In this feature-length documentary from Alanis Obomsawin, the filmmaker returns to the village where she was raised to craft a lyrical account of her own people. After decades of tirelessly recording others' stories, she focuses this film on her own.
In this feature-length documentary from Alanis Obomsawin, the filmmaker returns to the village where she was raised to craft a lyrical account of her own people. After decades of tirelessly recording others' stories, she focuses this film on her own.
Ages 12 to 17
Study Guide - Guide 1
Geography - Territory: Indigenous
Indigenous Studies - Arts
Indigenous Studies - History/Politics
Indigenous Studies - Identity/Society
This film may be studied in conjunction with two other films by Alanis Obomsawin as a unit on Indigenous rights, assimilation and government disputes. Refer to Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Metis Child and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. Obomsawin’s films have been called “a powerful fusion of the personal and political.” Determine and discuss the common thread that ties Obomsawin’s films together. Suggest how the community’s elders might have reacted to these films, in light of how some Indigenous people were represented.