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Walking Through the Fire - Visual Album

Walking Through the Fire: Visual Album is a visually stunning and transformative blend of interviews and music video that brings the magic of collaboration to the screen, with award-winning First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island working together with 3x JUNO nominees and Billboard charting Sultans of String to create something extraordinary.
Prepare to be absorbed by the captivating synergy and power of Walking Through the Fire as it takes you on a journey where cultures collide, boundaries dissolve, and the universal language of music unites us all.

From Métis fiddling to an East Coast Kitchen Party, rumba to rock, to the drumming of the Pacific Northwest, experience the beauty and diversity of music from Turtle Island with Elder and poet Dr. Duke Redbird, the Métis Fiddler Quartet, Ojibwe/Finnish Singer-Songwriter Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan), Coast Tsm’syen Singer Shannon Thunderbird, The North Sound from the Prairies, Blues singer Crystal Shawanda, Heavy-Wood guitarist Don Ross, Northern Cree pow wow group, Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday, Inuit Throat Singers and more, in this musical film experience unlike any other.

"The place that we have to start is with truth. Reconciliation will come sometime way in the future, perhaps, but right now, truth is where we need to begin the journey with each other. As human beings, we have to acquire that truth” — Dr. Duke Redbird, Chippewa/Anishinaabe Elder and poet

"The very fact that you're doing this tells me that you believe in the validity of our language, you believe in the validity of our art and our music and that you want to help to bring it out. And that's really what's important, is for people to have faith that we can do this.” — The Honourable Murray Sinclair, Ojibwe Elder and former chair of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission

  • Chris McKhool
    Director
    The Refuge Project, 4x CFMA winner, 4x JUNO Award nominee, Music featured in Hotel Mumbai
  • Chris McKhool
    Writer
    The Refuge Project, 4x CFMA winner, 4x JUNO Award nominee, Music featured in Hotel Mumbai
  • Chris McKhool
    Producer
    The Refuge Project, 4x CFMA winner, 4x JUNO Award nominee, Music featured in Hotel Mumbai
  • Dr. Duke Redbird
    Key Cast
    Dance Me Outside (Producer)
  • Marc Merliläinen
    Key Cast
    Nadjiwan Project
  • Shannon Thunderbird
    Key Cast
  • Crystal Shawanda
    Key Cast
    JUNO Award Winner
  • Leela Gilday
    Key Cast
    JUNO Award Winner
  • Raven Kanatakta
    Key Cast
    JUNO Award Winner
  • Forrest Eaglespeaker
    Key Cast
    The North Sound
  • Don Ross
    Key Cast
    Heavy Wood Guitar Player
  • Métis Fiddler Quartet
    Key Cast
  • John 'Beetle' Bailey
    Co-Producer
    Grammy Award winning albums by Alex Cuba and others
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature, Music Video
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 22 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    60,000 CAD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Chris McKhool

JUNO Award nominee Chris McKhool is the 2021 and 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards winner for Producer of the Year with Sultans of String albums, Refuge and Sanctuary. Mckhool, of Lebanese descent, is a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal recipient for his work creating community through music, producing, composing and playing violin with BILLBOARD charting Sultans of String, who’s CDs hit #1 across Canada in the Top Ten International/World Canadian community radio charts, and earned three JUNO Award nominations and six Canadian Folk Music Awards out of eleven nominations. He has also composed, recorded and performed with diverse artists including Béla Fleck, Nikki Yanofsky, Jesse Cook, Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains, Pavlo, Alex Cuba, Richard Bona, Ruben Blades, Yasmin Levy, and Ken Whiteley.
In his role as music producer, Mckhool has won Producer of the Year in the Canadian Folk Music Awards, and Producer of the Year for the 2020 Independent Music Awards along with co-producer and 2020 JUNO Award winning engineer John 'Beetle' Bailey. Equally at home in a concert hall, jazz club or festival setting, Mckhool has brought his compositions to the legendary Birdland Jazz Club in NYC, the renowned Celtic Connections Festival in the U.K. and the San Jose Jazz Festival. He has performed with symphonies across Canada and the U.S., and played live on BBC TV, Irish National Radio, World Cafe and SiriusXM in Washington DC.

