Indigenous Cinema
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- DirectorSteven Caple Jr.StarsJorge Lendeborg Jr.Moises AriasRafi GavronFour teenage boys in Cleveland, Ohio pursue dreams of professional skateboarding over the summer to escape inner city life but entanglement with a local crime boss endangers their brotherhood and lives.
- StarsSarain FoxGitz CrazyboyIphy MurphyVice travels to Indigenous communities across the Americas to meet people protecting their homelands and rising up against colonization.
- DirectorSky HopinkaIn a summer of intention and wandering, an Unangam Tunuu elder reflects on landscape and fauna, language students play and teach invented games, and a portrait takes shape of a place through the dim and distant glimpse of a visitor on an island in the center of the Bering Sea.
- DirectorLyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.StarsJohn EdelBrian P. JoyceAjuawak KapashesitAn Anishinaabe man is restless and isolated in the city of Minneapolis, haunted by an ominous sense that he doesn't belong. A portrayal of Indigenous people's dislocation and alienation on their own land.
- DirectorAlisi TelengutA non-narrative hand-painted visual poem about diaspora, homeland, and the tragic mass-deportations of the Kalmyk people during WWII.
- DirectorHeather CondoA film with Steven Jerome showing the traditional art of basket making.
- DirectorPeter BrattStarsDolores HuertaMartin Luther KingLuis ValdezIn the 1950's, a working-class wife and mother of eleven children helps to establish a farmer's union, which later develops into a platform for feminism and gender equality.
- DirectorCatherine BainbridgeAlfonso MaioranaStarsGeorge ClintonRobbie RobertsonGary GiddinsA documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history.
- DirectorAmanda KernellStarsMaj-Doris RimpiOlle SarriÁnne Biret SombyA reindeer-breeding Sámi girl who is exposed to the racism of the 1930's at her boarding school, starts dreaming of another life. But to achieve it, she has to become someone else and break all ties with her family and culture.
- DirectorTearepa KahiStarsPatea Maori ClubNgoi PewhairangiMaaka PohatuPOI E is the story of the creation of New Zealand's iconic song of celebration, the song that became the unofficial national anthem.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsEverlyn SampiTianna SansburyKenneth BranaghIn 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsRowan McNamaraMarissa GibsonMitjili Napanangka GibsonA glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsBryan BrownJack CharlesBrendan CowellA collection of the most poignant, sad, funny and absurd ghost stories from around Australia. He will bring them to life with the help of some of Australia's most iconic actors as the storytellers.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsHamilton MorrisShanika ColeEwen LeslieWestern set on the Northern Territory frontier in the 1920s, where justice itself is put on trial when an aged Aboriginal farmhand shoots a white man in self-defense and goes on the run as a posse gathers to hunt him down.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsJames RollestonTe Aho Eketone-WhituTaika WaititiBoy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
- DirectorNiki CaroStarsKeisha Castle-HughesRawiri ParateneVicky HaughtonA contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsJenny AgutterDavid GulpililLuc RoegTwo city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
- DirectorGeoff MurphyStarsAnzac WallaceBruno LawrenceTim ElliottIn 1870, a Maori warrior working with the British finds his village massacred, and vows revenge.
- DirectorLee TamahoriStarsRena OwenTemuera MorrisonMamaengaroa Kerr-BellA family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
- DirectorJames Napier RobertsonStarsCliff CurtisJames RollestonKirk TorranceA brilliant but troubled New Zealand chess champion finds purpose by teaching underprivileged children about the rules of chess and life.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsNicolas CageAdam BeachPeter StormareTwo U.S. Marines in World War II are assigned to protect Navajo Marines, who use their native language as an unbreakable radio cypher.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsDavid GulpililPeter DjigirrLuke FordDispleased with the intervention of whitefella laws, Charlie takes off to live the old way and sets off a chain reaction of enlightening difficulties.
- DirectorRolf de HeerPeter DjigirrStarsCrusoe KurddalJamie GulpililRichard BirrinbirrinIn Australia's Northern Territory, a man tells us a story of his people and his land. It's about an older man, Minygululu, who has three wives and realizes that his younger brother Dayindi may try to steal away the youngest wife.
- DirectorSterlin HarjoStarsWotko LongBronnson Tre HarjoJamie LoyMekko is an native American man who is released from prison. He served time for killing a cousin. Homeless, he learns that he must become a warrior to fight the "witch" preying on his people because they have lost their spirit.
