This
inspiring biography chronicles the remarkable story
of Aboriginal artist Buffy Sainte-Marie as she
rises to prominence in New York’s Greenwich
Village folk music scene and blazes a groundbreaking
path as a talented songwriter, activist, educator
and artist. An Academy Award winner, Buffy was
also a regular on Sesame Street and an early pioneer
in the use of computers to create art and connect
people.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life tells us of Buffy’s
progression from a baby born on a reserve in rural
Saskatchewan and adopted into a 1940s working class
American family to her present maturity, and in each
life stage she demonstrates a unique creativity, determination,
and sense of self.
As a world-renowned singer-songwriter, Buffy Sainte-Marie
asks us to probe beneath the surface to hear her political
messages. And as a Native American, she implores us
to look beyond the stereotypes of her community to
see their rich culture. In her music, in her art, and
in her role on Sesame Street, Buffy has seamlessly
traversed the worlds of creative expression and activism,
and of show biz culture and Native culture, balancing
them in her personal life and bridging them in the
public's eye.
The documentary begins with Buffy’s emergence
on the college coffeehouse scene in the early 1960s
and follows her to New York City where she meets Bob
Dylan and is discovered by New York Times music critic,
Robert Shelton. A talented songwriter, Buffy’s
early love songs were recorded by numerous artists
including Bobby Darin, Elvis Presley and Barbara Streisand.
However, the strong political stance of protest songs
like Universal Soldier and Now That The
Buffalo’s
Gone resulted in the banning of her music on American
airwaves, a move that threatened to stifle Buffy’s
music career.
Undeterred, Buffy came back – first as a television
personality on Sesame Street and then by winning an
Oscar for co-writing Up Where We Belong, the
theme to the 1982 movie An Officer and a Gentleman that starred
Richard Gere and Debra Winger. |
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As well as these past achievements the documentary
follows Buffy in her life today. Director Joan Prowse
(Beauty and the Beach) had unprecedented access and
takes viewers on a journey to concert halls, Native
reserves, and Buffy’s home in Hawaii, aptly mixing
current footage and archival material including a 1964
concert appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, a
compelling early TV interview with Pete Seeger, and
the induction of Universal Soldier into the Canadian
Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life features
interviews with Buffy’s
friends and contemporaries including Joni Mitchell, Bill Cosby, Robbie Robertson
(The Band), legendary blues musician Taj Mahal, and John Kay (Steppenwolf).
These
interviews, coupled with insights from Buffy’s long-term boyfriend and
her Saskatchewan relatives paint a personal portrait of an extraordinary person
whose talent and passion illustrate what it takes to lead “a multimedia
life.”
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