Biidaaban
Year: 2017
Country: Canada
Director: Amanda Strong
Accompanied by a 10,000-year-old shapeshifter and friend known as Sabe, Biidaaban sets out on a mission to reclaim the ceremonial harvesting of sap from maple trees in an unwelcoming suburban neighborhood in Ontario. Driven by the words of Anishinaabe writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Amanda Strong’s mesmerizing stop-motion animation intricately weaves together multiple worlds through time and space, calling for a rebellion.
Amanda “Spotted Fawn” Strong is an Michif interdisciplinary artist with a focus on filmmaking, stop motion animations and media art. Currently based on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh, Coast Salish Nations also known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. Strong received a BAA in Interpretative Illustration and a Diploma in Applied Photography from the Sheridan Institute. With a cross-discipline focus, common themes of her work are reclamation of Indigenous histories, lineage, language and culture. Strong is the Owner/ Director/ Producer of Spotted Fawn Productions (SFP). Under her direction, SFP utilizes a multi-layered approach and unconventional methods that are centered in collaboration on all aspects of their work.