- DirectorSterlin HarjoStarsWes AllenJeri ArredondoLaura BaileyAfter his father's untimely suicide, Cufe leaves his home in a Native American reservation in search of a more fulfilling life.
- DirectorLamont JohnsonStarsEric SchweigWes StudiBuffy Sainte-MarieThe story of two Iroquis brothers caught in the midst of the Revolutionary War.
- DirectorRichard FriedenbergStarsJames CromwellJoseph AshtonTantoo CardinalLittle Tree is an 8-year-old Cherokee boy who loses his parents during The Great Depression and begins living with his Indian grandparents and learning the Cherokee way of life.
- DirectorKorinna SehringerStarsChaske SpencerQ'orianka KilcherTyler ChristopherShouting Secrets is a hopeful and heartwarming, universal story taking place in a present day Native American family. It's a story that is at once about the constancy and the fragility of love, as well as the importance of family.
- DirectorMichael LinnStarsTonantzin CarmeloCarla-RaeMichael SpearsA Native American attorney prosecuting a Lakota teen in a controversial murder trial, returns to the reservation to say goodbye to her dying father. After the teen is killed, she hears ghostly voices and sees strange visions.
- DirectorMicheal AugerStarsMariel BelangerAva GalganiGeordie GoodmanAfter the mysterious murder of her daughter, Helen Wolf sets out to find answers, instead the killer finds her.
- DirectorMichel PouletteStarsRoseanne SupernaultIpeelie OotoovaUapshkuss ThernishA Canadian aboriginal woman journeys to the Arctic in search of a missing member of her tribe, and falls in love with a man from a rival clan.
- DirectorTracey MoffattStarsDiana DavidsonJack CharlesBen KennedyThree Australian stories of the supernatural are recounted in this anthology. Rick (Jack Charles), an Aboriginal boy living near a swamp on Bribie Island, is haunted by an American solider who drowned in quicksand. Ruby (Tracey Moffatt) and her family live in a house near long-abandoned train tracks, which still carry ghostly apparitions. A landlord (Lex Marinos) has trouble evicting the tenants of an old warehouse: a couple that's been dead for years.
- DirectorToa FraserStarsRuby DeeMia BlakeRene NaufahuA matriarch organizes a feast with her family, in which she will name her successor.
- DirectorToa FraserStarsJames RollestonLawrence MakoareTe Kohe TuhakaAfter his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery, the teenage son of a slain Maori chieftain looks to avenge his father's murder and bring peace and honor to the souls of his loved ones.
- DirectorMerata MitaLeon NarbeyGerd PohlmannFocuses on day 507 of the Ngati Whatau Orakei tribe's protest for land rights as they are forcibly evicted from their traditional home of Takaparawhau (Bastion Point) in Auckland.
- DirectorTim KellyCharlie SoapStarsKimberly GuerreroMo Brings PlentySteve ReevisThe work that led Wilma Mankiller to become the first modern female Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
- DirectorSterlin HarjoStarsBebe HarjoGabriel PelayoFrederick SchroederFrankie is dying. Irene hasn't forgiven him. And they are racing against time to find their way home. Frankie needs help and Irene is the one he turns to. He must go home one last time. And, like so many times before, Irene is extending herself beyond her common sense. The two set out on a journey that becomes more than getting home; confronting the past, love, understanding, and self discovery. Barking Water is a tale of great love that looks at what brings us all together. It's a tale of home...and what it takes to get there.
- DirectorJohn IrvinStarsMichael GreyeyesVictor AaronNathaniel ArcandThe legendary Native American chieftain refuses to go with his people peacefully to the reservation and starts a rebellion.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsSam NeillJulian DennisonRima Te WiataA national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsTammy DavisTaungaroa EmileRob MokarakaA squad of Maori troops in WWII Europe silently entertain themselves in a destroyed house while waiting to enter the coming battle.
- DirectorSteven Lewis SimpsonStarsDave Bald EagleChristopher SweeneyRichard Ray WhitmanA Lakota elder summons a white writer to visit him and help him write a book about his people.
- DirectorSherman AlexieStarsEvan AdamsMichelle St. JohnGene TagabanSeymour Polatkin is a successful, gay Native American poet from Spokane who confronts his past when he returns to his childhood home on the reservation to attend the funeral of a dear friend.
- DirectorJan EglesonStarsAdam BeachCandice CostelloJimmy HermanTwo tribal cops uncover a plot involving a lost fortune, an historical artifact and a mythical Coyote on a Navajo reservation.
