Toroboro: The Name of the Plants(2024)

Forests(fr)

In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back the stories of this forest.

River of Gold(en)

Narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock, River of Gold is the disturbing account of a clandestine journey into Peru's Amazon rainforest to uncover the savage unraveling of pristine jungle. What will be the fate of this critical region of priceless biodiversity as these extraordinarily beautiful forests are turned into a hellish wasteland?

Through the Repellent Fence: A Land Art Film(en)

The film follows Postcommodity, an interdisciplinary arts collective comprised of Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martinez and Kade L. Twist, who put land art in a tribal context. The group bring together a community to construct the Repellent Fence, a two-mile long ephemeral monument “stitching” together the US and Mexico.

Anticosti: La chasse au pétrole extrême(fr)

KAPU: Sacred Hawaiian Burials(en)

Death is an intimate experience, and how we lay our loved ones to rest, varies between cultures. KAPU: Sacred Hawaiian Burials sheds light on the ongoing battle by Native Hawaiians to protect burial sites across the state and the iwi, or sacred bones, that are within them.

Amazonie, les murmures de la forêt(fr)

Invisible Stories(es)

This documentary rescues the valuable work of Martha Colmenares, an indigenous woman from the Zapotec highlands, who in the 1980s filmed the life and customs of her own community, becoming a pioneer of indigenous documentaries. And for the first time, her forgotten story, for forty years, will no longer be invisible.

Miwene(es)

Steeped in the long oral tradition of Waorani storytelling, Gange Yeti shares her own coming-of-age story as a young Waorani woman living deep within the Amazon rainforest. Following Gange and her community for over 11 years, the film captures her transition from a quiet teenager into a confident young mother at a critical turning point for her culture and rainforest. As the granddaughter of one of the last Waorani elders that lived in complete isolation before outside contact, Gange is determined to capture her grandmother’s unique experience while she still can -- balancing school, motherhood, and tradition along the way.

I Said I Would Never Paint This Way Again(en)

A documentary that tells the story of five American Indian artists, the Urban Indian 5 (UI5), and their unique partnership.

Giiwe: Returning Home(en)

Following filmmaker Taye Alvis as he looks to reconnect to his community of Walpole Island First Nation. Taye will explore his relationship to Walpole Island, and how one can reconnect to their traditions and culture by way of conversation, arts, and recreation.

Amazon(en)

Explore the mysterious Amazon through the amazing IMAX experience. Amazon celebrates the beauty, vitality and wonder of the rapidly disappearing rain forest.

Grazing the Amazon(pt)

There are 85 million cows in the Brazilian Amazon, which means three cows for each human dweller grazing today and area that was once forest. Less than fifty years ago, in the 1970s, the rainforest was intact. Since then, a portion the size of France has disappeared, 66% of which transformed into pastures. Much of this change is a consequence of government incentives that attracted thousands of farmers from southern lands. Cattle ranching became an economic and cultural banner of the Amazon, forging powerful politicians to defend it. In 2009, there was a game changer: the Public Prosecutor's Office sued large slaughterhouses, forcing them to supervise cattle supplying farms.

Cry Rock(en)

The wild beauty of the Bella Coola Valley blends with vivid watercolor animation illuminating the role of the Nuxalk oral tradition and the intersection of story, place and culture.

Son of Torum(et)

In the same vein as Meri's other documentations, this one takes advantage of the glasnost policy to discuss the social and ecologic impact of the Russian oil industry on the natives and the lands they inhabit.

Dark Green(en)

In Dark Green we follow conservationist and storyteller Paul Rosolie deep into the jungle of the Amazon, risking his life to learn more on this last remaining wilderness on earth.

The Medicine of Forgiveness(es)

Benito Arévalo is an onaya: a traditional healer in a Shipibo-Konibo community in Peruvian Amazonia. He explains something of the onaya tradition, and how he came to drink the plant medicine ayahuasca under his father's tutelage. Arévalo leads an ayahuasca ceremony for Westerners, and shares with us something of his understanding of the plants and the onaya tradition.

Voices That Heal(es)

Herlinda Augustin is a Shipibo healer who lives with her family in Peruvian Amazonia. Will she and other healers be able to maintain their ancient tradition despite Western encroachment?

Ayahuasca Diary(en)

Four Westerners with various ailments travel to Peruvian Amazonia to drink ayahuasca, a traditional medicine renowned for its healing powers.

Iniskim - Return of the Buffalo(en)

A cinematic wonder & incredible opportunity to learn about Indigenous ways of knowing. A group of puppeteers are transformed by their experience of "being buffalo" at night under the stars. Amethyst First Rider tells the puppeteers, "You are the buffalo. With each movement of your hands, each connection, you're creating energy & they become a part of you." In 2017 history was made when bison were reintroduced to Banff National Park where they continue to roam free today. The project was part of the historic Buffalo Treaty, with over 40 First Nation signatories, who are part of the movement to bring buffalo back to their ancestral lands. Leroy Little Bear & Amethyst First Rider lead this movement, & since Amethyst is first & foremost an artist, she wanted to celebrate the return of the buffalo through art. She met master puppeteer, Pete Balkwill, who was working with sculptural lantern puppets with his collaborators that lent themselves to night time performances on the land

Surviving Columbus(en)

This Peabody Award-winning documentary from New Mexico PBS looks at the European arrival in the Americas from the perspective of the Pueblo Peoples.