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Catalogue

Indigenous

Angry Inuk

Angry Inuk

In her award-winning documentary, director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Armed with social media and their …

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
2016 | 1 h 22 min
Being Prepared

Being Prepared

As the global pandemic reaches into the Arctic Archipelago, Inuk filmmaker Carol Kunnuk documents how unfamiliar new protocols affect her family and community. Her vividly specific soundtrack juxtaposes snippets from …

Carol Kunnuk
2021 | 9 min
Bill Reid Remembers

Bill Reid Remembers

Bill Reid Remembers is a beautiful tribute from Alanis Obomsawin to her friend’s remarkable life and rich legacy. Despite spending his early life away from his nation’s culture, renowned Haida …

Alanis Obomsawin
2021 | 24 min
Birth of a Family

Birth of a Family

Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie, and Ben were only four of the 20,000 Indigenous Canadian children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families …

Tasha Hubbard
2017 | 1 h 19 min
Camp Morningstar

Camp Morningstar

This episode shares the story of Camp Morningstar, a sacred camp established on the east side of Lake Winnipeg that was erected in response to the proposal of a silica …

Kevin Settee
2021 | 16 min
Context

Context

This story begins over a century ago, when the City of Winnipeg decides that the water surrounding the traditional Anishinaabe territory of what is now Shoal Lake 40 First Nation …

Angelina McLeod & Paula Kelly
2019 | 15 min
Crazywater

Crazywater

This feature-length documentary from Inuvialuit filmmaker Dennis Allen is an emotional and revealing exploration of addiction among Indigenous people in Canada.

After years of struggle and shame, 5 Indigenous Canadians …

Dennis Allen
2013 | 56 min
Elders / Gitchi-aya'aag

Elders / Gitchi-aya'aag

The Elders of Shoal Lake 40 prepare a feast as part of their annual Fall Harvest, where they share traditional knowledge and teachings with the people of the community. As …

Angelina McLeod
2019 | 12 min
Etlinisigu'niet (Bleed Down)

Etlinisigu'niet (Bleed Down)

In five short minutes, this short film destroys any remaining shreds of the myth of a fair and just Canada. Children forced from their homes and sent to residential schools, …

Jeff Barnaby
2015 | 5 min
Evan's Drum

Evan's Drum

An adventurous young boy and his determined mother share a passion for Inuit drum dancing in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Evan’s Drum is a joyful visit to a family’s loving home, …

Ossie Michelin
2021 | 14 min
Ever Deadly

Ever Deadly

This film discusses topics of trauma and abuse. Viewer discretion is advised.

Ever Deadly weaves concert footage with stunning sequences filmed on location in Nunavut, seamlessly bridging landscapes, stories and …

Chelsea McMullan & Tanya Tagaq
2022 | 1 h 29 min
Fight

Fight

This short documentary introduces us to Randy Baleski, a Winnipeg high school teacher and former boxer who has a unique approach to helping students at risk of not graduating: get …

Ervin Chartrand
2012 | 44 min
Fisher River

Fisher River

This episode narrows in on stories of generosity and perseverance in Fisher River Cree Nation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stories include the purchase and distribution of fish …

Kevin Settee
2021 | 15 min
Heartbeat of a Nation

Heartbeat of a Nation

In the Northern Alberta community of Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation, a father teaches his child how to create a caribou drum. In Heartbeat of a Nation, a short …

Eric Janvier
2022 | 20 min
Hebron Relocation

Hebron Relocation

In Hebron Relocation, Holly Andersen explores what makes a place a home as she learns more about her community’s connection to generations of displaced northern Labrador Inuit.

Holly Andersen
2022 | 15 min
Hi-Ho Mistahey!

Hi-Ho Mistahey!

In 2010, a national movement for fairness in education for First Nations children, in safe and suitable schools, was born in the Cree community of Attawapiskat. This was Shannen’s Dream. …

Alanis Obomsawin
2013 | 1 h 39 min
Holy Angels

Holy Angels

In 1963, Lena Wandering Spirit became one of the more than 150,000 Indigenous children who were removed from their families and sent to residential school. Jay Cardinal Villeneuve’s short documentary …

Jay Cardinal Villeneuve
2017 | 13 min
Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair

Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair

As the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Senator Murray Sinclair was a key figure in raising global awareness of the atrocities of Canada’s residential school system. With determination, …

Alanis Obomsawin
2021 | 29 min
Inconvenient Indian

Inconvenient Indian

In this time of radical change and essential re-examination, Inconvenient Indian brings to life Thomas King’s brilliant dismantling of North America’s colonial narrative, reframing this history with the powerful voices …

Michelle Latimer
2020 | 1 h 28 min
Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger

Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger

Alanis Obomsawin's 52nd film tells the story of how the life of Jordan River Anderson initiated a battle for the right of First Nations and Inuit children to receive …

Alanis Obomsawin
2019 | 1 h 5 min
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab …

Alanis Obomsawin
1993 | 1 h 59 min
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy

Follow filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as she creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members …

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
2021 | 2 h 4 min
Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again

Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again

Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley, who fought for more than two decades to challenge sex discrimination against First Nations women …

Courtney Montour
2021 | 34 min
Matheson Island

Matheson Island

This episode tells the story of the Whiteways of Matheson Island, who for generations have depended on commercial fishing as a means of survival and livelihood. The Whiteways share their …

Kevin Settee
2021 | 14 min
Men / Ininiwag

Men / Ininiwag

The men of Shoal Lake 40 tell the story of life in the community from their perspective, in the lead-up to their annual powwow. Lorne Redsky works the outdated pump …