- DirectorSteven Lewis SimpsonStarsAmara ZaragozaTrent FordChris RobinsonSet on and around the poorest place in the USA, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Rez Bomb is a love story/thriller about a Lakota girl and a white guy who are very much in love but get themselves into trouble with a brutal money lender and its against the clock for them to bail themselves out.
- DirectorJason StutterStarsSam ManuJemaine ClementLinda TsengThe Tongan Ninja is sent by his master to the island of New Zealand to help a floundering Chinese restaurant, but the mysterious Mister Big sends numerous villains to prevent the eatery's success.
- CreatorRaymond ThompsonStarsTom HernBen BarringtonPaul RawsonFollow 16-year-old Jess's journey through life, and even through time itself, as he explores the world and the fascinating history of humankind through the ages.
- DirectorChris EyreStarsEric SchweigGraham GreeneGary FarmerAn inspirational tale about the relationship between two Sioux brothers living on the Pine Ridge reservation.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinActivists file a human-rights complaint against the Canadian government's inadequate funding of services for Indigenous children claiming it's discriminatory.
- DirectorSydney FreelandStarsMagdalena BegayRyan BegayAfter watching Back to the Future 2, an imaginative young girl and her stuffed teddy bear try to invent a real, working Hoverboard.
- DirectorArmand MastroianniStarsTara ReidZahn McClarnonKevin SorboAccused murderer Kyle Ghostkiller, heir to a mystical medicine bundle, escapes the FBI and time jumps to 1862 where he must save his 38 ancestors from hanging and stop a supernatural dark force from destroying the future.
- DirectorAlex SmithAndrew J. SmithStarsChaske SpencerDavid MorseGary FarmerVirgil First Raise wakes with a shiner and a hangover in a roadside ditch on the stark but beautiful plains of Montana. As he rises to face the day he sees a vision of his father lying dead at his feet. Impossible-- his father froze to death in a snowdrift years earlier. Virgil returns home to find that his wife, Agnes, has left him. Worse, she's taken his electric razor and his beloved rifle. Virgil sets out to find her-- beginning a hi-line odyssey of inebriated encounters, sexual skirmishes, and improbable cloak-and-dagger intrigues with the mysterious 'Airplane Man'. Virgil's quest also brings him face-to-face with childhood memories and visions of his beloved, lost brother Mose-- some glorious, some tragic. Only when Virgil seeks the counsel of an old, blind man named Yellow Calf, does he grasp the truth of his origins and begin to thaw the ice in his veins.
- DirectorRicky SchroderStarsEddie SpearsRussell MeansJulia JonesBlack Cloud, is an inspirational story about a young Navajo, Native American boxer, who overcomes personal challenges as he comes to terms with his heritage, while fighting his way for a spot on the US Olympic boxing team.
- DirectorSteve BarronStarsAugust SchellenbergEddie SpearsGary FarmerThe legends of the Native American nations come to life in this epic new miniseries, as two generations--a century-old storyteller and his grandson, a troubled 17-year-old boy--embark on a cross-country journey toward self-discovery.
- DirectorTimothy Andrew RamosStarsGary FarmerMark Boone JuniorTimothy Andrew RamosNick Thomas, a Pomo Indian and a successful Los Angeles radio host, is forced back to the reservation to help his brother Chi, and tribal leader Rich Knight lead the Tule Lake Rancheria out of danger from a seedy casino investor.
- DirectorRoger YoungStarsJoseph RunningfoxNick RamusMichelle St. JohnThis story of epic courage and grace is a remarkable window on Native American life and the early years of the last and most feared Apache War Chief.
- DirectorLarry ElikannStarsJesse BorregoDavid ClennonTantoo CardinalThis western began in 1812 when the settlers tried to take away more and more territories from the indians. Tecumseh, who is the leader of the Shawnee indians, tries to do something. He plans a big indian state, and tries to win the English settlers over to this plan...
- StarsJoseph M. MarshallIrene BedardGil BirminghamTales from the American West in the 19th century, told from the perspective of two families, one of white settlers and one of Native Americans.
- DirectorKonrad Tho FiedlerStarsJoshua BirdMichael CampasanoJess EdwardsA young American Indian girl, on the run from the North Dakota oil patch, is determined to get back to her home in Blackfeet country, Montana.
- DirectorTrevor MackStarsSean Wei MahDevery JacobsDon WiseA confrontation between a tribe of First Nations people and two road builders will change an entire nation forever.
