The Black Friday market, which took place inside the C.D. Howe Building in downtown Ottawa on Friday, featured more than 20 Indigenous vendors from across the country. 

Charette, who sells beaded jewelry, originates from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory in Manitoulin Island. He said he has been bead-working with his sister since he was 13 years old. Together, they launched the David Whitedeer brand and sell their earrings in markets across the city.

He noted that the colours and designs he chooses for his work come from the inspiration of outfits he encountered in pow-wow dancing when he was a kid. Charette added that dancing is a lifestyle and is one that he embraces.

“You get trained for it during the wintertime, and then the summertime comes and there’s pow-wows back-to-back every weekend,” he said.

A few booths down was Marissa Dubé’s display. Dubé, who co-founded Indigenous Markets and is also a vendor, said she met her business partners at the Adaawe Indigenous Hub, an organization for Indigenous entrepreneurs.

 “We wanted to provide a higher-end experience for Indigenous Markets and be able to provide vendors with free opportunities,” she said. “We get sponsors to pay for the full event so that everyone does not pay for their tables.”

Through providing merchants with financially-accessible opportunities, Indigenous Markets is complementing its vision to “provide a unique retail experience that highlights Indigenous art, culture and traditions – while at the same time working towards our collective goal to Indigenize Colonial Spaces.”

Dubé highlighted Eiralize Dreams, her dream catcher and bracelet company. Self-taught and with familial links to both the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Algonquin and Kahnawake Mohawk territory, Dubé described the intricate webbing done on dream catchers.

“Traditionally, dream catchers were made to filter out the bad dreams. You would have them above your bed and the bad dreams will get lost in the webbing, which is why it’s so intricate,” she said. She added that the purpose of the feathers is so that good dreams and thoughts trickle down onto people as they sleep.

Tierney Kist heard about the event from a vendor she follows on Instagram, Quality Quills. Kist came out to the market to see what other Indigenous vendors would be selling. 

“I think it’s really nice to have something that showcases Indigenous peoples specifically,” she said. “They have so many beautiful things to offer and [it’s] really special that people are able to come and appreciate it in this kind of capacity.”

Kist said she is a huge fan of beaded earrings, so she was on the lookout for a pair for herself and also searching for a few gifts as the holiday season shopping begins.

Charette added he likes the environment of the market as “it brings people together” and allows artisans from different communities to come together. He added he hopes to be a part of Indigenous Markets for a long time.

The Stittsville family’s homage last year to the 2003 holiday hit included the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest, the Sea of Swirly Twirly Gumdrops, as well as cardboard cut-outs of Buddy the Elf, a life-size replica of Santa’s sleigh and signposts of some of the film’s most recognizable quotes.

Turcotte, whose family built the display as a charity fundraiser, recalls seeing Ferrell’s Elf in theatres when it was originally released. “It’s incredible to see 20 years go by so quickly,” he said. “It’s a Christmas classic for a lot of people so I’ve found it’s really cool that they’re re-releasing it.”

The modern classic, which hits select big screens today, first aired on Nov. 7, 2003, and remains a holiday must-watch 20 years later.

“I think even when Elf was brand new, and obviously not creating its own nostalgia, it was already tapping into an earlier generation’s nostalgia,” says film critic and self-avowed fan of the film, Chris Knight.

Knight hasn’t seen the film in a few years but recalls scenes such as Buddy discovering the “world’s best cup of coffee” and being terrified by the pop of a jack-in-the-box at Santa’s workshop. “Will Ferrell commits so well to the role of Buddy. He just sort of has no filter, no shame. He really is this man-child character,” he said.  

Knight noted that the longevity of the film could be largely due to the script. “There’s nothing really dated about the comedy, it’s not leaning on social media or anything that might go out of style,” he said.  

Although only two decades old, this movie has reached classic status among the greats: It’s A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, to name a few – because it draws on elements from all three of these films. 

Perhaps the appeal of the film is because of its close connection to the 1964 Rankin Bass television hit Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, said television columnist and critic Bill Brioux. “If you take a close look at the clothes that they’re wearing, [or] the backgrounds during some of the scenes, you’ll notice that the art direction really mimicked the way that Rudolph was designed,” he said.

Brioux added that Buddy’s costume was very much like Hermey the Elf’s, “right down to the hat on his head.” It was so similar to the television special that the creators almost got in legal trouble, according to Netflix’s Movies That Made Us. 

Elf also draws on other Christmas classics to contribute to its emotional appeal. It is likely that these factors play a role in the routine viewing of Elf in many households each year – as there is nostalgia embedded in the movie’s roots.  For instance, Buddy leans over a bridge in New York while feeling low near the end of the movie, which mimics George Bailey doing this in 1947’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Additionally, the actor Peter Billingsley, who plays Santa’s Head Elf in the 2003 film, starred as Ralphie in A Christmas Story in 1983.

Repeat viewings of holiday movies have a long history, according to a Film Studies Assistant Professor at Carleton University. “Probably the first example of that is It’s A Wonderful Life,” Katherine Morrow said, referencing the black-and-white classic.

However, a 2022 Statista report demonstrated that there were fewer people watching films in theatres last year than a decade earlier. Although COVID-19’s Omicron variant was rampant at this time, the amount of Cineplex movie-goers was cut by almost half – indicating that attendance was likely on the decline already.

Morrow added that the re-release of Elf demonstrates a shift to event cinema, which is a way to “more broadly get people back in theatre.” She added that this method is frequently used in the release of concert films as it provides people who were not able to attend an event in person, with the opportunity to experience it in a grandiose way.

Although playing holiday classics is commonplace leading up to the holidays, Morrow said that the re-release of Elf could be a result of the Hollywood writers’ strike that took place this year. She added that putting an already-made film back in theatres was a good idea from the studios as creating new ones “wouldn’t have been possible in the past year,” she said.

After the positive response to his Elf-themed Christmas display, Turcotte says he is almost certain that the re-release will be successful.

The father of two added that one of the reasons he and his wife fell in love was because of their shared admiration for Christmas. Each year, they create a long list of holiday movies to watch. “Elf is usually at the top of the list,” he said.

After watching the film upwards of 20 times last year in preparation for his family’s fundraiser, Turcotte noted that it never gets old for him. He said he hopes he can see the film the way it was intended to be watched: with his family in theatres.

At this time, no cinema showings have been scheduled for Elf in Ottawa.