Good wood. That is one Indigenous name for cedar. This tree has always been central to First Nations cultural practice on the northwest coast. As one carver observes, “You are born in cedar, the cradle, and you are laid to rest in cedar.” It is used for long houses, totem poles, masks, canoes, bowls, and chests; the bark is used for weaving of clothes, hats, blankets, baskets, and sails; the branches are used for cleansing ceremonies.
This Vancouver Island-made documentary weaves together interviews with elders, mask carvers, medicinal harvesters, canoe makers, totem carvers, cedar bark weavers, those working with traditional food and cooking, and other hands-on practitioners all along the West Coast (from Cowichan to Haida Gwaii). They speak to their craft, and how all parts of the tree were – and still are – crucial to their way of life. And, with this, we learn about the Cowichan legend of Cedar Woman and how, to the First Nations, the tree is itself a living spirit.
A Cedar Is Life is an illuminating and passionate film about one of the defining aspects of this part of the world.
March 31: Q&A with co-directors Leslie Bland and Harold Joe
Leslie D Bland, Harold C Joe
Harold C Joe
Canada
2023
English
Audience Favourite Award Winner at the Salt Spring Film Festival
Book Tickets
Friday March 31
Saturday April 01
Sunday April 02
Wednesday April 05
Saturday April 22
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Executive Producer
Barbara Osberg, Bonnie Hughson
Producer
Leslie D. Bland, Harold C. Joe
Screenwriter
Leslie D. Bland, Harold C. Joe
Cinematography
C. Gavin Andrews
Editor
C. Gavin Andrews
Production Design
Barbara Osberg
Original Music
Alexander Brendan Ferguson
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Raising her son Dong-hyun (Dohyun Noel Hwang, then Ethan Hwang) in Vancouver’s suburbs, So-young (Choi Seung-yoon), a South Korean immigrant, desperately wants to instill a sense of pride in the boy. Meanwhile, he just wants to fit in.
A Cedar Is Life
The cedar tree has always been central to First Nations cultural practice on the northwest coast. It is, you could say, foundational flora. A Cedar Is Life is an illuminating, passionate film which speaks to a defining aspect of this part of the world.
