Minnesotans help Ojibwe language version of Star Wars

Ojibwe-speaking Star Wars film premieres

Minnesota is home to more Ojibwe speakers than anywhere in the country, and a collaboration between Lucasfilms and several Canadian tribal and government groups has created a new film that will appeal to Star Wars fans.

BEMIDJI, Minn. (FOX 9) - Growing up light years from a galaxy far, far away on a reservation in northwestern Wisconsin, Dustin Morrow was surrounded by the Ojibwe language. But he never imagined he would ever hear it in one of his favorite films or that he'd play a pivotal role.

"It's pretty crazy. It's really surreal. Never thought I'd have the opportunity to be a part of Star Wars, but here we are. It's crazy how life works," Morrow told FOX 9.

New film

Morrow voices Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Ojibwe dub of Star Wars: A New Hope.

The PhD candidate in linguistics at the University of Minnesota says he flew to Canada for a few days in May to lay down voice tracks that were used in the new version of the 1977 blockbuster.

"I don't know if you've ever tried to speak Ojibwe. There are a lot of tongue twisters in there. So, I kept fumbling up a lot and then finally there was one magic moment where it came out perfectly. They were 'all right, we're using that," said Morrow.

In addition to voicing a couple of small roles, Anton Treuer, a professor of Ojibwe language at Bemidji State, helped adapt the script and create new terms for words like lightsaber and droids.

He believes hearing Ojibwe spoken in such a popular film will help efforts to revitalize the language and keep it relevant.

"For any language to live, it cannot just live in academics or ceremony, or you end up being kind of like Latin. It has to live in the hearts and minds of young people and that includes everything that entertains all of us," said Treuer.