First Voices Centered
Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Aboriginal films and perspectives. Most but not all are Native created, and a mix of features, shorts, series, of narratives and documentaries.
List activity
95 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
188 titles
- DirectorJennifer Wynne FarmerValerie Red-HorseStarsValerie Red-HorseYvonne RussoIrene BedardThree Native American sisters (Red-Horse, Bedard, Guerrero) decide to try to sell a line of cosmetics they call Naturally Native, based on old tribal remedies, only to have to fight an uphill battle with racist business people. The film is actually Red-Horse's comment on her fight with the movie industry to get her films made and this film is the first to be totally financed by an Indian tribe, Connecticut's Mashantucket tribe.
- DirectorLin AllunaStarsAleqa HammondPaninnguaq HeilmannAsta HelmsRenowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of her people. When her youngest son unexpectedly passes away, Aaju embarks on a personal journey to bring her colonizers in both Canada and Denmark to justice.
- DirectorNyla InnuksukStarsTroy JamesKristian BruunShaun BensonIn Nunavut, four girls who like horror and alien movies, love their phones and even their poor elders who believe in shapeshifters because "they didn't have the internet" realize local disappearances are linked to a shapeshifting alien.
- DirectorShaandiin TomeRayka ZehtabchiStarsAhtyirahm AllenAlme AllenPimm Tripp-AllenA girl and her community prepare for her Ihuk, the once-dormant coming of age ceremony of the Karuk tribe of Northern California.
- DirectorBlackhorse LoweStarsMorningstar AngelineJason AsenapPierre BarreraChing Yazzie and friends get through life's unexpected encounters, the ups and downs of falling in and out of love or not at all.
- 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.
- DirectorBilly LutherStarsKeir TallmanCharley HoganSarah H. NataniTwo adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother's ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family's past and themselves.
- 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.
- DirectorMiranda de PencierStarsJack AnawakFred BaileySeth BurkeIn a small Arctic town struggling with the highest suicide rate in North America, a group of Inuit students' lives are transformed when they are introduced to the sport of lacrosse.
- DirectorKenn LittleStarsJohnnie JaeFrank WalnMore Than a Word offers a fascinating look inside the growing movement to change the name of the Washington R*dskins football team. Directed by brothers John and Kenn Little, who are members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, the film traces how the word "r*dskin" evolved from being a term of racist derision and slander to being embraced as the name of one of the NFL's most beloved franchises. It also draws on the voices of Native American activists and scholars to place this controversy within the wider context of Native American history and racial stereotyping more generally. More Than a Word is an ideal classroom resource for clarifying what's truly at stake in contemporary debates about cultural appropriation and Native American-themed mascots.
- DirectorLoretta ToddStarsGrace DoveAdam BeachTina LamemanIn an effort to turn her life around, a young indigenous woman returns to her hometown and discovers how dysfunctional her family has become.
- DirectorShelley NiroStarsMorningstar AngelineAndrew MartinAjuawak KapashesitMitzi Bearclaw is an indigenous woman who reluctantly returns to her isolated reserve to help her father care for her bitter mother.
- StarsMorgan HolmstromCody KearsleyIsabel Deroy-OlsonShadow of the Rougarou uses horror elements and traditional Métis mythology to tell the tale of sâkowêw, a Métis-Cree fur trapper called back home to rally recruits for the 1885 North-West Resistance. As she nears her childhood home, sâkowêw is overtaken by the haunting memories of her desperate escape from a monstrous Rougarou. Following a trail of blood, a ruthless gang of wolfers, and her own forgotten footsteps, she pushes deeper into the darkness to finally face the curse that ripped her life apart.
- DirectorBrian TruglioAfter a narrow win hands Tuba City High School their 19th state championship, second place finisher Chinle sets out to topple their rivals and finally claim victory for themselves.
- DirectorJared JakinsStarsNoah BegayIlii NeangGranite SloanThree Indigenous youth come of age on the fringes of the Navajo Nation. 'Scenes from the Glittering World' is a meditation on adolescence, trauma and the power of connecting with a homeland.
