From the CPH Archives: Three Feathers - Storytelling and Restorative Justice in Northern Indigenous Communities 

As part of the Center for Public History’s 2020-2021 lecture series on systemic racism and its roots, Dr. Kairn Klieman, Associate Professor in the UH History Department, hosted a panel discussing the creation and source material for the 2018 film, Three Feathers.

This film, adapted from the Richard Van Camp’s graphic novel by the same name, depicts the story of three indigenous young men ---Dene, to be more specific--- in Fort Smith, Canada. These boys, named Flinch, Bryce, and Rupert, are caught breaking into an elder’s home and harming the man. Instead of sending the young men to jail, they are taken before a traditional, community sentencing circle.

This is a practice by which community elders decide on punishments rather than Canadian courts, preventing the creation of permanent records and jail time, and instead focusing on rehabilitation and restorative justice.

In the context of the film, this alternative disciplinary practice leads to the youths being sent to live with elders Irene and Raymond in an effort to re-connect them with their heritage, traditions, and the land they live on. In so doing, hopefully, setting them on a better, less “out of balance” path.

Without revealing too much of the plot and conclusion, these young men do very much undergo the growth their elders hope for them, and the audience is left with a strong message in favor of restorative, rather than criminal, punitive justice.

The CPH Lecture series panel featured Carla Ulrich, Three Feather’s film director, Brent Kaulback, the film’s producer, and Eileen Beaver, actress and linguistic consultant for the film. Together, they discuss themes of land and language, justice, and rehabilitation for indigenous youth in Canada’s Northern Territories.

Kaulback explains that the inspiration for the film story came from a conversation between himself and Richard Van Camp. The two of them had been traveling from school to school for writer’s workshops in northern Canadian territories, and Van Camp told Kaulback about an experience he’d witnessed in his youth.

Almost exactly like what would eventually be the film’s opening plot, Van Camp knew a group of teenage boys who broke into a series of local elder’s homes until they were eventually caught and sent to jail.

Van Camp and Kaulback discussed how they’d wished these young boys had an alternative to jail, more rooted in goals of restorative and rehabilitative justice, and this is what the graphic novel and the movie are explore.

Kaulback lamented that the community at large might be better served by efforts at the hands of local elders themselves, wherein youth are led to re-connect with their communities and the land, instead of simply enduring the punitive measures of the criminal justice system.

Eileen Beaver made similar connection between the film and her own experience. She herself hosts rehabilitation efforts for “out of balance” youth, in the form of a summer camp program, which focuses on promoting connections with the land and indigenous languages. These efforts, she said, are directly related to one another: “Language comes from the land,” and connection with one makes strides with connection to the other.

Fitting, then, that the movie was filmed in four languages: English, Cree, Chipewyan, and South Slavey, though only the English DVD version was out at the time of the panel. Beaver also discussed a sign language version of the film, to honor one of the actors in the film.

These versions of the film were made possible by both panelist Beaver and Kaulback’s language consultations, with Beaver being a native Dene speaker and Kaulback a retired educator in the field of indigenous languages.

The panelists remarked that they hope the decision to release the film in so many language versions will encourage the promotion and celebration of these languages.

Director Carla Ulrich emphasized the importance of camera work and editing in the creation of this film, composing what she considers a “letter to the north.” With scenes rooted in their Northern backdrops, and with a focus on authenticity and attention to detail, the film promotes the same beauty of nature and appreciation of land both on a textual and metatextual level.

In crafting this letter, Ulrich champions the importance of teamwork, as Beaver, Kaulback, and other actors, including Beaver’s husband, the actor for elder Raymond, were consulted at every turn on the effect and accuracy on set design.

Ulrich also admits the team had some extra moments of luck and good fortune to complement their deliberate artistic teamwork. In one notable instance, actor David Burke, who plays Flinch, one of the “out of balance” youth, cries as he undergoes a major moment of growth. In a scene of Flinch struggling to keep a fire going in the cold and rain, the actors experienced a moment of movie magic.

To capture this particular scene, the film production team needed to keep a fire going during an increasingly cold night. They worried they might lose the necessary lighting for the scene as they dealt with the complications relighting one of the fire embers. However, the scene was of deep importance, especially with the fire’s symbolic importance of Burke’s character learning to take responsibility within his life and community.

When it came time to relight the ember, and possibly causing Burke to break character, they noticed that it instead began to smoke “all on its own,” with no intervention from the team, allowing them to film and capture a meaningful moment for the story.

Youth projects too, were a subject of Ulrich’s part of the panel, as the director admits not just to depicting such projects, but of creating her own project, Youth Rise. This initiative invites local youth to create their own films and gain related experience in the artistic field. Ulrich encouraged the audience to watch their films at YouthRiseProject.com.

Tune in to watch the full discussion panel on Three Feathers here: https://uh.edu/infotech/services/streaming-media/events/public-history/three-feathers/

Also, listen to Carla Ulrich discuss her artistic vision and advocacy work in her podcast interview at Public Historians at work! https://publichistoriansatwork.buzzsprout.com/1267733/8674564.