In the Land of the War Canoes is a 1914 silent film fictionalizing the world of the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) peoples of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, written and directed by Edward S. Curtis and acted entirely by Kwakwaka'wakw natives.
It was selected in 1999 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant." It was the first feature-length film whose cast was composed entirely of Native North Americans; the second, eight years later, was Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North.
Earlier, Curtis had experimented with multimedia. In 1911 he created a stage show, with slides, a lecture and live musical accompaniment, called The Indian Picture Opera.
He used stereopticon projectors, where two projectors dissolved back and forth between images. This was his prelude to entering the motion picture era.
Some aspects of the film do have documentary accuracy: the artwork, the ceremonial dances, the clothing, the architecture of the buildings, and the construction of the dugout, or a war canoe reflected Kwakwaka'wakw culture. Other aspects of the film were based on the Kwakwaka'wakw's orally transmitted traditions or on aspects of other neighboring cultures.(Source: Wikipedia)
It was selected in 1999 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant." It was the first feature-length film whose cast was composed entirely of Native North Americans; the second, eight years later, was Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North.
Earlier, Curtis had experimented with multimedia. In 1911 he created a stage show, with slides, a lecture and live musical accompaniment, called The Indian Picture Opera.
He used stereopticon projectors, where two projectors dissolved back and forth between images. This was his prelude to entering the motion picture era.
Some aspects of the film do have documentary accuracy: the artwork, the ceremonial dances, the clothing, the architecture of the buildings, and the construction of the dugout, or a war canoe reflected Kwakwaka'wakw culture. Other aspects of the film were based on the Kwakwaka'wakw's orally transmitted traditions or on aspects of other neighboring cultures.(Source: Wikipedia)
VIDEO
Wonderful. Do you have any film of the The Indian Picture Opera?