- DirectorLarry T. Pourier
- DirectorAdrian BakerStarsBraunwyn WalshTom PhillipsAlfredo DidricksonNine stories explore our world from the Native American perspective using animation, music and real thoughts from real people.
- DirectorCatharine AxleyStarsGeorge AttlaJoe BifeltRose Attla AmbroseSpanning his fifty-year dogsled racing career, ATTLA explores the life and persona of George Attla, from his childhood as a TB survivor in the Alaskan interior, to his rise as ten-time world champion and mythical state hero, to a village elder resolutely training his grandnephew to race his team one last time.
- DirectorJill Scott MomadayStarsJill Scott MomadayN. Scott MomadayBased on Pulitzer Prize winning author, N. Scott Momaday, and his bestseller,, The Way to Rainy Mountain, filmmaker Jill Momaday creates a road trip to sacred Kiowa ancestral sites that inform ancient myths, legends and oral traditions.
- DirectorWilliam EigenStarsS'Nya Sanchez-HohensteinChaske SpencerStacey ThunderJohn Red Elk hears from his relatives down in Minneapolis that his Uncle Norton is dead and vows to go to the big city to find out what really happened to him. At its heart, "The Jingle Dress" is a contemporary story of a Native American family that moves from their rural home on the reservation in northern Minnesota to the faster paced urban environment of Minneapolis. We follow the Red Elk family as they experience city culture through their unvarnished perspective, as well as gain insight into their Indigenous culture and traditions.
- DirectorSophie RousmaniereStarsTana MorrisYellow Fever follows young Navajo veteran, Tina Garnanez on her journey to investigate the history of the Navajo Uranium Boom, its lasting impacts in her area and the potential new mining in her region. She begins as a curious family member and becomes an advocate, lobbyist, activist and vocal proponent for transparency and environmental justice. Tina travels throughout the West to learn about uranium mining and nuclear development. She examines the pros, the cons and the hot debate over Nuclear power, which forces her to consider her own opinions on the subject of energy.
- DirectorSarah Del SerondeStarsKenneth BarneyJerry CurleyMarshall BenFor decades, thousands of Navajos worked the railroads, maintaining the trans-continental network. Metal Road explores the dynamics of livelihood, family and the railroads, through the lens of one workday on the 9001 Heavy Steel Gang.
- DirectorLawrence R. HottFlorentine Films/Hott Productions, in association with The Language Conservancy, presents a new documentary project: Rising Voices/Hóthaninpi. Five years in the making, this multi-platform project tells the story of a powerful threat to a Native culture. This threat is an insidious, impersonal villain - one that comes through TV sets and social media sites, through Tweets and comic strips and the daily news. The menace is the English language, and the victim seemingly marked for extinction is the Lakota language itself - the language of the Lakota nation, once usually called the Sioux. For the Lakota people, it's a local problem, but it's just one instance of a massive global one - a worldwide epidemic of language extinction.
- DirectorJohn WhiteheadStarsKate Beane
- DirectorSuree TowfighniaStarsDeborah White PlumeTantoo CardinalBruce EllisonCrying Earth Rise Up is a compelling story of the human cost of uranium mining and its impact on the water, land and people of the Great Plains.
- DirectorAaron MartinStarsVic BogosianAndy JacksonJennifer KanineUnlike many Native American tribes, The Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Indians were never removed from their ancestral lands, but they saw their environment and way of life fractured over time. A small group of tribal citizens fought for decades to keep traditional ways alive. When the US Federal government recognized the Pokagon as a sovereign tribal nation in the early 1990s, the tribe launched a series of cultural preservation and environmental restoration efforts. They are now actively working to restore with traditional arts, their language and ways of life, while creating new traditions to inspire tribal citizens to protect and preserve waterways for the next seven generations.
- DirectorBoots KennedyeA Redemption Story follows Leo Yankton (Oglala Lakota) and how he contributed in efforts to protect the water on the Standing Rock reservation, and continues to find ways to have a positive impact with Native County and the rest of the world.