Angelina McLeod
2019 | 15 min
Miss Campbell: Inuk Teacher

Miss Campbell: Inuk Teacher

Part oral history and part visual poem, Miss Campbell: Inuk Teacher is the story of Evelyn Campbell, a trailblazer for an Inuit-led educational system in the small community of Rigolet, …

Heather Campbell
2023 | 15 min
Mobilize

Mobilize

This short film, crafted entirely out of NFB archival footage by First Nations filmmaker Caroline Monnet, takes us on an exhilarating journey from the Far North to the urban south, …

Caroline Monnet
2015 | 3 min
My Friend the Green Horse

My Friend the Green Horse

Often feeling alone in her waking life, the young Alanis Obomsawin found friendship with the Green Horse, a benevolent being she visited regularly in her dreams. Together with other animal …

Alanis Obomsawin
2024 | 11 min
Nalujuk Night

Nalujuk Night

Nalujuk Night is an up close look at an exhilarating, and sometimes terrifying, Labrador Inuit tradition. Every January 6th from the dark of the Nunatsiavut night, the Nalujuit appear on …

Jennie Williams
2021 | 13 min
Nimmikaage (She Dances for People)

Nimmikaage (She Dances for People)

Both a requiem for and an honouring of Canada's First Nations, Métis and Inuit women, this short film deconstructs the layers of Canadian nationalism.

Michelle Latimer
2015 | 3 min
Ninan Auassat: We, the Children

Ninan Auassat: We, the Children

Known for her intimate and riveting films, director Kim O’Bomsawin now invites us to experience the vibrant universe of Ninan Auassat: We the Children. Shot over more than six …

Kim O'Bomsawin
2024 | 1 h 31 min
Now Is the Time

Now Is the Time

When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the …

Christopher Auchter
2019 | 16 min
Our Maternal Home

Our Maternal Home

Filmmaker 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 …

Janine Windolph
2023 | 27 min
Our People Will Be Healed

Our People Will Be Healed

Our People Will Be Healed, Alanis Obomsawin’s 50th film, reveals how a Cree community in Manitoba has been enriched through the power of education. The Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education …

Alanis Obomsawin
2017 | 1 h 36 min
The People of the Kattawapiskak River

The People of the Kattawapiskak River

The People of the Kattawapiskak River by Alanis Obomsawin looks at the causes of a housing crisis in a Northern Ontario Cree community in 2011.

Alanis Obomsawin
2012 | 50 min
Poplar River

Poplar River

This episode explores the special connection that Poplar River First Nation has to the lands and waters surrounding their community. Poplar River community members Sophia Rabliauskas and Clint Bittern share …

Kevin Settee
2021 | 10 min
Red Path

Red Path

This short documentary tells the story of Tony Chachai, a young Indigenous man in search of his identity. Moved by the desire to reconnect with his Atikamekw roots, he delivers …

Thérèse Ottawa
2015 | 15 min
Reel Injun

Reel Injun

In this feature-length documentary, Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the portrayal of North American Indigenous people throughout a century of cinema. Featuring hundreds of …

Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge & Jeremiah Hayes
2009 | 1 h 28 min
The Road Forward

The Road Forward

The Road Forward, a musical documentary by Marie Clements, connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of …

Marie Clements
2017 | 1 h 41 min
Sisters & Brothers

Sisters & Brothers

In a pounding critique of Canada's colonial history, this short film draws parallels between the annihilation of the bison in the 1890s and the devastation inflicted on the Indigenous population …

Kent Monkman
2015 | 3 min
Stories Are in Our Bones

Stories Are in Our Bones

In this layered short film, filmmaker Janine Windolph takes her young sons fishing with their kokum (grandmother), a residential school survivor who retains a deep knowledge and memory of the …

Janine Windolph
2019 | 11 min
Upstairs With David Amram

Upstairs With David Amram

Before her storied career as one of Canada’s foremost documentary filmmakers, Alanis Obomsawin was an acclaimed singer and musician at the forefront of the Indigenous rights movement in North America. …

Alanis Obomsawin
2021 | 16 min
Voices Across the Water

Voices Across the Water

There is a moment during the construction of a canoe when its true form is revealed. A hull drops into place. The elegant arc of a bow cuts forth. A …

Fritz Mueller
2022 | 1 h 24 min
WaaPaKe (Tomorrow)

WaaPaKe (Tomorrow)

For generations, the suffering of residential school Survivors has radiated outward, impacting Indigenous families and communities. Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s deeply personal documentary WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) moves beyond intergenerational trauma, with …

Jules Arita Koostachin
2023 | 1 h 20 min
We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice

We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice

The rights of First Nations children take centre stage in this monumental documentary. Following a historic court case filed by the Assembly of First Nations and the Child and Family …

Alanis Obomsawin
2016 | 2 h 42 min
Women / Ikwewag

Women / Ikwewag

Shoal Lake 40 women talk about their struggles, and those of their parents and grandparents, in trying to raise their families in a hazardous state of enforced isolation. Everyone in …

Angelina McLeod
2019 | 12 min
Youth / Oshkaadiziig

Youth / Oshkaadiziig

Shoal Lake 40 youth share what it’s like to be forced to live away from their close-knit families and community to attend high school in Kenora, Ontario. The community’s school …

Angelina McLeod
2019 | 14 min
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up

nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up

On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. …

Tasha Hubbard
2019 | 1 h 38 min
this river

this river

This short documentary offers an Indigenous perspective on the devastating experience of searching for a loved one who has disappeared. Volunteer activist Kyle Kematch and award-winning writer Katherena Vermette have …

Erika MacPherson & Katherena Vermette
2016 | 19 min