ABOUT FPFS 2019

First Peoples, First Screens 2019 is the second instalment of a special Cinema Politica program that showcases Indigenous socially-engaged filmmaking from across Turtle Island, with a focus on the country known as Canada. As a follow up to the 2016 program, this dynamic offering of animation, experimental, fiction and documentary works is divided into four thematic clusters and was curated by Jess Murwin (Mi’Kmaq), Conor McNally (Métis) and Ezra Winton. All 20 films are circulating throughout the CP Network.

CURATORS

CONOR MCNALLY
Conor McNally is a filmmaker based in amiskwaciy (Edmonton, Treaty 6) who bypasses formal film training to create works through a combination of instinct, trial & error. Conor’s most recent work is ôtênaw and he is a proud father and member of the Métis Nation of Alberta.
  

JESS MURWIN
Jess Murwin is a queer non-binary curator and artist of mixed (Mi’Kmaq and Settler) descent based in Tiohhtià:ke/Montreal. Their work focuses on reclaiming narrative space for alternative, subversive and nuanced points of view.
  

EZRA WINTON
Ezra Winton is Director of Programming at Cinema Politica. He is a settler scholar from K’ómoks First Nation territory who teaches, researches and writes about curatorial politics, screen ethics, documentary and Indigenous film and media.
 

FILMS DETAILS

A COMMON EXPERIENCE
Shane Belcourt / 2014 / 11’
A poetic exploration of the multi-generational affects of Canada's Indian Residential School system, based on the personal trials of Aboriginal playwright Yvette Nolan.
  

BIIDAABAN [THE DAWN COMES]
Amanda Strong / 2018 / 18’
In this short stop-motion animation Biidaaban sets out to harvest sap from Sugar Maples, working in continuum with Sabe, and other spirit beings.
 

FAINTING SPELLS
Sky Hopinka / 2018 / 11’
Told through recollections of youth, learning, lore, and departure, this is an imagined myth for the Xąwįska, or the Indian Pipe Plant - used by the Ho-Chunk to revive those who have fainted.
 

THE FIFTH REGION
Gabriel Nuraki Koperqualuk & Aeyliya Husain / 2018 / 47’
All their lives, Nancy and Joshua struggled with aspects of their identities. They now begin to redefine what it means to be a young urban Inuk growing up under the shadow of the Sixties Scoop and the residential school system. 
 

FOUR FACES OF THE MOON
Amanda Strong / 2016 / 13’
An animated short exploring the reclamation of language and Nationhood and peeling back the layers of Canada's colonial history.
 

HEART
Sam Karney / 2015 / 3’
A filmmaker and poet journey to Winnipeg's North End, one of the most economically depressed and violent neighbourhoods in Canada, dispelling many of their preconceptions of the people who call the place home.
 

IGLU: ANGIRRAQ [HOUSE: HOME]
Mosha Folger / 2018 / 45'
Talking with people who are experiencing the many facets of the on-going crisis of homelessness amons Inuit, and speaking with politicians and other locals, IGLU:ANGIRRAQ takes a hard, but personal, careful, and painstaking look at a core barrier in the growth of Nunavut.

INDIAN / INDIEN
Darryl Nepinak / 2015 / 2’
At the Canadian National Spelling Bee, speller Darryl Nepinak stumbles upon a familiar word.

INNU-ASSIT
Jonathan Grégoire / 2016 / 4’
A reflexive poem comparing yesterday's “Innu-Assit“ (“Innu Territory“) and today's “Innu-Assit“ (reservation).

KIVITOO: WHAT THEY THOUGHT OF US
Zacharias Kunuk / 2018 / 43’
Celebrated filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk visits the old settlement of Kivitoo with the last surviving members of the camp, giving them an opportunity to have their heartbreaking story finally heard, a story of involuntary displacement that is all too common for Inuit across the Arctic.

KWADACHA BY THE RIVER
Jessica Hallenback, Dave Shortt & Mitchell McCook / 2017 / 19’
In the late 1960’s, the Kwadacha First Nation, a small Tsek’ene community located on the Peace River in Northern British Columbia, were flooded out of their traditional territory by one of the largest dams in the world. With construction of a new dam underway on the same river, further flooding is imminent, and it’s time for Kwadacha to tell their story.
 

MINO BIMAADIZIWIN
Shane McSauby / 2018 / 10’
Mino Bimaadiziwin follows Jim, a trans Anishinaabe man, as he meets a young Anishinaabe woman who pushes both of them to reconnect with their Indigenous culture. 
 

NUHE NENË BOGHÍLNÍH
Ashton Janvier / 2017 / 4’
A film that aims to inspire the young generation to start caring about our lands and cultures while raising awareness about the ravages of uranium mining in Patterson Lake, SK.

PROTECT OUR FUTURE DAUGHTERS
Maryanne Junta & Helena Lewis / 2017 / 5’
Short docu-drama narrated by activist Maryanne Junta that educates viewers about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) of Canada and the Red Dress Project.
 

SGAAWAAY K'UUNA [EDGE OF THE KNIFE]
Gwaai Edensha & Helen Haig-Brown / 2018 / 99’
The first feature film made entirely in the Haida language, EDGE OF THE KNIFE is set in 19th century Haida Gwaii and tells the tale of a man who, ridden by guilt after a tragic incident, descends into madness and transforms into Gaagiixid – “the Wildman”. Gaaloses his humanity after a tragic incidente. Can he be rescued and returned to his humanity?

TO WAKE UP THE NAKOTA LANGUAGE
Louise BigEagle / 2017 / 6’
Through the wisdom of his words, Armand McArthur, one of the last fluent Nakota speakers in Pheasant Rump First Nation, is committed to revitalizing his language and culture for his community and future generations.

TRENTE-CINQ
Kevin Papatie & Veronique Papatie / 2016 / 5’
A political documentary highlighting the issues regarding ancestral rights for Canada's Indigenous communities.

TWO SCOOPS
Jackie Traverse / 2008 / 3’
Hand-drawn illustrations animate this touching personal story about the "Sixties Scoop” of Aboriginal children into the Canadian child-welfare system.

THE VIOLENCE OF A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT SECRETS
Adam Khalil & Zack Khalil / 2017 / 10’
An urgent reflection on indigenous sovereignty, the undead violence of museum archives, and post-mortem justice through the case of the “Kennewick Man”. 
  

WARRIOR WOMEN
Christina D. King & Elizabeth A. Castle / 2018 / 64’
An exploration of what it means to balance a movement with motherhood and how activist legacies are passed down from generation to generation.