- DirectorStephen S. CampanelliStarsAjuawak KapashesitWayne BakerSladen PeltierFollows the life of Native Canadian Saul Indian Horse as he survives residential school and life amongst the racism of the 1970s. A talented hockey player, Saul must find his own path as he battles stereotypes and alcoholism.
- DirectorMadison ThomasStarsBuffy Sainte-MarieJayli WolfAn in-depth look at the life of the activist and musician, with archival material never seen before, with present-day footage of Buffy performing and interviews with her bandmates, colleagues and herself.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinThis documentary exposes the housing crisis faced by 1,700 Cree in Northern Ontario, a situation that led Attawapiskat's band chief, Theresa Spence, to ask the Canadian Red Cross for help. With the Idle No More movement making front page headlines, this film provides background and context for one aspect of the growing crisis.
- DirectorJulianna BrannumStarsLaDonna HarrisBiographical documentary shining a spotlight on the leadership role Comanche LaDonna Harris has had in Native and American and international civil rights since the 1960s.
- DirectorIan GarrettStarsNatalie AcevesCiera BudgeClarence CarrilloGroundworks profiles four of the California Native co-creators of the "Groundworks" project-a collaborative dance performance on Alcatraz Island on San Francisco's first official Indigenous People's Day in October 2018. The one-hour documentary travels from traditional acorn gathering spots to the studios where the "Groundworks" performance was rehearsed before being shared at sunrise on Alcatraz-nearly 50 years after the Indians of All Tribes occupied the island and brought attention to Native American rights. Originally initiated by contemporary dance company Dancing Earth Creations, the "Groundworks" project was designed to amplify the oft-forgotten Native presence anywhere in the Americas. Groundworks weaves together four artists' stories and their contemporary ways of sharing traditional Indigenous knowledge. By exploring these artists' creative practices, Groundworks highlights their contemporary relationships to the Pomo, Ohlone, Tongva, and Wappo/Onastatis territories, languages, and traditions. Their efforts to "re-story" the land through creative reclamation are important facets of the Land Back movement. A critical component of decolonization and Indigenous sovereignty is revealing the hidden, overlapping histories of place through art, performance, and story. Groundworks also considers issues of land management, water rights, and food security-concerns for all Americans, especially in an age of climate change. These issues are particularly acute in Indigenous communities that have called these lands home for millennia, and who remain resilient despite centuries of colonization and marginalization. Profiled in the documentary are Ras K'dee, Pomo, a musician with ties to multiple bands in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties; Bernadette Smith, singer and dancer from the Manchester-Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians; Kanyon Sayers-Roods, a multidisciplinary Ohlone artist from Indian Canyon, a sovereign Indian Nation outside of Hollister, California; and L. Frank, a Tongva-Acjachemen artist, tribal scholar, canoe builder, and language advocate. These artists, through their practices and activism, bring attention to contemporary Indigenous life in California. Groundworks is produced for Vision Maker Media by Toronto-based production company Toasterlab, which is led by Ian Garrett (Groundworks director, producer, and writer) and Justine Garrett (Groundworks producer and writer). The Groundworks documentary production team includes co-producer and writer Tisina Ta-till-ium Parker (Miwuk/Paiute/Kashia Pomo), editor Tia Taurere Clearsky (Nga Puhi/Te Aupouri Nations of Aotearoa-New Zealand), and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Don Schroeder as consulting producer. Groundworks features original music created specifically for the original performance from Ras K'dee, Esmé Olivia, and Bernadette Smith, as well as contributions from K'dee's band Audiopharmacy.
