Significantly, Rotinonhsión:ni women played an integral role in the formation of this community as they acted as critical intermediaries operating boarding houses, working in factories, and assisting transient Indigenous workers from across North America. Together, ironworking and “Little Caughnawaga” became a nexus between Kanien’keha:ka family life, nationhood, and self-determination. Employing historical methodologies inspired by the field of Indigenous Studies and pulling together Indigenous talent from across multiple artistic disciplines, this digital animation attempts to showcase one piece of this incredible Indigenous history.

Information Box Group

About the film

This whole project is attempting to be a resurgent history – a history for [and from] the Indigenous inside, for Indigenous people to tell their stories, and to serve as a launching point for future generations to continue the story and tell it in more elaborate ways.” – Allan Downey, McMaster Daily News

Watch the film

The team

Allan Downey

Director

Allan Downey is Dakelh, Nak’azdli Whut’en, and an Associate Professor in the Department of History and Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University. Author of The Creator’s Game (2018), Allan is a recent recipient of the 2019 Canada Prize and a Fulbright Fellowship to Columbia University where he continued to advance his research focused on the history of Indigenous nationhood, sovereignty, and self-determination. Beyond his research and teaching activities, one of Allan’s greatest passions is working with Indigenous youth and he volunteers for several Indigenous communities and youth organizations throughout the year.

Carlee Kawinehta Loft

Director

Carlee Kawinehta Loft is a motivated and community-minded, Kanien’kehá:ka woman. She works with and for her community as the Youth Engagement coordinator at Kahnawake Collective Impact. Carlee is passionate about art, community action, cultural revitalization, and youth empowerment. She strongly believes we each play an invaluable role in shaping the world for the next seven generations; this includes the responsibility to do what we can to empower each other – youth especially – to join in crafting a world we are proud of.

Saki Murotani

Animator / Designer

Saki Murotani is a freelance animator and illustrator, based in Vancouver, BC. For the last seven years she has been particularly involved in projects that evolve around Indigenous communities, academic research, non-profit organizations, and multidisciplinary performances. With her highly crafted animation she brings ideas, histories, and stories to life. Her passion lies in visual storytelling through anything from complex animation to simple illustration. Saki’s art, designs, and animations bring people and stories closer together.