Events & Gatherings

In Focus: Honey Moccasin

In Focus: Shelley Niro brings together a selection of six feature films from filmmaker and artist Shelley Niro in conjunction with her retrospective Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch. This exhibition is on view in Remai Modern’s Marquee Gallery from April to September.

Thursday, June 12, 7 PM
Film: Honey Moccasin
Director: Shelley Niro
Year: 1998
Runtime: 49 minutes
Country: Canada
Rating: N/R

The first of its kind in Canada made by an Indigenous filmmaker, Honey Moccasin is set on the fictional Grand Pine Indian Reservation (aka “Reservation X”) and employs a hybrid pastiche of styles that depict the rivalry between two bars (the Smoking Moccasin and the Inukshuk Cafe), the tale of closeted drag queen/powwow clothing thief Zachery John (Billy Merasty), and the travails of the crusading investigator/storyteller Honey Moccasin (Tantoo Cardinal).

An irreverent parody of familiar narrative strategies, Honey Moccasin forges an oppositional aesthetic via its reappropriation of the conventions of melodrama, performance art, cable access, and a whodunit style. The film investigates notions of authenticity, cultural identity, gender roles, and the articulation of contemporary native North American experiences.

This screening of Honey Moccasin if free and open to the public.