Star Wars Ojibwe World Premiere in Winnipeg

A project that has been years in the making in a galaxy far, far away reached a milestone on Thursday evening.

The Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council, Disney, Lucasfilm, APTN and the University of Manitoba hosted the premiere of the Ojibwe language version of Star Wars: A New Hope.

The film is the same classic science fiction that has entertained audiences for generations, but all the dialogue has been translated into Ojibwe.

It is important for the actors taking part in the film to allow the audience to encounter their language on the big screen.

“I hope this film will give many people the opportunity to hear the Ojibwa language for the first time in places they might never have heard it,” said Ajuawak Kapashesit, who voices Han Solo in the film.

“We have immersion schools, we have different options, which is great and we need more and more of them, but we need to expand the use of domains for the language. We need people to have different opportunities to hear the language, outside of the classroom or outside of the ceremony. So a film like this gives people the opportunity to have it in their homes for a while.”

Theresa Eischen, who voices Princess Leia, is from the Little Grand Rapids First Nation in Manitoba. To prepare for the role, she recorded Carrie Fisher’s lines from the film, sang the rhythm in English, then tried to recreate it in Ojibwa.

She said she wants to inspire members of her community to continue learning the language.

“It’s a nice feeling knowing your worldview, your Indigenous Ojibwe worldview and the oral histories of your own communities,” she said.

The film will have limited release to audiences in Winnipeg and other cities.