An Ojibwe-language dub of Star Wars: A New Hope made its world premiere in Winnipeg last week.
A collaboration between the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council, the University of Manitoba, Disney/Lucasfilm and APTN, the Ojibwe-dubbed Star Wars — Anangong Miigaading: A New Hope — was screened Thursday (August 8) at the city's Centennial Concert Hall.
Cary Miller, project manager and associate professor in Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba, told the CBC that the dub will make the language more accessible to a younger generation.
"If we can have that language reinforced through movies — through video games, through the media that children want to consume after they go home from school, even if it's an immersion school — then we're creating more places of contact and more opportunities for language to just be a part of the way our young people think and act," Miller shared.
Anangong Miigaading marks the second time A New Hope has been translated into an Indigenous language, following a Navajo dub released in 2013. The Ojibwe-language dubbing was completed over 10 days in Winnipeg, and was mixed at Skywalker Sound in California.
Dennis Chartrand, a member of Minegoziibe Anishinabe in Manitoba who voiced Darth Vader for the dub, pointed to the parallel between the Star Wars storyline and the experiences of Indigenous people in North America, telling the CBC, "There is a dark side. Do we give in to not speaking our language, do we give in to mainstream society? Or do we continue to strive for harmony with the land, our people, our language, our culture? This movie is synonymous to that."
Following a limited run in select markets, Anangong Miigaading: A New Hope will be available to view on Disney+ and APTN.