Totems

Directed by Laura Boulton

Canada, 1944 (documentary, 11 minutes, colour, English)

Film Description:
"To the Indian the totem pole is the symbol of life, portraying the relationship between man and beast. Fitting into the landscape of British Columbia, these monuments, witnesses to an ancient and powerful culture, look down at us."
-- National Film Board of Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Produced by:	Laura Boulton
Production Company:	National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada

(sources)

Quote about Totems

"While the commentary is read with a travelog style of delivery, the score is authentic Indian music, and the pictorial content is more than mere coverage. [Totems] attempts to probe, if only slightly, beneath the surface to tell something of these Indians today, to make an ironic comment on the decay of their art, both historically and literally. Totems is an important film, a prototype for such later efforts as The Longhouse People (1950), Land of the Long Day (1952), and The Circle of the Sun (1960)."
-- C. Rodney James (source)

Web Sites about Totems

National Film Board of Canada. "NFB -- Totems." National Film Board of Canada. http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=15453.