This Was the Time

This Was the Time

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 1, 1970

Runtime

0h 16m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

This Was the Time

Production Companies

ONF | NFB

Director

Eugene Boyko

Description

When Masset, a Haida village in Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), held a potlatch, it seemed as if the past grandeur of the people had returned. This is a colourful recreation of Indigenous life that faded more than two generations ago when the great totems were toppled by the missionaries and the costly potlatch was forbidden by law. The film shows how one village lived again the old glory, with singing, dancing, feasting, and the raising of a towering totem as a lasting reminder of what once was.