ARCTIC SUMMER is a poetic meditation on Tuktoyaktuk, an Indigenous community in the Arctic. The film captures Tuk during one of the last summers before climate change forced Tuk's coastal population to relocate to more habitable land.
The Indian Act, passed in Canada in 1876, made members of Aboriginal peoples second-class citizens, separated from the white population: nomadic for centuries, they were moved to reservations to control their behavior and resources; and thousands of their youngest members were separated from their families to be Christianized: a cultural genocide that still resonates in Canadian society today.
This documentary follows a Cree woman as she takes on the Indian Relay race season, as well as the Canadian authorities in her quest to give Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women a voice.
This documentary digs into the stories of Indigenous women and families to reclaim their Indian Status through their fight for the elimination of sex-discrimination in the Indian Act. It highlights the impacts of the law on individuals, families and communities. Since the passing of Bill S-3 and its amendments, thousands of Indigenous people are now eligible for Indian Status.
When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.
Elliot Page brings attention to the injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in his home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.
Camille wanders through the countryside talking with frogs and chickens: she sails through life as a carefree soul. But for her older sister, the introverted Mylia, things are more complicated. Mylia is lost between the uncertainty in her family life, the superficial atmosphere at her new school and her first experiences at house parties. It is Camille who eventually introduces Mylia to Jimmy. The boy from the nearby Abenaki reserve is different and he encourages her to break free.
The Blackfoot bareback horse-racing tradition returns in the astonishingly dangerous Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison Red Crow struggles with secondhand horses and a new jockey on his way to challenging the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Island of Haida Gwaii, northern Canada, 19th century. During a fishing gathering, Adiits'ii commits an unfortunate act. Tormented, he runs away to the wilderness as his mind embraces madness.
“Those Who Come, Will Hear” proposes a unique meeting with the speakers of several indigenous and inuit languages of Quebec – all threatened with extinction. The film starts with the discovery of these unsung tongues through listening to the daily life of those who still speak them today. Buttressed by an exploration and creation of archives, the film allows us to better understand the musicality of these languages and reveals the cultural and human importance of these venerable oral traditions by nourishing a collective reflection on the consequences of their disappearance.
An examination of the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, the film explores the reasons why Indigenous women are uniquely vulnerable to violence by juxtaposing the stories of some missing or murdered women with the personal testimonies of women who are doing activism on the issue and women who have personally survived incidents of violence.
This documentary follows two Mohawk girls on their journey to become Mohawk women. Friends since childhood, Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are members of the traditional community of Akwesasne on the U.S./Canada border. Together, they undertake a four-year rite of passage for adolescents, called Oheró:kon, or "under the husk." The ceremony had been nearly extinct, a casualty of colonialism and intergenerational trauma; revived in the past decade by two traditional leaders, it has since flourished. Filmmaker Katsitsionni Fox has served as a mentor, or "auntie," to many youth going through the passage rites.
CREE CODE TALKER reveals the role of Canadian Cree code talker Charles 'Checker' Tomkins during the Second World War. Digging deep into the US archives it depicts the true story of Charles' involvement with the US Air Force and the development of the code talkers communication system, which was used to transmit crucial military communications, using the Cree language as a vital secret weapon in combat.
Indigenous rights and title to the land remains a taboo topic for many across Canada, but in the small town of Laird, Saskatchewan, an old injustice is providing new opportunities for dialogue, friendship and a fierce determination to right the wrongs of the past.
Both a requiem for and an honoring of Canada's First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women, this short film deconstructs the layers of Canadian nationalism. In the process, it reverses the colonial lens by shifting the balance of power to reclaim the Canadian narrative, putting the enduring strength and resilience of Indigenous women at the forefront.
THROAT SONG takes place in the icy landscape of Iqaluit, Nunavut, a small town in the Canadian Arctic. Ippik, a young Inuit woman, is silently suffering from the pains of an abusive relationship. Lost in a community that's been tragically separated from its past, Ippik begins to connect with other victims of violence and seeks to reclaim her voice.
A social statement on the irreversible and detrimental impact of gas and oil exploration on our planet and in particular the impact that hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' will have on Kainaiwa, or the Blood Reserve in Canada. This film was shot with a completely Indigenous cast and crew.
The filmmaker traces the loss of her ancestral language over three generations of her family, and her own desire to recover it.
A hunter on horseback accidentally discovers a portal to another world in this fantastical true Tsilhqot'in story.