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You Can Call Me Roger

A story of hope that depicts the life of Assembly of First Nations regional Chief Roger Joseph Augustine; his lived experiences with the long assault against aboriginal people, and his near impossible climb to 45 years in leadership.

  • Jon Mann
    Director
    Cahoots, Missy, Popsy, Pub Crawl
  • Chief Roger Augustine
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Sandy Hunter
    Executive Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Documentary, Indigenous
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 18 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 21, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    140,000 USD
  • 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
  • Atlantic International Film Festival
    Halifax
    Canada
    September 14, 2022
    World Premiere
  • Silver Wave Film Festival
    Fredericton
    Canada
    November 6, 2022
    Best Documentary Feature, Audience Choice Award
Distribution Information
  • LevelFILM
    Distributor
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Jon Mann

Jon Mann is a graduate of Acadia University (POLS, 2011) and the New York Film Academy (Screenwriting, 2013). In 2012, he wrote the documentary Drink ‘Em Dry which premiered at Harvard Law School. After Harvard, the film is now in universities and colleges in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Drink ‘Em Dry was nominated for Best Canadian Documentary at the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (2012). In 2014, Jon completed his first feature-length documentary, Project Power, which follows the social movement against the sale of NB Power to Hydro-Quebec in 2010. In 2015 Jon co-wrote and directed the short-film Rearview which racked up wins and nominations at film festivals world-wide. In 2017, Jon and production partner Rob Ramsay's project Wolfville won the 2018 National Screen Institute's Totally Television program. Filming for the short film's Cahoots & Missy, written and directed by Jon, completed Fall 2017. In 2018, Jon was the Production Coordinator for TIFF Pitch This! short film winner Wildfire.

In September 2018, Wolfville was optioned by Take The Shot Productions.

In February 2019, Cahoots won Best Canadian Film at the Canadian International Comedy Film Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In March 2019, Cahoots was nominated for Best Comedy at the DeReel Film Festival in Dereel, Australia.

On May 16th, 2019, Missy screened nationally on CBC’s Canadian Reflections.

In October 2018, Jon adapted Stephen King’s short story Popsy into a short film. The film had its Canadian Premiere at FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, NS on September 13, 2019.

Jon is currently an Associate Producer on North Star, a short film starring Kevin Bacon and Laura Innes, from 2019 Oscar-winning producer Andrew Carlberg.

Filming began in October 2021 for Season 2 of Pub Crawl, an unscripted series on the historically significant bars of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The series is broadcasted by nationally in Canada by Bell TV.

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Director Statement

Hello,

My name is Jon Mann, and I am the director of You Can Call Me Roger; the most important film I have ever been a part of. I am not a Mi’gmaq, Wolastoqey (Maliseet), Passamaquoddy, Iniut or Innu, and the story of the relationship between Canada and Indigenous people is one that I have just come to appreciate in the last decade.

You Can Call Me Roger is a jarring reality check into Canada’s intent to destroy the Indigenous population framed against the inspirational leadership of Roger Augustine, a Chief in both his Natoaganeg (Eel Ground) First Nation, and as an Assembly of First Nation Regional Chief (retired 2021) for New Brunswick and PEI. The focus of the film promotes learning of our joint history, creates a searing truth on what colonization did to Indigenous people, and helps the viewer understand why reconciliation matters.

My worldview and presentation is my attempt to better understand what has happened, and continues to happen in this relationship and convey it to a wide variety of non-Indigenous audiences, based mostly on my personal relationships with many Indigenous friends in my community, and within the projects I am a part of.

When Chief Roger and I first met in the summer of 2020 to discuss the film, then a legacy piece on his life and career, I was thrilled by the two words that ended our conversation. Chief, in all of his wisdom and patience, and with a tear in his eye, looked at me and said, “I’m ready.”

Desmond Tutu once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” I hope it is an honest version, based on the facts as best as I can find and present them in the film to you over 82 minutes.

We all have a role to play in the reconciliation process. It is too late to be non-partisan.

From tales of terror directly from the survivors, and escapees, of Residential and Day School survivors, to triumphant acts of resiliancy; every single Canadian needs to see You Can Call Me Roger.

An entire country is at stake.

Onward,

Jon Mann