On Friday, April 3, Morningstar Cinemas, formerly known as Aurora Cinemas, opened its doors in Meadow Lake, SK. A cinema revival is always worth celebrating, and this one is a long-overdue milestone. As far as NICE is aware, Morningstar Cinemas joins Tillicum Twin Theatres as one of only two fully Indigenous-led, year-round, brick-and-mortar cinemas in Canada.
Rueben Martell is a Cree filmmaker from Waterhen Lake First Nation. With feature films eco-thriller Don’t Say Its Name and Indigenous love story A Life Less Empty under his belt, he decided to take on a different kind of movie project: running the two-screen Morningstar Cinemas together with his son Nicholas Jett Martell.
Morningstar Cinemas will feature a mix of new releases, exciting horror and genre flicks, special screenings that give back to the community, and so much more. “I want to bring in films that people are excited about,” Rueben says. As a filmmaker himself, Rueben will also be inviting his colleagues and friends in for special eventized screenings.
“I’m overwhelmed by the support from the community and receiving thanks from young and old alike,” Rueben adds. “Cinema is truly a shared community experience, and I’m glad its alive and well in Meadow Lake, Sk.”
The cinema takes its name from Morningstar Woman, a matriarch of the Waterhen Lake First Nation. In the above image, she is painted with Rueben’s grandfather Joe Openeyes.
Indigenous leadership in film exhibition
Tillicum Twin Theatres in Terrace, BC, is co-owned by Wakefield Robinson and Diane Robinson of the Nisga’a Nation, and has been a family business of 60 years. The venue has totem poles in the lobby, gifted by the Gitxsan Nation.
There is also a seasonal drive-in with Indigenous leadership: The Historic Hat Creek Ranch Drive-In Theatre, managed by the St’uxwtews Pesuten Heritage Society, led by the Bonaparte Nation.
Despite the fact that some of the greatest films and richest film culture to emerge from this country are Indigenous, colonial structures have created barriers that have prevented Indigenous voices from leading in the exhibition space.
It’s time for that to change. Shine bright, Morningstar!
Follow Morningstar Cinemas on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MStarCinema