first nations

124 movies and shows

Wildhood

Fri, 17 Jun 2022

Link and his brother flee their abusive father and embark on a journey where Link discovers his sexuality and rediscovers his Mi’kmaw heritage.

Blood Quantum

Thu, 05 Sep 2019

The dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi'kmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are strangely immune to the zombie plague.

Gil Cardinal searches for his natural family and an understanding of the circumstances that led to his becoming a foster child. An important figure in the history of Canadian Indigenous filmmaking, Gil Cardinal was born to a Métis mother but raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, and with this auto-biographical documentary he charts his efforts to find his biological mother and to understand why he was removed from her. Considered a milestone in documentary cinema, it addressed the country’s internal colonialism in a profoundly personal manner, winning a Special Jury Prize at Banff and multiple international awards.

Totem: Return and Renewal

Mon, 01 Jan 2007

In this follow-up to his 2003 film, Totem: the Return of the G'psgolox Pole, filmmaker Gil Cardinal documents the events of the final journey of the G'psgolox Pole as it returns home to Kitamaat and the Haisla people, from where it went missing in 1929.

Bones of Crows

Fri, 02 Jun 2023

Cree matriarch Aline Spears survives a childhood in Canada’s residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. She uses her uncanny ability to understand and translate codes into working for a special division of the Canadian Air Force as a Cree code talker in World War II. The story unfolds over 100 years with a cumulative force that propels us into the future.

Indian Horse

Fri, 13 Apr 2018

Follows the life of Native Canadian Saul Indian Horse as he survives residential school and life amongst the racism of the 1970s. A talented hockey player, Saul must find his own path as he battles stereotypes and alcoholism.

First Stories: Two Spirited

Mon, 01 Jan 2007

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

Double M Country

Wed, 17 May 2023

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.

Deep Inside Clint Star

Fri, 18 Jun 1999

Director Clint Alberta takes us on a hilarious and bittersweet journey into the hearts and minds of some very ordinary, extraordinary young Canadians. Clint, taking on the role of Clint Star, seeks out his far-flung buddies, young Natives like himself. They talk about sex and life... love and abuse... 500 years of oppression--with humour, grace and courage. Deep Inside Clint Star explores issues of identity, sexuality and intimacy, while retaining the creative and playful style of a director who is not afraid of turning the camera on himself. This engaging documentary will draw you out of yourself and deep inside Clint Star.

Healing the nation

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Healing the Nation follows community members of the Toronto-based Aboriginal Healing Program as they rediscover their culture to heal from unresolved trauma. This empowering documentary dares us to think beyond mainstream medicine and embrace Indigenous ways for overcoming mental health and addiction issues.

Clearcut

Tue, 10 Sep 1991

A white lawyer finds his values shaken when he is paired with an angry Indigenous activist who insists on kidnapping the head of a logging company to teach him the price of his destruction.

Redfern Now: Promise Me

Thu, 09 Apr 2015

Two young women are raped on their way home. The story follows the lives of both women and the different ways they deal with the crime.

Dance Me Outside

Fri, 10 Mar 1995

Explores the sensitive, and tense, relationship between life on an First Nations reservation and life in the outside world. When Native Canadian Silas Crow is forced to write a personal essay in order to get a much-desired job, he tells the story of the rape and murder of an Indian girl by a drunken thug. When the killer received a lenient two-year sentence for manslaughter, the First Nations community felt shock and anger—and tried desperately to deal with the after-effects of this lack of justice.

Two Worlds Colliding

Fri, 22 Oct 2004

This documentary chronicles the story of Darrell Night, an Indigenous man who was dumped by two police officers in a barren field on the outskirts of Saskatoon in January 2000, during -20° C temperatures. He survived, but he was stunned to hear that the frozen body of another Indigenous man was discovered in the same area.

Is the Crown at war with us?

Sat, 13 Sep 2003

In the summer of 2000, federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi'gmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? Alanis Obomsawin casts her nets into history to provide a context for the events on Miramichi Bay.

The Crying Fields

Mon, 15 Jul 2019

A deep dive into the history of the Canadian Government and the Department of National Defence leasing First Nations reserves as practice bombing ranges during World War I and World War II. This documentary follows the Enoch Cree Nation's process of developing it's land claim against the Canadian Government following the discovery of active landmines in the heart of the nation's cultural lands and golf course in 2014, almost 70 years later.

Our Spirits Don't Speak English

Sat, 22 Mar 2008

Told from the Native American perspective, this documentary will uncover the dark history of the U.S. government and will give a voice to the countless Indian children forced through the system.

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives

Thu, 17 Sep 1992

Ten women in Canada talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first affairs, the pain of breaking up, frequenting gay bars, facing police raids, men's responses, and the etiquette of butch and femme roles. Interspersed among the interviews and archival footage are four dramatized chapters from a pulp novel, "Forbidden Love".

There's Something in the Water

Fri, 06 Sep 2019

Elliot Page brings attention to the injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in his home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.

Home for the Holidays

Mon, 18 Dec 2017

"Home for the Holidays" is the third stand-alone two hour Christmas special of the "Murdoch Mysteries" that first aired on December 18, 2017 on CBC, followed by a second airing on December 25, 2017 in Canada. Murdoch and Ogden travel to Victoria, B.C. to visit Murdoch’s brother, RCMP officer Jasper Linney. There, they investigate a murder connected to an archaeologist Megan Byrne who has uncovered an ancient Indigenous settlement, leading to a trek through the rugged beauty of British Columbia and encounters with the Songhees and Haida nations. Meanwhile, the Brackenreids are offered a surefire investment opportunity that may not be all it seems. At the Station House, Crabtree and Higgins prepare for a ski-chalet holiday in Vermont with their girlfriends Nina and Ruth, but learn it may be more dangerous than expected.