- DirectorBoots KennedyeBlas Preciado came home from war, with experiences, that would last a lifetime. After years spent abusing alcohol and two failed marriages, the Vietnam veteran found peace and acceptance in a Kiowa warrior society that he credits with helping him overcome the debilitating effects of war. Many Kiowa veterans have found their place in the Kiowa Black Leggings Warrior Society, a 20th Century revival of a once active military society known as Ton-Kon-Gah. For as long as anyone can remember, the Kiowa have revered their veterans. Revived in 1958, the society recognizes the military service of community members and has become an integral part of traditional Kiowa life. In a four-part series, producer Charles "Boots" Kennedye interviews leaders in the society like Preciado and Darwin Palmer, who served two tours in Vietnam and was awarded the bronze star for valor. His father Gus Palmer Sr. helped revive the ancient society and served as its first commander. Vanessa Jennings dances at society ceremonies to honor her uncle, George Mopope, who at the age of 15, with his family's permission, joined the service and fought in Korea. Vanessa serves as an Advisor in the women's auxiliary and takes part in the scalp dance to honor the warriors within her family and tribe. Lowell "Skeex" Russell was inducted into the Black Legs in 1991. He was part of an M-1 tank crew during Operation Desert Storm where he single-handedly captured nine Iraqi soldiers. The society's ceremonies serve as a venue for Kiowa families to recognize individuals entering the service or returning from duty. Every detail, from the red capes worn by the warriors to the painted battle tipi, honors the service and sacrifice of the many warriors of the Kiowa people.
- CreatorSterlin HarjoTaika WaititiStarsD'Pharaoh Woon-A-TaiDevery JacobsPaulina AlexisComedy series about four Native American teenagers growing up on a reservation in eastern Oklahoma.
- CreatorKarissa ValenciaStarsEsther MbireTalon Proc AlfordKimberly GuerreroFollows Native American sibling trio Kodiak, Summer and Eddy Skycedar, who have a shared secret: they're Spirit Rangers!
- CreatorEd HelmsSierra Teller OrnelasMichael SchurStarsEd HelmsMichael GreyeyesJana SchmiedingA small town in the Northeast is turned upside down when local legend and town namesake, Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) fights the moving of a historical statue.
- CreatorTracey DeerCynthia KnightStarsBrittany LeBorgneHeather WhiteMaika HarperA half-hour comedy-drama about four young women discovering how to be Mohawk in the 21st century.
- DirectorJeff BarnabyStarsMichael GreyeyesElle-Máijá TailfeathersForrest GoodluckThe dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi'kmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are strangely immune to the zombie plague.
- DirectorV.T. NayaniStarsDevery JacobsPriya GunsJanïsa WeekesA coming-of-adulthood story about two women falling in love for the first time. As they grow closer, each is forced to confront their family histories in unexpected ways, while navigating multiple legacies of grief and love.
- DirectorAshkan Soltani StoneStarsKyle FelterFlemming RasmussenWhen Kyle Felter, the lead singer of I Don't Konform sent out a demo album to Flemming Rasmussen, the Grammy Award-winner producer of Metallica, they never imagined themselves a few months later rehearsing with Rasmussen inside a hot hogan on a Navajo reservation before recording their debut album at the iconic Sweet Silence Studio in Denmark. While following I Don't Konform's fairy tale journey, our documentary REZ METAL, tells the larger compelling story of the heavy metal scene on Navajo reservations where many youths have grown disaffected as a result of endemic poverty, high rate of suicides, and domestic violence. By exploring different metal bands and their perspectives on music and contemporary life, this documentary will capture the universality of their experience and illustrate the many ways in which heavy metal music engages disenfranchised Navajo youth in constructive anger to effect positive change as well as to cope with personal tragedy.
- DirectorLeya HaleFour Native American Vietnam War veterans reflect on the agony of war and how their communities helped them carry their warrior legacy proudly.
- DirectorAllan HopkinsStarsAjuawak KapashesitPaul C. GrenierDale HunterWhen two unruly Native con-artists are forced to drive a cranky elder across the reserve so she can make peace with long estranged and dying sister, it quickly becomes clear that a supernatural force is trying to halt the journey.
- CreatorLeah RachelStarsSivan Alyra RoseMarcus LaVoiNicholas GalitzineA woman survives a heart transplant and begins to develop different personality traits.
- DirectorDrew NicholasBattles over blood quantum and 'best interests' resurface the untold history of America's Indian Adoption Era - a time when nearly one-third of children were removed from tribal communities nationwide. As political scrutiny over Indian child welfare intensifies, an adoption survivor helps others find their way home through song and ceremony.
