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July 23, 2013

The Witness Ceremony - Blog + Video by Julius Booth

By Julius Booth

Julius Booth - HCW's summer intern - has been working on the Uts'am-Witness book project.  Check out his video clip "The Witness Ceremony" below!

I’ve been asked as a summer intern at Hello Cool World to write a blog entry about the Uts’am Witness project. Here we go.

The Witness project began in 1997 back when video cameras were clunky and produced footage not fit for 1080p monitors. One of those cameras just happens to be in the editing room right now. I have been transferring hours of footage from tapes of the early Witness Ceremonies using the antique camera and a newly purchased cord that is specifically capable of plugging into the camera and a USB port.

The footage is very cool. I’ve known Kat and Nancy for a long time, seeing them much younger is an interesting experience. As a child from the 90’s there is a surprising lack of home videos in my family, so any footage from that time is a treat to see. The Witness weekends are cool to watch as well. There are songs, dancing and even drum-making lessons. The weekends remind me of a regular summer camp. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went canoeing and told ghost stories around a fire.

Before combing through the hours of footage that chronicle the Witness Project, I was editing my own little trailer/piece for the book. Despite being brand new to Final Cut Pro at the time, coupled with the computer troubles that have been haunting the Hello Cool World office for the last week, I think I did a mighty decent job. Unfortunately, the photos are a bit blurry because I had to screenshot them off a PDF of the Picturing Transformation book BUY IT NOW!!! My piece is about what a traditional witness ceremony is and how it was adapted for the Witness Project. You can watch the video here:

Look for my name in the book! JB

Tag(s): Uts'am Witness, Truth and Reconciliation, First Nations, Environment

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