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Urban.Indigenous.Proud Series

Urban.Indigenous.Proud is a film project partnership between the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres and the National Film Board of Canada. Taking a community-driven approach, the OFIFC and the NFB produced five short documentaries by Indigenous filmmakers who set out to explore urban Indigenous culture and lived experiences in five Friendship Centre communities.

  • Full Circle
    Full Circle
    Kristi Lane Sinclair 2018 8 min
    Since its inception in 1976, Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre has been a place in which the urban Indigenous community could feel safe, learn and grow. Council Fire uses cultural teachings and creates space to restore Indigenous identity, especially for its youth. At the core of Council Fire’s history and teachings is the drum, which they refer to as “our mother.” In Full Circle, we get to know the members of the Toronto Council Fire Youth Program as they embark on new journeys. We meet a drum group that lays down tracks at a professional recording studio and a group of young dancers who showcase their moves at a dance studio.
  • Places to Gather and Learn
    Places to Gather and Learn
    Darlene Naponse 2018 10 min
    A day in the lives of Indigenous students at N’Swakamok Alternative School, Places to Gather and Learn emphasizes the value and necessity of Indigenous alternative and community spaces.  This short follows students as they learn and share their stories, aspirations, obstacles and accomplishments. Run in partnership with the N’Swakamok Indigenous Friendship Centre, and as a satellite of Sudbury Secondary School, N’Swakamok Alternative School offers students a supportive and culturally activated space to gain life skills as they pursue their academic and personal goals.
  • Some Stories
    Some Stories
    Clayton Windatt 2018 8 min
    Some Stories follows a group of Indigenous youth from the Nipissing (Nbisiing) region who come together through the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre and explore the importance and impact of stories in their lives.
  • That Old Game La Crosse
    That Old Game La Crosse
    JL Whitecrow 2018 7 min
    Long before Canada became a country, every nation on Turtle Island had its own unique version of a stick-ball game. The most popular one on this continent has always been lacrosse, a game that was gifted to the First Nations by the birds and four-legged animals, and played for centuries as a medicine game. This short film explores how the medicine game that has been passed down from generation to generation by the Haudenasaunee at the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre is helping to revive their cultures and restore their communities. Young people have always been at the centre of community for many First Nations societies, and this documentary shares the wisdom of cultivating the spirit of belonging in youth, revealing how this is helping to shape a new future.
  • Zaagi'idiwin
    Zaagi'idiwin
    Tracie Louttit 2018 9 min
    This short film offers a snap-shot of life in Fort Frances, Ontario, as some of its community members prepare to gather in a special place that will bond their hearts and minds. By engaging in ceremony and celebrating their language, culture and land, the people are creating “Zaagi’idiwin”—a symbol of their truth, their story and their own reconciliation, which is community-defined, beautiful and inspiring.

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