Ojibwe filmmaker returns to Winnipeg's North End to tell story of hope and healing

Ojibwe filmmaker Jeremy Torrie is at the helm of a reenvisioning of the 1994 movie Once Were Warriors over a decade after acquir‐ ing the option rights to the film.

Torrie's currently filming Many Wounds, which draws from his experience growing up in Winnipeg's North End, and features a predomi‐ nantly Indigenous cast.

The original Once Were Warriors tells the story of a New Zealand family who are descendants of Maori war‐ riors as they grapple with a violent father and the prob‐ lems that come with being treated like outcasts in soci‐ ety, according to its IMDB page.

The film is shown in class‐ rooms across New Zealand as a learning tool, Torrie said, and he hopes Many Wounds will have the same impact in Canada and even the U.S.

"Yes there are difficult subjects here … suicide is a part of it, domestic violence, alcoholism, all of those things are very real," he said on set in Point Douglas. "This is an authentic story and I didn't want to shy away from that."

"Everyone we've talked to at a grassroots level, particu‐ larly the women, they're very, very supportive of this be‐ cause of the fact that so many of our community lives it on a daily basis, even to‐ day," said Torrie. "We've got‐ ta overcome that."

White Bear Films pro‐ ducer Tanya Brunel said the film follows a young Indige‐ nous man named Mashka liv‐ ing in the North End who's growing up with intergenera‐ tional trauma, and around vi‐ olence, gangs and substance abuse.

Brunel said Mashka is on a path to perpetuating those cycles, but meets an elder while in a youth detention centre who offers him teach‐ ings and becomes a role model for "healthier mas‐ culinity."

"That sets him on a path to end that cycle of violence," said Brunel. "And that's what our film is about, is all about the hope and healing and what our young men need to do to stand up and break those cycles."

'I want us to break the cycle:' Torrie

Elements of Torrie's own lived experiences growing up in Winnipeg are woven into Mashka's story. Witnessing violence and sexual assault while living in fear made Tor‐ rie feel like Mashka growing up, he said. Those experi‐ ences and feelings were something he honed in on to develop Mashka's character.

But forty years later, he still gets choked up thinking about those times, and said he's found himself feeling triggered while filming. In or‐ der for him and many others to heal, Torrie said it's impor‐ tant to talk about it and find the strength and courage to do so.

"That's what I want to get out of this, I want us to break the cycle because it takes generations to be in a happy, healthy environment and a place where our spiritual self, our mental self and our cul‐ tural self, they're all one," he said.

"And because of what has happened over multiple gen‐ erations, that has broken down and we've got to put that back together."

Working within commu‐ nity

In order to deal with some of the heavy nature of the film's material, Brunel said there's been an elder and trauma counselor on set every day as a support for both Indige‐ nous and non-Indigenous cast and crew.

She said an elder also came in and did a pipe cere‐ mony with the cast and crew at the beginning of produc‐ tion. Another elder came in and smudged and offered a blessing as well.

"It was really important for us to incorporate our val‐ ues and our culture into film‐ making, which I think you don't see very often," said Brunel, who is Métis.

Bear Clan Patrol has also been involved helping out with the film.

"We're coming into the North End community, we wanted to work within com‐ munity-based relationships," she said.

Brunel said they're hoping to finish filming by the end of March, and look to get Many Wounds into some major film festivals. After that, it will have a theatrical release.

While Many Wounds does deal with heavy subject mat‐ ter, Torrie wants viewers to leave with hope by film's end.

"This type of story and the subject matter impacts everybody, right? It crosses every cultural and societal boundary," he said. "So for us, we'd like to be able to bring this story to the world and to share it with everyone so that they can feel some‐

thing and connect with us, rather than saying 'Hey ... oh this is an Indigenous story or it's a BIPOC story.'"

"It's a story and every one of us, no matter what our skin colour is, can connect with it in some way because we've told an authentic story that touches people in the heart."