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SHANA - The Wolf's Music

By

Nino Jacusso

A First Nations girl, a wolf and a violin – and the magic of music.

Drama

Cinema

95

Min.

Format

DCP 24 fps / 1:2.35 Cinemascope

Sound

5.1. Dolby Digital

Country

Switzerland, Canada

Languages

Subtitles

German, English

Synopsis

The First Nations girl Shana is a very gifted musician. But to bring her violin to sing, she must follow the wolf. Nino Jacusso has filmed this captivating coming-of-age drama with sensational beauty and spiritual tenderness.

Shana is a very talented musician. She lives with her father in a First Nations village in Canada. In the past she was a happy girl who, together with her mother, played violins joyfully at celebrations. But two years ago, her mother went into the forest and never came back. Shana feels lonely and abandoned and the fact that her father tries to drown his sorrow in alcohol does not make it easier for her: Shana is retreating more and more into her own world. She stops going to school and hardly ever plays her violin any more. Hoping that she will somehow receive a sign from her mother, she writes heart-rending notes to her and hangs them in a special ancestor tree, which is decorated with amulets. A white wolf watches her from a distance whenever she comes to the tree. It seems to be magically drawn to her, appearing from the forest whenever she plays her violin.


After a long break, Shana's village get a new teacher, Lela Woodland. Lela is also of indigenous origins. She knows the particular situation of present-day First Nations from her own personal experience, knows how to inspire the students and tries with sensitivity and perseverance to draw Shana out of her state of withdrawal. When she hears Shana play the violin she is convinced that she has discovered great talent and registers her at the music school in Vancouver.


But a few days before the entrance exam, Shana's father sells the antique wolf's head violin, which had previously belonged to Shana's mother. Now Shana has only one alternative. She must retrieve this memento that is so important to her. During her adventurous search, Shana plunges deeper and deeper into the forest. For three days and nights she disappears into free Nature. There she encounters the white wolf and the spirits of her ancestors. Somewhere between trance and dream, Shana finds her way to a magic method of playing the violin that prepares her for encountering the wide world.

First Nations have interested me since I was a boy. I imagined how great it would be to ride with them through the prairie on the back of my pony, to sit at the campfire with them and listen to the stories of the wise old women and men. And I was bitterly disappointed when I found out that the Winnetou films had been shot in Yugoslavia and that Pierre Brice is French. After that, I tried reading Karl May but his books were too tedious and wordy for me – and then, when I learned that Karl May had never even been with the First Nations, I was terribly shocked.


One day my mother, who worked at the Union Printers in Solothurn, brought me „The red silk Scarf“ by Federica De Cesco and that was when I found a new access into the world of the First Nations. As a boy, I was relatively lonely: my school colleagues preferred to play soccer. So I began to dream: about a film with real First Nations, taken in their homeland.


During my work on the documentary film „Federica de Cesco, mein Leben, meine Welten“ (2008) the idea came to me that I should film one of the novels written by Federica de Cesco. There were only two possible considerations for my film: „Shana das Wolfsmädchen“ as well as „Aischa or the Sun of Life“. My daughter, who was ten years old at the time, tipped the scales: she absolutely wanted to go to the First Nations.


I set forth with a good friend who lives in Switzerland but comes from the tribe of the Onondaga to look for Shana’s village in Canada. In the Nicola Valley we not only found a village and a location to film that looked like what I had imagined. We also met the Scw’exmx, people of the creeks. Now we just had to find someone to play Shana. But the search dragged on for quite some time until Leona Rabbitt, culture mediator and Shaman, offered to help us. One morning before sunrise, in a special ceremony, we prayed that we would find our Shana – and by the afternoon of the same day, Sunshine O‘Donovan was standing in our casting office.


For as long as I can remember, in all my film work it was the interfaces that interested me: the point where fiction and reality merge and something new is created. Also, making films means to me the building of bridges: between people but also between cultures. In all my other films I developed the plot together with the persons who later also stood in front of the camera. And that is how it happened with „Shana“: I worked together with the actors, who all belonged to the tribe of the Scw’exmx on the story of „Shana“ until the story became a part of their own cultural reality.


