The Dakota Ojibwe Tribal Council and Disney/Lucasfilm are partnering to translate the original Star Wars: A New Hope movie into an Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) version for a galaxy far, far away.
The dubbing of the Star Wars movie also has backing from the Canadian government, the country’s APTN network and the University of Manitoba. Voice actors for the Ojibwe version will audition in early 2024 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Ojibwe movie version will have “Gi-ga-miinigoz Mamaandaawiziwin” for one of the iconic phrases of the Star Wars franchise, “May the Force be with you.” The script translation into Anishinaabemowin and the voice acting will take place in Canada, while the sound mixing and postproduction will be performed at Skywalker Sound in California.
The Ojibwe version of the Star Wars movie aims to strengthen a First Nations language widely spoken in Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota. In 2013, Lucasfilm completed an earlier Navajo-language version of Star Wars: A New Hope, which streamed on Disney+.
The movie had already been translated into a host of worldwide languages, but the Navajo version represented the first major Hollywood film to be dubbed into a Native American language.
“Working on the Navajo version of Star Wars: A New Hope was a highlight of my career. I am very excited to revisit this type of project again and hopefully preserve and expand the Ojibwe language for future generations,” Lucasfilm senior manager of distribution operations Michael Kohn said in a statement.
The federal government in Canada said it hopes to help translate iconic movies into other First Nations languages, and the Metis and Inuit languages, to showcase them worldwide.