- DirectorMarsh ChamberlainStarsPaul NagarukKeggulluk PolkJody PottsThis movie explores the lives of four Alaska Native people who are determined to break free from personal histories of trauma and suicide.
- DirectorJames M. FortierStarsBenjamin BrattRichard Oakes
- DirectorJames M. FortierStarsWab KinewFollows five Anishinaabe youth on a summer research project with their Elders, whose stories guide them on a journey back to proceeding generations that lived a healthy lifestyle off of the land.
- DirectorAdam MazoBen Pender-CudlipA story of stolen children and cultural survival: inside the first truth and reconciliation commission for Native Americans.
- DirectorBrooke SwaneyA Native adoptee tries to connect with a heritage she was raised with no awareness of.
- DirectorJeffrey PalmerStarsRilla AskewBeau BridgesJeff BridgesWords from a Bear examines the enigmatic life and mind of Pulitzer Prize winning author, Navarro Scott Momaday. This profile delves into the psyche behind one of Native America's most celebrated authors of poetry and prose. Words from a Bear visually captures the essence of Momaday's writings, relating each written line to his unique Kiowa/American experience representing ancestry, place, and oral history. Words from a Bear is a fresh and distinctive approach to biographical storytelling. Cinematically, this story takes audiences on a spiritual journey through the expansive landscapes of the West, when Momaday's Kiowa ancestry roamed the Great Plains with herds of buffalo, to the sand-painted valleys of Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico where his imagination ripened and he showed superior writing skills as a young mission student. The biography will give a thorough survey of Momaday's most prolific years as a doctorate fellow at Stanford University, his achievement of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1969, and his later works that solidified his place as the founding member of the "Native American Renaissance" in art and literature, influencing a generation of Native American artists, scholars, and political activists. Although his unique heritage is a central theme of the narrative, Momaday's work asks the questions every audience can relate to: what are our origins and how do we connect to them through our collective memories? Through his literature and the cinematic visuals, the film will illuminate how Momaday has grappled with these basic questions of human existence and his own identity. The film will reveal the most intimate details of the writer's personal life as revealed through his literary texts, along with the trials and tribulations he faced as a Native American artist in the twentieth and twenty first century. Historical photos, original animation, and stunning aerials of landscapes, will complement captivating interviews with Robert Redford, Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges, James Earle Jones, and Joy Harjo, to bring audiences inside the creative core of this American Master.
- DirectorMat HamesA Shoshone veteran, a teenage powwow princess, and an Arapaho journalist discover their purpose on the Wind River Indian Reservation as they seek lost artifacts.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorMary KatzkeMary KatzkeAnd Now We Rise is a portrait of Samuel Johns, a young Athabaskan hip hop artist, founder of the Forget Me Not Facebook Group for displaced people in Alaska, and activist for a cultural renaissance as he heals from his own legacy of historical trauma.
- 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.
- 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.
- CreatorGraham RolandStarsZahn McClarnonKiowa GordonJessica MattenFollows Leaphorn and Chee, two Navajo police officers in the 1970s Southwest that are forced to challenge their own spiritual beliefs when they search for clues in a double murder case.
- DirectorMarshall JamisonStarsIvan NaranjoWilliam ShatnerMark AbbottExamines the 1879 court case of Standing Bear vs. Crook and the struggle for basic Native American rights.
- DirectorAlex ZaharaStarsCarmen MooreElle-Máijá TailfeathersJustin RainA American Indian Women confronts her Cousin, about telling people that she isn't Indian.
- DirectorTravis Holt HamiltonStarsTatanka MeansGreg FernandezMary Kim Titla22 Arizona tribal representatives convene in Flagstaff, Arizona to compete for the first ever annual State of Arizona frybread championship.
- CreatorAndrew GenailleRobert GenailleStarsSuzette AmayaJoshua AugustTaylor BelangerWhen asked about living in the natural world, many First Nations people reply, "It's in the blood." We selected six Aboriginal men and women from the city and had them spend six days out in the natural world, to relive history as their Grandfathers and Grandmothers experienced it. Just how much nature is really left in their blood?
