Bill Reid

This film shows British Columbian Metis artist Bill Reid, jeweller and wood carver, at work on a totem pole in the Haida Indian tradition and the gradual transformation of a bare cedar trunk into a richly carved pole is demonstrated. The totem pole is a gift of the artist to the people of Skidegate, Queen Charlotte Islands. Particularly moving is the raising of the pole by the villagers, as Bill Reid stands by.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Jack Long

co-producer

George Johnson

Penni Jacques

production company

National Film Board of Canada

Duration

00:28:00:00

Production places

Canada

Production dates

1979

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

016255

Language

English

Subject categories

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → British Columbia

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Haida Indians

Crafts & Visual Arts → Artists

Crafts & Visual Arts → Reid, Bill, 1920-

Crafts & Visual Arts → Wood-carving

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Canada

People → Reid, Bill, 1920-

Short films

Short films → Short films - Canada

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/77864--bill-reid/ |title=Bill Reid |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=9 June 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Canada, 1979

Please note