As part of the 20th Anniversary Celebrations, the Canadian Folk Music Awards will present Sultans of String’s film, “WALKING THROUGH THE FIRE”, at the Mayfair Theatre, Sat April 5, 12:30pm (doors at noon).

Winning Best Musical Film and Best Soundtrack at the Cannes World Film Festival, this powerful film production is unlike any other, bringing the magic of collaboration to the screen with award-winning First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island/Canada in performance with 6x CFMA winners Sultans of String.

This Special Screening is open to the public and also includes a Q&A with Sultans of String bandleader/producer Ottawa-born Chris McKhool along with artists from the project, including Marc Meriläinen, Shannon Thunderbird and Josée Bourgeois.

“We are so excited to be able to present our collaborations that showcase and amplify Indigenous voices, while also engaging our audiences with access to these powerful artists in talkback sessions” says 3x JUNO nominee and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient Chris McKhool.

A central theme running through WALKING THROUGH THE FIRE is the need for the truth of Indigenous experience to be told before reconciliation can begin in earnest. Embedded in the title is the energy of rebirth: fire destroys, but it also nourishes the soil to create new growth, beauty, and resiliency. Walking Through The Fire ensures that we emerge on the other side together, stronger and more unified.

Sultans of String created this project in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, and Final Report that asks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work together as an opportunity to show a path forward. Says McKhool (whose grandfather was a stowaway from Lebanon at the turn of the last century), “We know that as a society we can’t move ahead without acknowledging and reflecting on the past. Before reconciliation can occur, the full truth of the Indigenous experience in this country needs to be told, so we’ve been calling on Indigenous artists to share with us their stories, their experience, and their lives, so we settler Canadians can continue our learning about the history of genocide, residential schools, and of inter-generational impacts of colonization.”