A Fort Macleod teacher’s Blackfoot language cartoon is hitting the big time this fall.
Celestine Twigg’s life-long ambition to share the Blackfoot language with the world through cartoons is no longer just a dream. Twigg is a Blackfoot language teacher at Piikani Nation Secondary School.
Her recently released cartoon, “POOS” or cat in Blackfoot is screening in Los Angeles in November and in New Westminster, B.C. at the Red Nation International Film Festival next month. The cartoon also has a world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival Monday.
“POOS,” Twigg says, is a personal story, drawing viewers into the daily life of Twigg’s cat Thumper. The project is narrated in Blackfoot by her late son Troy Emery Twigg. The cartoon builds on the success of the Blackfoot Language Animation Project, produced by Xstine Cook and the Calgary Animated Objects Society with Twigg’s guidance.
The animation project resulted in over 100 short cartoons that illustrate different nouns and concepts with Blackfoot language narration and were created by students in Fort Macleod and animators all over the world.
Twigg was eager to try her hand at directing a longer cartoon and worked with Cook to source funding and assemble a dream team, highlighting the daily activities of her cat, as the premise to share the Blackfoot language.
“I thought animation would make it easier and more fun to learn our language so more people will be able to learn and revive it,” says Twigg.