In „Shana,“ an old “wolf’s head”-violin plays an important role. And what I did not know before the film was that this kind of violin is known and loved by the southern First Nations tribes. Its four strings symbolize not only the four heavenly or cardinal (wind) directions but also the four ages of man: Childhood, Youth, Adulthood and Old Age. Different from the Shana in De Cesco’s book, who plays classical music, the Shana in the film plays “her” music, the music she has received from her ancestors and from Nature. Music and song serve as direct communication with the Hereafter.


Towards the end of the film, when Shana goes into the forest, she encounters her First Mother (her primordial mother) and is taunted by her. Our primordial mothers want us to be strong in our earthly life, to fight for what we want, not hide behind the skirts of our earthly mothers. The Scw'exmx call this the "Vision Quest". For three days and three nights, young people go into the forest to encounter their ancestors and return as young adults.


With „Shana – The Wolf’s Music“ a long cherished dream of mine came true: I have made a film about real First Nations in their homeland. The Scw’exmx had given me, the film and the viewers a part of their soul and I have never been happier than in the moment when, after the screening of „Shana“, they Elders told me that our film was now a part of their culture. Afterwards, I went to the mountain with the Shaman Leona Rabbitt a second time and, in a ceremony, we asked for a blessing on the release of our common project.


Nino Jacusso, November 2013

With his new film "Shana", Nino Jacusso („Escape to Paradise") presents the compelling film version of Federica De Cesco's novel „Shana and her Wolf". The Italian-Swiss shot his film at the Lower Nicola reservation in British Columbia. All the actors and actresses in the film are First Nations members from the Scw'exmx tribe. Delilah Dick is outstanding in her role as the kind-hearted, determined teacher – a true discovery. Sunshine O'Donovan plays Shana so that she and her rough sensitivity are highly credible.


Filmed with sensational beauty, „Shana" is the coming-of-age drama of a young First Nations teenager who – without losing contact to her people and their traditions – searches for her way into today's world. „Shana", accompanied by a soundtrack of ritual rhythms and traditional melodies, is an emotionally moving film that will enthrall the whole family.

Crew

Director

Nino Jacusso

Script

Nino Jacusso

director of photography

Severine Barde s.c.s.

Music

Roman Lerch

Sound

HUGO POLETTI

Editing

Loredana Cristelli

Picture Design

Producer

Franziska Reck

More Crew Members

Co- Producers Canada

Henrik Meyer/ Cynde Harmon


Additional Camera

Daniel Leippert


Title Song

Anna Kaenzig


Lighting

Vince Laxton


Production Design

Kathrin Brunner


Costume Design

Dorothee Schmid


Hair/make Up

April Beer


Cultural Consulting & Casting

Leona Rabbitt


Cultural Consulting

Naomi Pfenninger


1st Assistant D.o.p.

Ueli Nuesch


Dit & Assistant Additional Camera

Milivoj Ivkovich


Boom Operator

Jan Illing


Sound Design

Christian Beusch


Picture Design

Patrick Lindenmaier


Commissioning Editor SRF

Tamara Mattle


Production Executive SRF

Esther Rutschmann

SRG SSR

Sven Wälti


A Production Of

Reck Filmproduktion, Zürich, Switzerland, In Co-production With

Red Cedar Films / Really Real Films, Vancouver, Canada And SRF-schweizer Radio Und Fernsehen / SRG SSR, Switzerland


With Participation Of

Bundesamt Für Kultur (Edi)

Zürcher Filmstiftung

Lotteriefonds Des Kanton Solothurn

Telefilm Canada

Aargauer Kuratorium

Suissimage

Media Prgramme Of European Union

Succes Cinema

The Province Of British Columbia Film Incentive Bc

Canadian Film Of Video Production Tax Credit

Amka Films Productions Sa

Success Passage Antenne

Cinema Esperanca International Inc.

