Movies: First nations

Spontaneous portrait of an endearing and cheerful teenager living in balance between traditionalism and modernity. She presents her regalia to us and we share her pride in being Innu....

The story of a young Micmac girl whose name means "the light from the dawn."...

This 1981 NFU film is a tour of the contemporary world of Aotearoa’s tangata whenua. It won headlines over claims that its portrayal of Māori had been sanitised for overseas viewers. Debate and a recut ensued. Writer Witi Ihimaera felt that mentions ...

Restoration is a found-footage piece honouring Beau Dick's Copper Breaking ceremony on the steps of the BC Legislature during Idle No More in 2013....

A coyote adopted by an old Navajo, Delgado, thinks he is a sheepdog, though he is not accepted by the other dogs of the area....

Banduk discovers that Mr Kool is smuggling birds out of Australia....

The story of the Navajo, at work and play, in the Southwestern United States, and in particular, in scenic Monument Valley. The film focuses on a typical Indian family, its daily life, struggles, and folkways, as every aspect of living is governed by...

Set against the unforgettable beauty of Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), Memories of Earth takes viewers on a journey guided by traces of the past. The film records the meeting of two artistic worlds: that of the Haida, an...

"Blockade" takes place in the mountains and valleys of northern British Columbia, at the heart of the boldest aboriginal land claims case to challenge the white history of Canada. The Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs claim that everything w...

At Western Australia’s first Indigenous-run police station, two officers learn language and culture to help them police one of the most remote beats in the world....

The TNO (Unorganized Territory) Lac-Boisbouscache is a 150 square kilometer public forest located in the Lower St. Lawrence region of Quebec, Canada. Through the eyes of the forest's residents and users, the film paints a portrait of a territory tha...

A Seminole Indian captures a falcon on its yearly migration, but it yearns to be free....

For Indigenous peoples the totem pole is the symbol of life, portraying the relationship between humans and animals. Fitting into the landscape of British Columbia, these monuments, witnesses to an ancient and powerful culture, look down at us. The g...

Filmed on the island of Haida Gwaii, this documentary depicts the ongoing resistance and resurgence of the Haida people and their culture against the different manifestations and trauma of colonization....

This short documentary presents the empowering story of Rodney "Geeyo" Poucette's struggle against prejudice in the Indigenous community as a two-spirited person....

Three decades after the shuttering of the mining town of Schefferville, the Innu people, who moved in after the non-natives abandoned the town, are facing a new challenge: the iron mines are about to be reopened. Land, identity and legitimacy are cen...

Carrie Davis was part of the child removal system near the end of the Sixties Scoop. With guidance from her uncle Emmett Sack and the community, Carrie reconnects to their land, language, and culture....

On a summer day in the 1950s, a native girl watches the countryside go by from the backseat of a car. A woman at her kitchen table sings a lullaby in her Cree language. When the girl arrives at her destination, she undergoes a transformation that wil...

A moving portrait of actress Tantoo Cardinal, travelling through time and across the many roles she’s played, capturing her strength and her impact—and how she shattered the glass ceiling and survived....

For almost a century, the Coast Salish knitters of southern Vancouver Island have produced Cowichan sweaters from handspun wool. These distinctive sweaters are known and loved around the world, but the Indigenous women who make them remain largely in...