Kennlin Barlow remembers the moment he first thought of becoming a filmmaker.

It was his older sister, Natasha Barlow, who inspired him. She sparked his interest in moving pictures by showing the four-year-old Bride of Chucky.

“Even though it scared the living hell out of me, after that I just couldn’t stop watching movies,” said Kennlin.

“In retrospect, I probably would never show a four-year-old a horror movie like that now, but I was a teenager at the time,” said Natasha.

Decades later, the two are a brother-and-sister team. Both filmmakers in their own right, they help each other out with filming and acting.

Now both of them have found an outlet to screen their films.

Films from both of them have been selected for St. Thomas University’s Indigenous Film Festival, which begins at the end of the month.

Natasha said it’s exciting for the Indian Island First Nation, outside Richibucto, duo.

“I never thought something like this could happen,” she said.

She said film has always been something that’s connected the two, even though she only recently found out the extent of that connection.

“I had never realized probably until the last year that he used to steal my movies,” she said. “He would then quote them and I didn’t realize like he had watched some of my films.”

Laughing and crying

It’s not always easy working with family, however.

Natasha said sometimes it can be hard to get any work done, especially when the two of them start laughing.

“We love to laugh when we get together, so sometimes there’s been instances when it’s taken us a little longer to complete projects,” she said.

But it’s not always laughing that keeps the pair form working well.

Kennlin recalls a time when he cut much of his sister’s performance from his film Mancanti. He had insecurities over the script.

“I wasn’t happy with the script I wrote I unfortunately cut it out,” said Kennlin. “That decision did not feel good.”

Natasha admits she wasn’t happy, especially considering she had to memorize lines of dialogue.

But she now looks back at the dispute as a teaching moment.

“I find it very funny now,” said Natasha. “If I have to memorize anything I guess I’ll be a little more aware that things will change with Kennlin.”

Differences

The feeling of love and deep respect between the two is apparent. This comes, in no small part, from their different approaches to filmmaking.

Natasha calls her brother a “creative genius” for his avant-garde, non-narrative approach to film.

“I just want people to see how great he is,” said Natasha. 

“It bothers me when people do not understand his vision.”

Meanwhile, Kennlin considers his sister fundamental to his filmmaking, noting that while her filmmaking could be considered more mainstream and conventional, she is willing to broach subjects he still finds difficult even to talk about.

“My topics have never really been focused on Indigenous issues,” said Kennlin. “My sister is a lot braver when it comes to that.”

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