Astrolabe Musik Theatre, in association with Opus 59 Films, presents the television premiere of the TELUS original documentary feature The Lake / nx̌aʔx̌aʔitkʷ. The film, which had its world premiere at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in Montreal, is a musical work of cross-cultural collaboration and discovery centering on a journey to decolonize a 1950s Canadian opera about the syilx people and first settlers in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. This topical work will be available to audiences across Canada free on demand on TELUS Optik TV Channel 8 and online at https://watch.telusoriginals.com/ worldwide on December 14th, 2023.
The Lake / nx̌aʔx̌aʔitkʷ, the first Canadian opera shot specifically as a film, features Westbank First Nation elder and artist Delphine Derickson, and Canadian soprano Heather Pawsey. The inspiring music documentary—with Vancouver director John Bolton (Aim For The Roses) at the helm—follows the extraordinary friendship between these two singers and teachers that blossomed when they first met in 2012, and the ground-breaking two-year cross-cultural collaboration that ensued as they transformed The Lake, a historic opera written in 1952 by noted Canadian composer Barbara Pentland. Incorporating syilx / Okanagan perspectives, the film brings to life the Indigenous and non-Indigenous music, stories and dance from the original 2014 live-staged production, alongside a bracingly honest oral history of the successes and failures of the project. Filled with laughter and tears, and alive to the rhythms of water and wind, The Lake / nx̌aʔx̌aʔitkʷ celebrates the magic that’s possible when people start to really listen to one another.
Westbank First Nation elder, artist, knowledge-keeper, language authority, and teacher Delphine Derickson shares the stage and screen with acclaimed soprano and Founding Artistic Director and General Manager of Astrolabe Musik Theatre, Heather Pawsey. Also featured in the film are Corinne Derickson, Jordan Coble, and Krystal Withakay of Westbank First Nation; Glenn Deneault of the Shuswap/secwépemc Nation; Japanese-Canadian composer Leslie Uyeda; Turning Point Ensemble’s Owen Underhill and Jeremy Berkman; Canadian opera singers Angus Bell, Kwangmin Brian Lee and Barbara Towell; and Quails’ Gate Estate Winery CEO Tony Stewart. The film is produced and directed by John Bolton, produced by and featuring Heather Pawsey, and associate produced by and featuring Delphine Derickson. Christina Willings is the Executive from TELUS originals.
The Lake / nx̌aʔx̌aʔitkʷ is a TELUS original FILM, produced with the support of the Vancouver Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, Creative BC / Amplify BC, the Central Okanagan Foundation, the Deux Mille Foundation, the Hamber Foundation, the SOCAN Foundation and the Ambache Charitable Trust, and with the sponsorship of Westbank First Nation, Turning Point Ensemble, Quails’ Gate Estate Winery and the Canadian Music Centre in BC.
This topical work will be available to audiences across Canada free on demand on TELUS Optik TV Channel 8 and online at https://watch.telusoriginals.com/ worldwide on December 14th, 2023.
Images provided by Nicola Pender
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