- StarsAnnalise BassoDevery JacobsDavid FerrySixteen-year-old Isla Wallis receives the shock of her young life when she discovers that her real father is in prison for killing the mother she never knew. Furious at having been lied to, Isla runs away to the remote mining town where she was born. There, she learns of a series of horrific murders of First Nation women that may be tied to her mother's death. With the help of Tina, a street-smart local, Isla starts to uncover the shocking truth behind these brutal crimes. Now, left for dead in the sub-zero wilderness, Isla will be pushed to the very edge--can she survive long enough to expose a dark secret that will shatter an entire town?
- DirectorDevery JacobsStarsTeioshontathe McGregorTamara BrownTamara BrownSTOLEN follows troubled, 14-year old, Shayna Hill as she is admitted and runs away from her group-home. It is a small glimpse into a typical Native girl's life before becoming one of 1200+ Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada.
- StarsRyan Rajendra BlackJennifer PodemskiDarrell DennisSpin off television series based on the characters from "Dance Me Outside"
- DirectorSydney FreelandStarsJeremiah BitsuiCarmen MooreMorningstar AngelineThree young Native Americans - an adopted Christian girl, a rebellious father-to-be, and a promiscuous transsexual - strive to escape the hardships of life on an Indian reservation.
- DirectorBenoit PilonStarsNatar UngalaaqÉveline GélinasPaul-André BrasseurIn 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family.
- StarsSteve ZahnRyan MerrimanKeith D. RobinsonThe adventures and love lives of young Texas Rangers Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae leading up to their retirement to the city of Lonesome Dove.
- DirectorMarie-Hélène CousineauMichelle DerosierStarsJulia JonesCharlie CarrickTantoo CardinalAngelique's Isle is a harrowing tale of perseverance and survival that unfolds during the great copper rush of 1845, when newlyweds ANGELIQUE, a young Ojibway and CHARLIE, her voyageur husband, are left stranded throughout a brutal winter on Lake Superior's Isle Royale where Angelique is ultimately forced to face her inner demons and beliefs as the unbelievably beautiful, yet treacherous wilderness threatens to claim her.
- DirectorMarie-Hélène CousineauSusan AvingaqSol is a feature documentary that explores the mysterious death of a young Inuit man, Solomon Uyurasuk. As the documentary investigates the truth to Solomon's death it sheds light on the underlying social issues of Canada's North that has resulted in this region claiming one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world.
- DirectorBenoit PilonStarsMarie-Josée CrozeFrançois PapineauNatar UngalaaqTravelling to the Arctic for the first time, Carmen arrives in Iqaluit to tend to her husband, Gilles, a construction worker who has been seriously injured. Trying to get to the bottom of what happened, she strikes up a friendship with Noah, Gilles' Inuk friend, and realizes they share a similar story. Together, Carmen and Noah head out on the Frobisher Bay - she, looking for answers to her questions; he, trying to stop his son from committing what can't be undone.
- DirectorMarie-Hélène CousineauMadeline IvaluStarsPeter-Henry ArnatsiaqMadeline IvaluPaul-Dylan IvaluAn Inuit child and his grandmother are left to fend for themselves when their family perishes from illness.
- DirectorNorman CohnZacharias KunukStarsPakak InnuksukLeah AngutimarikNeeve IrngautA portrayal of the lives of the last great Inuit shaman, Avva, and his beautiful and headstrong daughter, Apak. Based on the journals of 1920s Danish ethnographer Knud Rasmussen.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsJack BurningHerbie BarnesAlanis ObomsawinA film account about the military 1990 siege of a Native American reserve near Oka, Quebec, Canada and its causes.
- DirectorZacharias KunukNatar UngalaaqStarsBenjamin KunukKaren IvaluJonah QunaqInspired by the John Ford film The Searchers, an Inuit woman and her daughter are kidnapped by three Inuit men, while her husband and son are away. The Inuit husband sets out on a journey to find his family and punish the perpetrators.
- DirectorJonathan WacksStarsGary FarmerA MartinezJoanelle RomeroTwo Northern Cheyenne men take a road trip from Montana to New Mexico to bail out the sister of one of them who has been framed and arrested in Santa Fe. On the way, they begin to reconnect to their spiritual heritage.
- DirectorZacharias KunukStarsNatar UngalaaqSylvia IvaluPeter-Henry ArnatsiaqThe telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace.
