Ojibwe-language dub of "Star Wars: A New Hope" gets its first screenings, inspiring native speakers
MINNEAPOLIS — A brand new Indigenous language dub of the epic space opera "Star Wars: A New Hope" is getting its first showtimes this weekend.
Screenings are scheduled to take place Friday at nine theaters across parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, including the Oakdale, Parkwood, and Southbridge Crossing theaters in the Twin Cities.
Late last year, Walt Disney Studios announced that Disney and Lucasfilm were working with the Dakota Ojibwe Tribal Council and the University of Manitoba to create the Ojibwemowin version of the 1977 film.
Kathy Staples Forlita brought her niece to witness history, to see the first showing of the movie in their native language.
"Hearing it in Ojibwe, that's the best part. You don't get to see many shows in Ojibwe or any kind of Indigenous language," she said. "It's very important. It's all part of our culture, all part of our traditions, it's embedded with everything."
The original "Star Wars" film has been translated into more than 50 languages over the years, and the Ojibwe dub is actually the second time the blockbuster has been translated into an Indigenous People's language. A 2021 edition translated the film into Navajo.
As many first-language Ojibwe speakers dwindle, many groups and tribes have been working to preserve and revitalize the language for future generations. This includes a Rosetta Stone project led by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. For many, this film dub marks a milestone in the journey to revitalize the language.
"The Lakota Ojibwe tribal council played a big part in getting this project started they did a lot of the translation work and reached out to Lucas films with the project proposal, "said Kalvin Hartwig, language culture coordinator for the Red Cliff Tribe.
Hartwig gave voice to Red Leader, one of the characters in the movie.
"I hope this film inspires many people to either continue or begin learning Ojibwe more," he said.
Much of the voice work happened in the Winnipeg area, including script translation, auditions and sound recordings. Sound mixing and post-production work was then finalized at Skywalker Sound in California.
The stars of the new dub are Aandeg Jedi Muldrew, playing Luke Skywalker, Ajuawak Kapashesit as Han Solo and Theresa Eischen as Princess Leia.
Hartwig hopes a generation of moviegoers get excited about the translation of such a film into Ojibwe, breathing new life into an endangered language.
"We are really fortunate to have 50 first language fluent speakers this side of the border, and now is the moment for folks to get started on their Ojibwe language journey," Hartwig said.
Teens like Micah Moore are just excited to be a part of history and to play a role in making sure to maintain, grow and use the language of her people.
"I learned it through elementary school until seventh grade, "said Micha Moore. "It will kind of push me to learn it more."
There are five First Nations linguistic groups in Manitoba, including Ojibwe, Cree, Ojibwe-Cree, Dakota and Dene. There are an estimated 320,000 Ojibwe speakers in the U.S. and Canada. In Minnesota, there are seven federally recognized Ojibwe tribes, including Bois Forte (Nett Lake), Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs, White Earth and Red Lake.
"Star Wars: A New Hope" was an instant smash, and adjusted for inflation is considered to be the second-highest grossing film in domestic history, just behind "Gone with the Wind." The film was nominated for 10 Oscars at the 50th-annual Academy Awards, winning six, along with a special achievement award.