• 2025 Canadian Folk Music Awards - nom Ensemble of the Year
• 2024 Folk Music Ontario – Performing Artist of the Year nominee
• 2024 Burlington Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame
• 2024 Merilaïnen Music Awards – Indigenous Ally of the Year
• 2023 International Songwriting Competition – Finalist
• 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards - Global Roots Album of the Year with Sanctuary
• 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards - Producer of the Year with Sanctuary
• 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards - nominated Pushing the Boundaries & Contemporary Album
• 2022 Dr. Duke Redbird Lifetime Achievement Award – JAYU Arts For Human Rights
• 2022 Folk Music Ontario – Song of the Year winner - Mi Santuario
• 2022 Folk Music Ontario – Nominated for Performer of the Year
• 2022 Cannes World Film Festival – Best Musical Film
• 2022 Burlington’s Best Local Musician/Band
• 2021 Canadian Folk Music Awards - Producer of the Year with Refuge
• 2021 Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee for Ensemble of the Year with Refuge
• 2021 Canadian Independent Music Association - Pivot Award
• 2021 Markham Performing Arts Awards - Professional Artist of the Year
• 2021 International Songwriting Competition – World Music – Mi Santuario
• 2020 Folk Music Ontario - Songwriting Award – Instrumental - "Refuge”
• 2020 Folk Music Ontario - Songwriting Award – Political - "I Am a Refugee”
• 2020 Independent Music Awards - Instrumental Song of the Year - The Grand Bazaar
• 2020 Independent Music Awards - World Music Producer of the Year – Refuge
• 2019 International Songwriting Competition- Folk semi-finals – “Power of the Land”
• 2019 International Songwriting Competition- Performance semi-finals – “Power of the Land”
• 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards– Producer of the Year nomination for McKhool
• 2017 New York Times Hits List
• 2017 Billboard World Music Charts – Christmas Caravan CD hits #6

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Director Statement

This film challenges the viewer as they hear powerful stories first-hand from Indigenous artists, and experience the creations between settler-band Sultans of String and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists across northern Turtle Island, created in the spirit of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action and Final Report, in particular #83:
“We call upon the Canada Council for the Arts to establish, as a funding priority, a strategy for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects and produce works that contribute to the reconciliation process.”

We know that as a society we can’t move ahead without acknowledging and reflecting on the past. Before reconciliation can occur, the full truth of the Indigenous experience in this country needs to be told, so we’ve been calling on Indigenous artists to share with us their stories, their experience, and their lives, so we can continue our learning about the history of residential schools, of genocide, and of intergenerational impacts of colonization. This film provides the opportunity for Indigenous collaborators from across Canada to tell their stories in their own words in a dynamic interview and music format.

One of our collaborators, Dr. Duke Redbird says:
"The place that we have to start is with truth. Reconciliation will come sometime way in the future, perhaps, but right now, truth is where we need to begin the journey with each other. As human beings, we have to acquire that truth.”

We also met with the Honourable Murray Sinclair, former chair of the TRC, to speak about this project, who reflected;
"The very fact that you're doing this tells me that you believe in the validity of our language, you believe in the validity of our art and our music and that you want to help to bring it out. And that's really what's important, is for people to have faith that we can do this."

While mixing the mediums of recorded music, film, and concert footage, we are challenging the genres of roots and Indigenous music, as we create a new music that mixes the aesthetics of both, along with the sound of a full symphony in some cases. We aim to push the envelope of the range of repertoire that orchestras will play, encourage them to take risks along with us, and increase their capacity to feature Indigenous voices.

We are also challenging our audiences, who will not have ever heard of many of the Indigenous artists featured. A film like this can draw in people who would not go see a concert containing music by artists they don't know. In the process they learn about the lives and art of these Indigenous artists, and what it means to collaborate with non-Indigenous musicians. One of our goals is to bring Indigenous music more into the mainstream to be shared more broadly across our country.

Steve Wood, drummer and singer of nine-time Grammy-nominated Northern Cree, explains, “When you’re collaborating with mainstream music, it shows that we can work together to bring out the very best in who we are as human beings, and we can bring out something very beautiful.”

Enjoy!