- DirectorDan TrachtenbergStarsAmber MidthunderDakota BeaversDane DiLiegroNaru, a skilled warrior of the Comanche Nation, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.
- DirectorMarie ClementsStarsGrace DovePhillip Forest LewitskiRémy GirardCree code talker Aline Spears survives her traumatic past in Canada's residential school system to continue her family's generational fight against systemic starvation, racism and sexual abuse.
- DirectorMarie ClementsStarsEvan Leslie AdamsChief Leonard GeorgeRon HarrisMarie Clements' musical documentary connects a pivotal moment in Canada's civil rights history-the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s-with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today.
- DirectorMarie ClementsStarsTantoo CardinalMichelle ThrushSamuel MartyAfter a Gwich'in-Canadian soldier is captured by the Taliban, he finds himself reflecting on the death of his cousin.
- DirectorDon McKellarStarsTanaya BeattyBrandon OakesKiowa GordonThe disappearance of a young Cree woman in Toronto traumatizes her Northern Ontario family, and sends her twin sister on a journey south to find her.
- DirectorSky HopinkaStarsJordan MercierSweetwater SahmeSky HopinkaA documentary circling the origin of the death myth from the Chinookan people in the Pacific Northwest.
- DirectorSanjay RawalStarsKris BergenChucky CarpenterTwila CassadoreAn intimate portrait of a growing movement amongst Indigenous Americans to reclaim their spiritual and cultural identities through food sovereignty.
- DirectorNorbert A. MylesStarsWhite ParkerEsther LeBarreHunting HorseThis restored silent film features a love triangle involving a Kiowa chief's daughter and ensuing conflict between Kiowa and Comanche villages.
- DirectorDavid MuellerLynn SaltStarsLarry AndersonDennis BanksTashina BanksAIM leader Dennis Banks looks back at his early life and the rise of the American Indian Movement.
- DirectorTracey DeerStarsKiawentiioRainbow DickersonViolah BeauvaisBased on true events, Tracey Deer's debut feature chronicles the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 Quebec.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsErnest AndersonJordan River AndersonVirginia AndersonJordan River Anderson spent the first five years of life in hospital. He could have been home at two.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinA look at the efforts involved with decolonizing Manitoba's First Nation communities.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinActivists file a human-rights complaint against the Canadian government's inadequate funding of services for Indigenous children claiming it's discriminatory.
- 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.
- 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 ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinA review of former McGill University Professor Norman Cornett's unorthodox approach to teaching, including the lack of studying, students choosing their own names and stream-of-consciousness writing exercises.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsTony RobinowKeith RavenheartContinuing to take the pulse of First Peoples in Canada, Obomsawin takes us home: to her Abenaki community of Odanak, Quebec. She skillfully weaves the richly-textured history of her formerly prosperous basket- and canoe-making community with an exploration of contemporary Aboriginal identity and official 'status'. The Abenaki once numbered over 50,000 with a territory that stretched across New England, the Maritimes, and southern Quebec. Both their territory and numbers have been drastically reduced through wars and diseases, but their biggest threat today falls between love and legislation. Through the colonial mandate of the Indian Act, First Nations children continue to lose their Aboriginal status when their parents marry outside of their community, threatening their links to their culture, and even their rights to live in their family homes. Through a series of intimate interviews, elders and young people candidly share their stories, grounding us in the realities of their lives and the complex future of all Aboriginal people.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsJean-René OuelletAlfred MetallicAlanis ObomsawinA chronicle of the Listuguj Mi'gmaq community in Quebec--a people determined to live off their traditional lands.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsArthur HoldenTony RobinowAlanis ObomsawinA feature documentary offering a gripping portrait of the Esgenoopetitj Mi'gmaq First Nation during the summer of 2000 as the Canadian government appears to wage war on the community for exercising their inherent and court-affirmed fishing rights.