- DirectorMichael JonesStarsCathy JonesMary WalshMichael WadeA graduate history student returns to her native Newfoundland, searching for proof of a conspiracy surrounding the referendum that saw Newfoundland join Canada.
- DirectorYves SimoneauStarsAidan QuinnAdam BeachAugust SchellenbergA historic chronicle based on the book by Dee Brown explains how Native Americans were displaced as the United States expanded west.
- DirectorMarie-Hélène CousineauMadeline IvaluStarsLukasi ForrestMarianne FarleyTravis KunnukAnna is nervous when she and her son, Tomas, arrive in the small, close-knit community of Igloolik, in the Canadian Arctic.
- DirectorPeter StebbingsStarsCara GeeShay EyreBarbara GordonThree generations of First Nations women struggle to deal with the demons of their past.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsJohn ReddyJashaun St. JohnIrene BedardWith an older brother in jail and living with their single mother on Pine Ridge Reservation, Johnny and his sister Jashuan's lives develop new challenges when their absentee cowboy father suddenly dies. The loss prompts Johnny to strike out for Los Angeles, but would mean leaving behind his beloved sister.
- DirectorKirsten CarthewStarsDevery JacobsDuane HowardMark AnderakoFilmed at the Arctic Circle, "The Sun at Midnight" tells the story of an unexpected friendship between a hunter obsessed with finding a missing caribou herd and a teenage rebel who gets lost while on the run.
- DirectorDaniel RedenbachJanine WindolphStarsCharity BradfieldDevery JacobsErroll KinistinoIn a remote northern woodland community, a young First Nations mother and her 7-year-old son search for her boyfriend in the wake of his mysterious disappearance.
- DirectorThomas R. Bond IIStarsZahn McClarnonBooboo StewartCrystle LightningA film about a Shoshone band who lived in a secluded valley in the 1860's, during the time of the last 'Free' roaming Native Americans in the midst of the American Civil War. They are discovered by a group of Union soldiers and squatters, and forced to move from their home. They are moved from valley to valley as the Union takes more and more of their land in a plan to eradicate the country of 'Savages' - exterminating all Native Americans. But there is hope when the band find a new beginning.
- CreatorTracey DeerCynthia KnightStarsBrittany LeBorgneHeather WhiteMaika HarperA half-hour comedy-drama about four young women discovering how to be Mohawk in the 21st century.
- DirectorLydia NibleyFilmmaker Lydia Nibley explores the cultural context behind a tragic and senseless murder. Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits. Through telling Fred's story, Nibley reminds us of the values that America's indigenous peoples have long embraced.
- DirectorElliott CloudStarsElliott CloudKyle HeadShauntay RoyA documentary that challenges mass media stereotypes, which have long plagued Native American communities.
- DirectorMarie Chaboyea-KingbirdPaula Jo JohnsonStarsMarie Chaboyea-KingbirdKelly IcemanPaula Jo JohnsonA documentary on the hopes and dreams a group of young Anishinaabe have for their community and future generations of Native youth.
- DirectorZacharias KunukIan MauroNunavut-based director Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro (Seeds of Change) have teamed up with Inuit communities to document their knowledge and experience regarding climate change. This new documentary, the world's first Inuktitut language film on the topic, takes the viewer "on the land" with elders and hunters to explore the social and ecological impacts of a warming Arctic. This unforgettable film helps us to appreciate Inuit culture and expertise regarding environmental change and indigenous ways of adapting to it.
- DirectorAndrew Okpeaha MacLeanStarsJosiah PatkotakFrank Qutuq IrelanJohn MillerIn Barrow, Alaska, teenagers Qalli and Aivaaq find their bond tested when a seal-hunting trip goes wrong, resulting in the death of their friend.
- DirectorVincent WardStarsJason Scott LeeAnne ParillaudPatrick BerginArctic, 1965: Avik tells his story starting in 1931. A mapmaker flies Avik, then a preteen Eskimo boy with TB, to a hospital in Montreal where he meets Albertine. They meet again when Avik joins World War II in the UK.
- DirectorMila Aung-ThwinBobby EchalookSarah IdloutStarsLucassie EchalookJanet IdloutElisabee InukpukEight Inuit teens offer a vibrant view of life in Canada's North.
- DirectorClaude MassotStarsCharles DanceAdamie Quasiak InukpukSeporah Q. UngalaqIn 1922 the first documentary came on the big screen: Nanook of the North (1922). Kabloonak is the story of the making of this movie.