Edelweissair



Shana - The Wolf’s Music Screenplay Based On The Novel

„shana, Das Wolfsmädchen“ By Federica De Cesco Published By Arena Verlag, Würzburg

© 2014 Reck Filmproduktion Gmbh / Red Cedar Films (Shana) Inc. / Suissimage"

Cast

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Festivals

2014

49. Solothurner Filmtage

Competition

Solothurn

Switzerland

2014

9th Reel 2 Real

International Film Festival for Youth

Vancouver

Canada

2014

Magdeburg Filmfest

Magdeburg

Germany

2014

5. Vittorio Veneto Film Festival

Festival Internazionale di cinema per ragazzi

Vittorio Veneto

Italy

2014

Dreamspeakers Film Festival

Edmonton

Canada

2014

37th LUCAS

International Children's Film Festival

Frankfurt

Germany

2014

32. Carrousel International du Film

Festival international de cinéma jeunesse de Rimouski

Rimouski

Canada

2014

56. Kasseler Kinder- und Jugendfilmfest

Kassel

Germany

2015

6th Portland German Film Festival

Portland

USA

2015

International Children's Film Carnival

Hong Kong

China

2015

5th DREAMFEST

International Film Festival for children ans Youth

Slatina

Romania

2015

24. IFFI

Internationals Film Festival Innsbruck

Innsbruck

Austria

2015

23. Goldener Spatz

Deutsches Kinder-Medien Festivals

Gera/Erfurt,

Germany

2015

6th Bellingham Children's Film Festival

Bellingham

USA

2015

11th Cowichan Aboriginal Festival of Film & Art

Duncan

Canada

2015

13th MSPIFF

Minneapolis St-Paul Int. Film Festival

Minneapolis

USA

2015

16th Leeds Young People ́s Film Festival

Leeds

UK

2015

22nd Cairo International Cinema and Arts Festival for Children

Cairo

Egypt

2015

Kamloops Film Festival

Kamloops

Canada

2015

31st BUFF

International Children and Youth Film Festival,

Malmo

Sweden

2015

19th Freeze Frame

International Film Festival for Kids of All Ages

Winnipeg

Canada

2015

18th Montreal International Children's Film Festival

Montréal

Canada

2015

Festa del Cinema per Ragazzi

Bari

Italy

2015

25th Children's Filmfest Hof

Hof

Germany

2015

14. Hörfest

Wiesbaden

Germany

2015

41st International Film Weekend Würzburg

Würzburg

Germany

2015

5th Yashwant International Film Festival – YIFF

Mumbai

India

2015

13th Pune International Film Festival PIFF ,

Pune

India

2015

10th Children's Film Festival Seattle

Seattle

USA

2014

17th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People

Olympia

Greece

2014

26th Children's Film Festival Vienna

Vienna

Austria

2014

7. Piccolo Grande Cinema il festival per le nuove generazioni

Milan

Italy

2014

33rd Oulu Internatinal Children's and Youth Film Festival

Oulu

Finland

2014

27. Castellinaria-Festival Internazionale del cinema giovane Bellinzona

Bellinzona

Switzerland

2014

Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg

Kindersektion

Mannheim-Heidelberg

Germany

2014

International film festival for children and youth

Pilsen

Czech Republic

2014

Internationales Kinder Film Festival

Brussels

Belgium

2014

32. KinderFilmFest

Münster

Germany

2014

9. Marburger Kinder- und Jugendfilmfestival

Marburg

Germany

2014

14. Internationales Kinderfilm Festival

Bremen

Germany

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Awards

2015

Best Director, Best Screenplay Award

Gera/Erfurt, Germany, 23. Goldener Spatz, Best Film

2015

Youth Jury Award for Drama

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 19th Freeze Frame

2015

Best Film Northwest

Seattle, 10th Children's Film Festival Seattle

2014

Price of the Kids Jury

Wien, 26th Children's Film Festival Vienna,

2014

Best Feature Film

Olympia, 17th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People

2014

Public Award

Bellinzona, 27. Castellinaria-Festival Internazionale del cinema giovane Bellinzona

2014

Jule Award

Münster, 32. KinderFilmFest

2014

Jury of Quality Award

Vittorio Veneto, Vittorio Veneto Film Festival

2014

Special Mention

Pilsen, CZ, International Festival for Children and Youth Juniorfest

2014

Special Mention

Brüssel, 8th International Children´s Film Festival

2014

Award Category Monte Baldo

Vittorio Veneto, Vittorio Veneto Film Festival

2014

Special Jury Award

Vancouver, Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth

2014

Best Youth Cinema

Edmonton AB, Dreamspeakers Film Festival

Filmstills

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