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Spirit Emulsion

A connection to my mother in the spirit world reactivates Taíno culture and presence, revealing a realm unseen. Meanwhile, amidst a backdrop of flowers everywhere, an ancestral act of sovereignty extends into the future. Filmed on Super 8 and developed by hand with plant medicines and botanicals, Spirit Emulsion evokes a language for Taíno filmmaking in relationship to the earth and cosmos, breathing an ancestral connection into new form.

SHORTER SYNOPSIS:
A connection to my mother in the spirit world activates Taíno culture and presence, revealing a realm unseen. Super 8 film developed with plant medicines connect earth to cosmos as flowers portray family love and ancestral sovereignty extending into the future.

  • Siku Allooloo
    Director
  • Siku Allooloo
    Writer
  • Siku Allooloo
    Producer
  • Jessica Hallenbeck
    Producer
    The Train Station, Nuxalk Radio, Ode to Seafaring People
  • Jesse Zubot
    Composer
    Bones of Crows (2022), Ever Deadly (2022), Indian Horse (2017), Monkey Beach (2020)
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 24, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    8mm film, with some Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Available Light Film Festival
    Whitehorse
    Canada
    February 14, 2022
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ FIlm Festival
    Fort Simpson
    Canada
    February 27, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Skoden Indigenous Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    April 1, 2022
    BC Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Dawson City International Film Festival
    Dawson City
    Canada
    April 14, 2022
    Official Selection
  • DOXA Documentary Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    May 5, 2022
    Honourable Mention, DOXA Short Documentary Award
  • Māoriland Film Festival
    Ōtaki
    New Zealand
    July 1, 2022
    International Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Third Horizon Film Festival
    Miami, Florida
    United States
    June 26, 2022
    US Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Gimli International Film Festival
    Gimli
    Canada
    July 22, 2022
    Manitoba Premiere
    Best Canadian Short Award
  • Le Festival International Présence Autochtone
    Montreal
    Canada
    August 16, 2022
    QC Premiere
    Prix de la Relève (Emerging Talent Award)
  • Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival
    Ottawa
    Canada
    ON Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Caribbean Tales International Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    September 21, 2022
    Toronto Premiere
    Official Selection
  • aluCine Latin Film + Media Arts Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    September 30, 2022
    Official Selection
  • imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    October 19, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Antimatter [Media Art]
    Victoria
    Canada
    October 26, 2022
    Official Selection
  • American Indian Film Festival
    San Francisco
    United States
    November 7, 2022
    California
  • Hawai'i International Film Festival
    Honolulu (online)
    United States
    January 3, 2023
    Hawai'i
  • Yellowknife International Film Festival
    Yellowknife
    Canada
    November 5, 2022
    YKIFF Filmmaker Awards (Short by Indigenous filmmaker, Short by Women Filmmaker)
  • International Film Festival of Ottawa
    Ottawa, ON
    Canada
    March 11, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Birrarangga Film Festival
    Melbourne
    Australia
    March 26, 2023
    Australia Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Siku Allooloo

Siku Allooloo is an Inuk/Haitian/Taíno filmmaker as well as an interdisciplinary artist, writer, poet, and community builder. Born and raised in Yellowknife, NWT (Canada) by way of Haïti and Mittimatalik, Nunavut, Siku often reimagines conventional forms as imbued by her cultural traditions, oral histories, and land-based practice. Siku is currently leading development on her first feature-length documentary project, INDÍGENA, as the writer, director and co-producer. Spirit Emulsion (Best Canadian Short, GIFF 2022) is her first film.

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Director Statement

Following Indigenous protocol, this film engages my connection with the earth, spirit world, and ancestral relations to present a Taíno filmmaking language. As such, Spirit Emulsion serves as a cinematic opening prayer for the feature-length documentary I am developing, which takes up the theme of re-presencing historic Indigenous women's activism and Taíno nationhood from colonial erasure in a more overt way. In so doing, it will create an important archival record made by and for Taíno people, as well as Indigenous women activists of all generations.