Where does a river end and the sea begin? America’s vastness as a resonant space for thinking and speaking about the cycle of life and death. At the centre stands a myth from the Chinook people of the Columbia basin in the USA’s Pacific Northwest. Filmmaker Sky Hopinka takes this tale as a departure point for reflecting with his protagonists, on rebirth, personal recollections and indigenous life in 21st century America. The result is a documentary liberation that counters external attribution and appropriation with calm and moving beauty. The multi-layered sound design, the sound of the Chinook Wawa tongue and the contemplative rhythm of the editing flow together to create a special cinema poem that serves at the same time as a powerful example of situated knowledge production.

Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk/Pechanga) was born and raised in Washington/USA and spent a number of years in California and Oregon. In Portland, he studied and taught Chinuk Wawa, a language indigenous to the Columbia River Basin. He received his BA from Portland State University in liberal arts and his MFA in film, video, animation, and new genres from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He currently teaches at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia/Canada.

Filmography (selection): 2014 WAWA, 2016 VISIONS OF AN ISLAND, 2017 DISLOCATION BLUES, 2019 LORE (all short films), 2020 MAɬNI – TOWARDS THE OCEAN, TOWARDS THE SHORE