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Directors (1788)
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Loretta Todd (3)

Loretta Todd

Loretta Todd

A filmmaker and artist of Cree/Métis and European ancestry, Loretta Todd was one of the first Indigenous women to pursue film studies at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University. Employing a distinctive approach to documentary cinema, she has directed award-winning films such as The Learning Path (1991), Hands of History (1994), Forgotten Warriors (1997)and The People Go On (2003). She has also created video installations for Vancouver's Museum of Anthropology and other gallery venues. The recipient of a Rockefeller Fellowship and a former participant in the Sundance Institute’s Scriptwriters Lab, Todd has received lifetime achievement awards from imagineNATIVE and the Taos Talking Pictures Festival.

  • Kainayssini Imanistaisiwa: The People Go On
    Kainayssini Imanistaisiwa: The People Go On
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    Loretta Todd 2003 1 h 9 min
    In this feature-length documentary, filmmaker Loretta Sarah Todd takes viewers on a visually lush journey, exploring the significance of land, memory, and knowledge to the Kainai Blood Nation of Southern Alberta.

    The catalyst for this expressionistic journey is the return of belongings of the Kainai, collected by Europeans during colonial times and kept in distant museums. As the community's elders examine the objects and share stories first-hand, they reveal how the rich threads of Kainai life thrive from one generation to the next.
  • Forgotten Warriors
    Forgotten Warriors
    Loretta Todd 1997 51 min
    This documentary introduces us to thousands of Indigenous Canadians who enlisted and fought alongside their countrymen and women during World War II, even though they could not be conscripted. Ironically, while they fought for the freedom of others, they were being denied equality in their own country and returned home to find their land seized.

    Loretta Todd's poignant film offers forth the testimony of those who were there, and how they managed to heal.
  • Hands of History
    Hands of History
    Loretta Todd 1994 51 min
    In this acclaimed 1994 documentary, Loretta Todd, a leading figure in Indigenous cinema in Canada, profiles four contemporary female artists—Doreen Jensen, Rena Point Bolton, Jane Ash Poitras and Joane Cardinal-Schubert—who seek to find a continuum from traditional to contemporary forms of expression. Each artist reveals her practice and journey in her own words. The film is a moving testimony to the vital role Indigenous women play in nurturing Indigenous cultures.

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