- DirectorHeather RaeStarsRobert RedfordKris KristoffersonSam ShepardA chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances and politics.
- DirectorJayro BustamanteStarsMaría Mercedes CoroyMaría TelónManuel AntúnOn the slopes of an active volcano in Guatemala, a marriage is arranged for seventeen-year-old María by her Kaqchikel parents.
- DirectorMichael MitchellMort RansenStarsMichael MitchellA documentary about a group of native Americans near the Canadian border. They attempt to blockade a road that runs through their land, leading to the Canadian police getting involved to open the road.
- DirectorWillie DunnA musical telling of the life of the Blackfoot Chief and the betrayal and fall of his tribe with the White conquest of the Canadian West.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsCory SwanDavid MitchellPauline KerikObomsawin's prescient 1986 film is a powerful tribute and an indictment of the mistreatment of Indigenous children by Canada's child welfare system.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinSimilar to her 2012 documentary, The People of the Kattawapiskak River, which detailed the housing crisis of the Awattapiskak First Nations people, Alanis Obomsawin's Hi-Ho Mistahey. examines this community with a shrewd political eye, aiming to raise awareness about the lack of resources allotted by the government for education. Her voice, one of sensitivity and political necessity, is a vital part of the Canadian narrative, bringing attention to marginalized people with an eye for detail and community introspection, humanizing a subject that, for those in mainstream culture, is more of a peripheral social grievance than something for active consideration. In 2000, the elementary school in Awattapiskak was shut down after the land was determined to be toxic. Since then, the students have been schooled in outdoor portables with heating and vermin issues, making it difficult to maintain a dedicated staff and offer the children the same comforts and amenities that children in more centralized regions are afforded. The government had initially allotted funds for a new school but, as noted in Hi-Ho Mistahey!, the budget for education within the Department of Indian Affairs isn't specifically protected and can be utilized for other issues if they're deemed more critical. Frustrated with endless financial delays, the community, spearheaded by teen activist Shannen Koostachin, reached out to children across Canada, creating a grassroots awareness campaign throughout the schools, forcing parliament to listen through sheer volume. This story, in itself, is quite inspirational and captivating as a cultural assessment of the ever-changing Canadian landscape. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly complex or involving story, which is why Hi-Ho Mistahey. tends to feel directionless and unfocused. Amidst the core narrative about this movement, which, tragically, was started by someone who couldn't see it through after losing her life in a car accident, Obomsawin inserts several interviews with community members about topics like meat smoking and suicide statistics without specifically relating it back to the central topic. Obviously, the aim is to paint a picture of the community and determine why it's important to keep children there rather than have them go off to the city to study, but it plays more as a series of disjointed sob stories to make saccharine what is already an essential dialogue with enough emotional weight to sustain itself. And since there's little stylization or sense of pacing, it leaves everything feeling bloated and amateurish. Still, Obomsawin's determination to keep the world aware of the social and political issues affecting smaller communities in rural areas is commendable. She's clever enough to acknowledge that these plights stem from a Canadian cultural tendency to deny our less than flattering pass without dwelling on it or tossing out glib or dismissive comments about the urban lifestyle. It's this integrity and determination that helps make a difference.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsMarc-André BrunetAlain GoulemTony RobinowThis documentary profiles Indigenous leaders in their quest for justice as they seek to establish dialogue with the Canadian government. By tracing the history of their ancestors since the signing of Treaty No. 9, these leaders aim to raise awareness about issues vital to First Nations in Canada: respect for and protection of their lands and their natural resources, and the right to hunt and fish so that their societies can prosper. In recent years, an awareness-raising movement has been surfacing in First Nations communities. In this powerful documentary, those who refuse to surrender are given a chance to speak out.
- DirectorTim WolochatiukStarsLyna HartGlen AnaquodAlicia HamelinFor over 130 years till 1996, more than 100,000 of Canada's First Nations children were legally required to attend government-funded schools run by various Christian faiths. There were 80 of these 'residential schools' across the country. Most children were sent to faraway schools that separated them from their families and traditional land. These children endured brutality, physical hardship, mental degradation, and the complete erasure of their culture. The schools were part of a wider program of assimilation designed to integrate the native population into 'Canadian society.' These schools were established with the express purpose 'To kill the Indian in the child.' Told through their own voices, 'We Were Children' is the shocking true story of two such children: Glen Anaquod and Lyna Hart.