Seniors’ oral history showcased at first-ever Dunster Film Festival
Dunster local Andy Keim remembers a time when the Robson Valley had no access to TV or radio. His peer, Ike Mackinnon, recalls a time before the valley even had roads, so high school-aged kids from remote communities took a train to McBride and stayed in the Secondary School’s dorms four nights a week to get their education, then did farmwork over the summer to make money.
Keim and Mackinnon are two of ten local seniors featured in a series of short films documenting the history of the Robson Valley, which premiered during the first-ever Dunster Film Festival last week. While the films have been edited into concise videos, over 20 hours of video footage were produced through the project – videos which will now be saved in the Valley Museum and Archives for future generations.
Filmmaker Hannah Clifford organized the film festival to offer residents a first look at the videos before they are put online, she told The Goat. Proceeds from concession sales and donations went to the Dunster Station Museum.
Last year, Clifford was tasked with interviewing eight to ten seniors on video, then uploading the raw footage and edited clips online. The resulting films are around ten minutes long each, showing seniors chatting in their homes interspersed with cinematic shots of Dunster and McBride landscapes.
“The task was to cut out the ‘money pieces’ for internet use, and the rest (of the raw footage) went online,” Clifford told The Goat. “I’m a filmmaker, so I decided to make little vignettes instead of just interview parts. We were just going to put them online, and I thought we should show them to the community before they go online.”
Clifford hopes to continue the film festival next year. She also showed Mother Tongue, a film about Amy the CODA – one half of the local music duo Half/Asian – and Monkey Beach, starring Grace Dove, who was raised in Prince George.
Attendees of the festival appreciated the chance to hear about the beginnings of Dunster. At just shy of 110 years old, some of the community’s earliest days are still in living memory: resident Nancy Taylor, herself featured in the series, believes it is important to preserve seniors’ testimony while that’s still the case.
“The voices of the older generation are really important,” Taylor told The Goat. “We celebrated our hundredth (anniversary) in 2015… so it’s not that long, in the big scheme of things. We can record it and preserve it.”
Michelle Davis, who traveled from McBride to see the films, said she was interested in hearing about the history of the community.
“I wanted to see the local residents and hear the history,” she said. “I love anything Dunster.”
Bridget Uhl, curator at the Valley Museum and Archives, was also in attendance.
“I’ve been talking to Hannah for months and months, watching the process unfold. I understand just how much work is involved,” Uhl said. “She did a great job, and there was a great turnout tonight. It’s great to have it online, especially for people that don’t live here anymore, or who are considering coming to the valley.”
Clifford said she’s grateful that attendees came out to support the Dunster Station Museum, and hopes to interview more seniors in the future.
“If we can get more volunteers, or if the museum curator could gather more funding, then we’ll probably continue,” Clifford said, adding that those interested in volunteering can contact the museum or the Dunster Film Festival Facebook page.
Taylor also hopes more seniors will get the opportunity to share their stories.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more that could be filmed, there are so many more voices,” she said. “There’s lots of new young people right now, too. And I think it’s really cool that they can see we all came here with our dreams and fantasies.”
Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Rocky Mountain Goat
