The project supported by Canadian Heritage, Disney, Lucasfilms and APTN will create an Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) version of Star Wars: A New Hope, Episode IV, which started the first trilogy in 1977.
The translation of the script and auditions for the actors who will do the dubbing will take place in 2024 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council (DOTC) and the University of Manitoba, which reached an agreement with Disney, announced Monday. /Lucasfilm.
Sound mixing and post-production will subsequently take place at Skywalker Sound in California. A premiere will be held in Winnipeg, followed by screenings in cinemas across Canada. The film will also be broadcast on the indigenous channel APTN.
Star Wars: A New Hope is the first installment in the saga directed by George Lucas, but the fourth in chronological order of the story. This is the first part of the original trilogy which consists of the films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
“A New Hope, one of the most iconic films of all time, will be available in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), helping to introduce this language to the entire world,” wrote Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge in a press release.
Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe, was chosen because it has approximately 320,000 speakers in Canada and the United States, it is specified in the press release published Monday. It would therefore be the most spoken indigenous language in Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota.