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinGuy NadonThis feature documentary profiles a key element of the 1990 Oka crisis in which the Mohawk communities of Kahnawake and Kanehsatake stood against the Canadian military and Canadian citizens in a stand-off that turned violent. On August 28, 1990, a convoy of 75 cars left the Mohawk community of Kahnawake and crossed Montreal's Mercier Bridge-straight into an angry mob that pelted the vehicles with rocks. The targets of this violence were Mohawk women, children and elders leaving Kahnawake, in fear of a possible advance by the Canadian army. This film is the fourth in Alanis Obomsawin's landmark series on the Mohawk rebellions that shook Canada in 1990.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinThis documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin introduces us to Randy Horne, a high steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. As a defender of his people's culture and traditions, he was known as "Spudwrench" during the 1990 Oka crisis. Offering a unique look behind the barricades at one man's impassioned defence of sacred territory, the film is both a portrait of Horne and the generations of daring Mohawk construction workers that have preceded him.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsJack BurningHerbie BarnesAlanis ObomsawinA film account about the military 1990 siege of a Native American reserve near Oka, Quebec, Canada and its causes.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinNative Canadians come to Montreal and find themselves homeless, hungry, and isolated. Alcoholism, drug abuse, and monotony reinforce their poverty.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinSteve KowchLucien LessardDocumentary about a 1981 raid by the Quebec Provincial Police on a reserve in Quebec.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinObomsawin narrates as children learn of the traditions and life of Gabriel, a Cree boy from Fort George, James Bay. The Northern Cree "Walking Out Ceremony" is one such tradition. This is followed by scenes of Gabriel touring Old Montreal.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsAlanis ObomsawinCollage of stories about the lives and times of sturdy Indigenous and Native women from all around the world and their enduring struggles to maintain their personal matriarchal traditions.
- DirectorTearepa KahiStarsCliff CurtisJay RyanManu BennettInspired by actual events, MURU is the story of a local Police Sergeant 'Taffy' Tawharau (Cliff Curtis), who must choose between his badge and his people, when the Government launches an armed raid through his Ruatoki community, on a school day.
- StarsTuria Schmidt-PekeNepia Takuira-MitaTe Ahorangi WinitanaFollow a crazy group of city based rangatahi, they're young, kura kaupapa raised and dangerously onto it. Their world orbits around getting cash, cutting corners and charging their phones.
- DirectorSara McIntyreStarsNathaniel ArcandJustin RainAshley HarryTwo Indians Talking is a comedic drama about the conflicting opinions of two First Nations men as they prepare to set up a roadblock. Each man wants fiercely to do the right thing, but struggles with the question, "When you do something for the right reasons, does that make it the right thing to do?"
- DirectorAinsley GardinerCasey KaaRenae MaihiStarsTanea HekeRoimata FoxNgapaki MoetaraA powerful, challenging story surrounding the tangi (funeral) of a small Waru boy who dies at the hands of his caregiver and how his death impacts the community.
- DirectorDanis GouletStarsElle-Máijá TailfeathersBrooklyn Letexier-HartAlex TarrantA mother joins an underground band of vigilantes to try to rescue her daughter from a state-run institution.
- DirectorAinsley GardinerBriar Grace SmithStarsRachel HouseChelsie Preston CrayfordCohen HollowayEntwines the very different lives of three Maori girls, cousins, through tumultuous decades, after one of them is taken from her family and raised in an orphanage.
- StarsTia MaipiKiri DanielleRakei KingiDirected by Kiel McNaughton, "This is Piki" is a Maori drama series produced by well known actor Cliff Curtis, also featuring Temurea Morrison, most often recognized for his role as "Jake Heke" in the powerful drama "Once Were Warriors". Another of a growing list of series and films in which the Maori language is front and center, "This is Piki" has been welcomed as a vehicle in which indigenous peoples, such as Pacific Islanders, present and represent themselves: their cultures, stories, identities and histories. Also playing a central role is Tia Maipi, the main actor in "Born to Dance", along with many other experienced Maori and Polynesian actors such as Calvin Tuteao from "The Last Saint", among other films. Slated as being an eight-part series, 30 minutes each episode, there is a central focus of core characters with varied themes.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorKatie WolfeStarsCalvin TuteaoNathalie BolttGeorge HenareAn apparently happy family man must reveal a lifelong secret - that he is gay.