Evelyn Jacob
SPOTLIGHT FEATURE

ITH THE conser-
vative climate
# W surrounding

documentary film-making
and The Bays of St. Vincent
and The Valour and the
Horror debacles still fresh
on the minds of Canadians, |
imagined Peter von Put-

‘ tkamer would be anxious
about finding a broadcaster.
After all, the German-born TV

“producer is taking on sensitive,
formerly taboo, subject matter: the
atrocities suffered by native peo-
ples at the hands of church-run,
government-sanctioned residential
schools, .

When | visited him in his North

_ Vancouver home, however, he
seemed surprisingly unperturbed
‘about treading into controversial
territory. He says he is more con-
cerned with fully exposing one of
the ugliest blemishes on the con-
science of our nation.

Shot in Vancouver on a low
budget, von Puttkamer’s half-hour

‘emotionally charged documen-
tary, Beyond the Shadows, in-
cludes often shocking tales of |
abuse as recounted in interviews

J with rnembers of B.C.’s Cariboo

r

region. — .
TV broadcasters may not be
breaking down his door, but-it’s

b early days yet. The show has al-

A Cindy Award.

feady won a number of interna-
tional honors, including this year's

“Vhaven’t canfronted enough
broadcasters yet (CBC has ex-
pressed interest in airing Beyond
the Shadows for national broad-
cast), but ! feel optimistic: because
a lot of this is coming out in the
open now, © |

“More people in Canada are
aware of the injuries done to First
Nations, and they want to know
the truth ,’ says von Puttkamer,
whose award-winning documen-

i tary, The Spirit of the Mask, aired
last night an U.TV.

“I's not just people whining.
It’s something that we can all learn
from.”"

The good-natured, snowy-haired
producer, director and sometimes

Cameraman says he was overcome
7 with emotion during filming of the
q show. :

“The story of the residential

a school system is sa tragic,” he

# says. ‘We're talking about native

H people who were tied up in chairs
and had broomsticks broken over

# their heads. The specific incidents

4 of abuse people describe in the
show are horrific.’

R ’“You hear about young girls

4 who were siripped naked and
beaten and forced to live in an at-
tic with rotting food, about native
women who were held down by
nuns and sterilized with a coat
hanger. This kind of thing went on

i for 150 years in Canada and yet

he government has never apolo-
gized to the First Nations. There
hasn‘t even been an acknowl-
edgement.
~ "A lot.of people say, ‘Well,
s couldn’t they just be making it

CRED 2 so ecoseccoene ey

OcCeccoseeeeosgear

EWS phete Mike Waxsliold
NORTH VANCOUVER producer Peter von Puttkamer’s father ran
Paradise Vailey (now the Outdoor School) in Squamish.

up?’ But when you see case after work again and again,
case you know it did happen.” One of his earliest documen-
Von Puttkarner believes that taries, The Honour of All: The
Beyond the Shadows is one of the Story of Alkali Lake (1985), told
strongest indictments of the resi- the amazing tale of how this B.C.
dential school system and the native community courageously
racist beliefs behind it. Many of his transformed itself from a locale
native friends felt the CBC with a 100% alcoholism rate to
documentary, Where the Spirit one that was 98% sober.
tives, soft-pedalled the story of Kecia: Words to Live By (1991),
native abuse. one of von Puttkamer’s favorite
A graduate of UBC's film and works, pertrays a young HIV-
video program, von Puttkamer has _ infected native girl's message of
always been drawn to native hope. Like The Story of Alkali
culture — his father ran Paradise Lake, Kecia won praise from
Valley (now the Outdoor School) native leaders and captured four
in Squamish and knew many international awards, including the
prominent native leaders — and

that same love is reflected in his See Spirit page 33

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