
Spontaneous portrait of an endearing and cheerful teenager living in balance between traditionalism and modernity. She presents her regalia to us and we share her pride in being Innu.

Herself

Spontaneous portrait of an endearing and cheerful teenager living in balance between traditionalism and modernity. She presents her regalia to us and we share her pride in being Innu.
2020-01-24
0
8.0Anishinaabe author Drew Hayden Taylor investigates how — and why — Indigenous identity, culture and art are being appropriated by those who are not First Nations.
7.0NIN E TEPUEIAN - MY CRY is a documentary tracks the journey of Innu poet, actress and activist, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, at a pivotal time in her career as a committed artist. Santiago Bertolino's camera follows a young Innu poet over the course of a year. A voice rises, inspiration builds; another star finds its place amongst the constellation of contemporary Indigenous literature. A voice of prominent magnitude illuminates the road towards healing and renewal: Natasha Kanapé Fontaine.
0.0Legendary Canadian documentarian Alanis Obomsawin digs into the tangled history of Treaty 9 — the infamous 1905 agreement wherein First Nations communities relinquished sovereignty over their traditional territories — to reveal the deceptions and distortions which the document has been subjected to by successive governments seeking to deprive Canada’s First Peoples of their lands.
8.0Filmmaker and educator Janine Windolph ventures from Saskatchewan to Quebec with her two teens and younger sister, tracing their familial origins to the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi. Against the scenic backdrop of these Traditional Lands, Elders offer newfound interdependence and hands-on learning, transforming this humble visit into a sensory-filled expression of reclamation and resilience. Our Maternal Home lovingly establishes a heart-centred form of resistance to confront and heal from the generational impacts of cultural disconnection, making space for what comes next.
0.0The people of Unamenshipu (La Romaine), an Innu community in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, are seen but not heard in this richly detailed documentary about the rituals surrounding an Innu caribou hunt. Released in 1960, it’s one of 13 titles in Au Pays de Neufve-France, a series of poetic documentary shorts about life along the St. Lawrence River. Off-camera narration, written by Pierre Perrault, frames the Innu participants through an ethnographic lens. Co-directed by René Bonnière and Perrault, a founding figure of Quebec’s direct cinema movement.
0.0Joyce Jonathan Crone—Mohawk matriarch, retired teacher, activist, humanitarian—reaches forward into her community of Huntsville, Ontario, opening hearts and bridging gaps for Indigenous education.
0.0Cyclone Tracy 40 years on, exploring the myths and revealing new perspectives on one of the worst natural disasters in Australia's history.
0.0Carrie Davis was part of the child removal system near the end of the Sixties Scoop. With guidance from her uncle Emmett Sack and the community, Carrie reconnects to their land, language, and culture.
8.0“An Untitled Film” by George Alshevskij-Jones is a short documentary/visual essay about the struggles of moving to seek a better future in a different country. The research for the film was done by observing and talking to people who have left their home country. It doesn’t matter what country a person has left and in which country he has found himself, the general experiences and emotions stay the same. The most important message that I want the film to convey is that everything is possible and home is not a place on a map, but a place in the soul of each person that I spoke to. The unconventional way of showing many people as one is not just a way of making the film more convenient to create, but a way to fit a much information into one consistent image, that the audience is more likely to understand and perceive as the author intended it. My own experience blended in with the experiences of others.
7.87-year-old Sasha has always known that she is a girl. Sasha’s family has recently accepted her gender identity, embracing their daughter for who she truly is while working to confront outdated norms and find affirmation in a small community of rural France.
Resilience is dedicated to those whose lives have been fragmented by intergenerational trauma, but who wish to break the cycle.
0.0Take a breathtaking train a ride through Nothern Quebec and Labrador on Canada’s first First Nations-owned railway. Come for the celebration of the power of independence, the crucial importance of aboriginal owned businesses and stay for the beauty of the northern landscape.
9.0The documentary 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.
0.0What does it mean to connect with your ancestral land? In the Northwest Territories of Canada, young people from the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation journey across Tu Nedhe Lake (Great Slave Lake) with the Ni Hat'ni Dene guardians to learn about the home that their community relies on—a home that's being opened up as a new national park reserve within the Thaidene Nene Indigenous Protected Area. Now, looking after this land means that the Ni Hat'ni Dene guardians are preserving it not only for future generations here but also for the world.
7.0The world's largest island has been part of Denmark since 1721, but a significant majority of the 56.000 inhabitants now want independence. They feel their culture and language is threatened and is the main reason for the many suicides among young people. But the Danish speaking Greenlanders feel discriminated and want to keep the ties to Denmark. The film follows four strong young Greenlanders, who each in their own way insist on taking responsibility for the future of their country. The documentary explores the difficult balance between the right to self-determination and xenophobic nationalism. Between traditional culture and globalization.