Costumes, music, and dance beats: Winnipeg's Ati clan celebratetheir culture with annual festival

In bright orange and white costumes, yellow-gold headpiecesand with faces painted, members of Winnipeg's Ati community danceto the beat of drummers.

It's loud. It's joyous. It's the annual Ati-Atihan festival.

Every January, approximately 300Ati people in the city reconnect with their history and culture, and each other at the festival. The month-long event celebrates the Aticlan,the original Indigenous habitants of the Aklan region of the Philippines.

The purpose of the celebration is threefold: honour the baby Jesus, gather for a good timeandremember theancestors.

"Especially for the young people, they won't forget who and what they are their values, their history and their culture of the clan," said Mary Lee David, the treasurer of the AklanAssociation of Manitoba.

The colourful party, the meaning behind the dark face paintand the history behind the clanis the subjectof a new micro-documentary by Chaira Plaga,18, and three of her classmates in the Create program at Sisler High School in Winnipeg. Eighteen-year-olds Jassey Bombita Galatierraand Cyrhyl Zamora, andLaura Marie Carandang, 19, also worked with Plaga on the project.

Sisler Create is a post-high school program thattrains students in the creative digital arts, including filmmaking.

The short documentary was produced as part of CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create, an ongoing video storytelling collaboration.

Meet the filmmakers

Chaira Plaga is a Sisler High School graduate with a background in motion and graphic design. Taking visual effectsin the last year sparked herinterest in cinematography.

Now, Plaga wants to discover her potential in film production. She is happy to be part of Sisler'spost-high school filmcohort this year, and is excited to discover her other talents. In her free time, she likes cleaning, listening to music, and taking expanding her photography skills.

Cyrhyl Zamora has always had a passion for creation. She loves painting, sculpting, writing and photography.

After being introduced to filmmaking in high school, she discovered a new passion. She uses her comfort with cameras and photography to capture her vision. She wants to continue to perfect her skills of filmmaking and storytelling to elevate the quality of her work.

Jassey Bombita Galatierra is a St. John's High School graduate and joined Sisler Create to pursue her love of filmmaking, photography and editing. In her free time, sheenjoys listening to music, watching Korean TV shows, dancing and playing games.

Laura Marie Carandang is sociable and hard-working. She loves filmmaking and editing. She has been editing videos since 2016 as a hobby. Laura enjoys going out, dancingand playing video games in her free time.

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

CBC Manitoba's Project POV: SislerCreate is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBCManitoba journalists to produce short docs. The collaboration is in its second year. You can see past projectshere.

During fall 2023, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking studentsand led producing workshopsat theCreate program at Sisler High School.

The post-high school programfocuseson education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.