Ojibwe 'Star Wars' to be shown here

On Friday, from a galaxy far, far away, the original Star Wars movie will return to Cloquet, this time with the dialogue dubbed in Ojibwe.

"Anangong Miigaading," aka "Star Wars: A New Hope" will show for one week at Cloquet's Premiere Theatres. There will be English subtitles with the movie, for non-Ojibwe speakers or those who aren't fluent. The movie will run for a week, starting Aug. 30, with showings at 2, 4:40, and 7:30 p.m. daily.

The story of the newly dubbed 1977 movie is one of connections between indigenous Canadians, Lucasfilm and many other partners and comes 10 years after the movie was dubbed into Navajo. The project brought together a wide range of talent and multigenerational Anishinaabe speakers to bring this version to life. The dubbing was done over a 10-day period in early May in Winnipeg with the final mix completed at Skywalker Sound in California.

Cary Miller, an associate professor in the department of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, worked on the project. It is a movie that inspired her and some of the other translators and project managers when they were young.

"But also, it is [a movie] that multiple generations will want to see and enjoy together, and hopefully will lead to whole families enjoying and learning our language across generations," she said.

Miller said this is the only major motion picture translated fully into Anishinaabemowin from the opening text at the beginning of the film, to the final words of the film.

"I hope that it will normalize our language through its use as the primary language of a full length theatrical film, will help our youth imagine our language as part of an exciting future, and lead to more films translated in to our language as both teaching tools and ways to continue learning our language outside of school hours," she said.

Locally, Janis Fairbanks, chair of the Fond du Lac language advisory board, helped bring the movie to Cloquet. Full disclosure: Fairbanks also works at the Pine Knot News. She advocated for permission to show it in Cloquet because of the proximity to the Fond du Lac reservation and a desire by elders and others to hear Ojibwe spoken as much as possible.

"Ojibwe is the official language of the Fond du Lac Reservation, and we are actively seeking ways to engage our constituents in language learning activities," Fairbanks wrote to Miller. "Many residents have asked me when the movie will be coming to Cloquet."

Mission accomplished.

Miller is excited by the possibilities this project holds for advancing the Anishinaabe language.

"While it will have English subtitles in theaters, when released on Disney+ later this fall, it will be available with options for Anishinaabe subtitles as well as audio to maximize the ways it can be used to teach/learn our language," she said.

And what about non-Ojibwe speakers? If nothing else, perhaps some can learn at least one useful phrase for Star Wars fanatics: Gi-ga-miinigoowiz Mamaandaawiziwin - "May the force be with you."

The film is also showing at the Marcus Theatre chains across Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota.