Utshimassits: Place of the Boss | |
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Directed by | John Walker |
Written by | John Walker David Macfarlane |
Produced by | Mike Mahoney Peter d'Entremont John Walker |
Narrated by | Shirley Cheechoo |
Cinematography | Nigel Markham |
Edited by | Angela Baker |
Music by | Guy Trépanier |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 49 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Utshimassits: Place of the Boss is a Canadian documentary film, directed by John Walker and released in 1996. [1] The film focuses on Davis Inlet (Utshimassits), an Innu community in Labrador which was the site of a major humanitarian crisis in the 1990s, and explores how the community's roots as a forcible resettlement of the previously nomadic Mushuau Innu First Nation contributed to the crisis. [2]
The film premiered on February 13, 1996 as an episode of the CBC Television documentary series Witness . [2] At the 11th Gemini Awards, it won the Donald Brittain Award for best social or political documentary. [3]
John Joseph Gotti Jr. was an American mafioso and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter, leading what was described as America's most powerful crime syndicate.
The Innu / Ilnu or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period, are the Indigenous Canadians who inhabit the territory in the northeastern portion of the present-day province of Labrador and some portions of Quebec. They refer to their traditional homeland as Nitassinan or Innu-assi.
The Naskapi are an Indigenous people of the Subarctic native to the historical region St'aschinuw, which was located in present day northern Quebec and Labrador, neighbouring Nunavik. They are closely related to Innu People, who call their homeland Nitassinan.
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States and the BAFTA Television Awards in the United Kingdom. First held in 1986 to replace the ACTRA Award, the ceremony celebrated Canadian television productions with awards in 87 categories, along with other special awards such as lifetime achievement awards. The Academy had previously presented the one-off Bijou Awards in 1981, inclusive of some television productions.
Kevin Hamilton McDonald is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of stage, television and film productions, most notably the 1988–1995 TV series The Kids in the Hall. He played Pastor Dave in That '70s Show, and starred as a co-pilot in the 2011 web comedy series Papillon. He also does voice work in animation, most notably as Agent Wendy Pleakley in the Lilo & Stitch franchise, Waffle in Catscratch, and the Almighty Tallest Purple in Invader Zim.
Lake Melville is an estuary of Hamilton Inlet on the Labrador coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Comprising 3,069 km2 (1,185 sq mi) and stretching 140 km (87 mi) inland to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, it forms part of the largest estuary in the province, primarily draining the Churchill River and Naskaupi River watersheds. Both Lake Melville and Hamilton Inlet are encircled by mountains, with primary settlements at Happy Valley-Goose Bay, North West River, and Sheshatshiu. It is the 46th largest lake globally.
Kashtin were a Canadian folk rock duo in the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most commercially successful and famous musical groups in First Nations history.
Robin Spry was a Canadian film director, producer and writer. He was perhaps best known for his documentary films Action: The October Crisis of 1970 and Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis about Quebec's October Crisis. His 1970 film Prologue won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
Mushuau Innu First Nation is a First Nations band government located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The band has one reserve which has been located near the community of Natuashish since 2002 when it moved from Davis Inlet. The reserve has an area of roughly 44 square kilometres.
Sheshatshiu is an Innu federal reserve and designated place in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The reserve is approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Some references may spell the community's name as Sheshatshit, the t spelling is more traditional in the Innu-aimun language, but the u is used more commonly in English to avoid inappropriate connotations. The name means "a narrow place in the river".
Witness is a Canadian documentary television series which was broadcast from 1992 to 2004. Various independently produced documentaries were introduced by host Knowlton Nash.
Natuashish is an Innu community in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The community is inhabited by the Mushuau Innu First Nation. Natuashish became a federal Indian reserve in 2003.
Davis Inlet was a Naskapi community in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, formerly inhabited by the Mushuau Innu First Nation. It was named for its adjacent fjord, itself named for English explorer, John Davis, who in 1587 charted the region as part of ongoing efforts to find the Northwest Passage to the Pacific.
The Diversity Award was a special award presented by Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour excellence in English-language television programming that reflects the racial and cultural diversity of Canada". It was introduced in 1988 as the Multiculturalism Award under the umbrella of the Gemini Awards, and renamed to the Canada Award in 1993. The winner of the award was generally announced in advance of the ceremony, although the award was presented to the producers at the ceremony.
Tracey Penelope Tekahentakwa Deer is a First Nations (Mohawk) screenwriter, film director and newspaper publisher based in Kahnawake, Quebec. She has written and directed several award-winning documentaries for Rezolution Pictures, an Aboriginal-run film and television production company. In 2008, she was the first Mohawk woman to win a Gemini Award, for her documentary Club Native. Her TV series Mohawk Girls had five seasons from 2014 to 2017. She also founded her own production company for independent short work.
Anthony Sherwood is a Canadian actor, filmmaker and activist. He has been active in film, television, and theatre productions since his film debut in 1979. To television audiences, he is known for his roles as Jason Locke on Airwolf (1987) and Dillon Beck on Street Legal (1989-94). The latter role earned him a Gemini Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Program or Series.
Brian McKenna was a Canadian documentary film director. He directed films on Canadian history and exploration of the world at war.
Ric Esther Bienstock is a Canadian documentary filmmaker best known for her investigative documentaries. She was born in Montreal, Quebec and studied at Vanier College and McGill University. She has produced and directed an eclectic array of films from investigative social issue documentaries like Sex Slaves, an investigation into the trafficking of women from former Soviet Bloc Countries into the global sex trade and Ebola: Inside an Outbreak which took viewers to ground zero of the Ebola outbreak in Zaire - to lighter fare such as Penn & Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour.
John Charles Walker is a Canadian filmmaker and cinematographer.
The Donald Brittain Award is a Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour the year's best television documentary on a social or political topic. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, since 2013 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards. The award may be presented to either a standalone broadcast of a documentary film, or to an individual full-length episode of a news or documentary series; documentary films which originally premiered theatrically, but were not already submitted for consideration in a CSA film category before being broadcast on television, are also considered television films for the purposes of the award.