Diego Rivera

Synopsis: A moving tribute to Richard Cardinal, a Métis adolescent who committed suicide in 1984. He had been taken from his home at the age of four because of family problems, and spent the rest of his seventeen short years moving in and out of twenty-eight foster homes, group homes and shelters in Alberta.… Read more

Synopsis: This film shows the inspiration, often related to belief in the supernatural, behind Inuit sculpture. The Inuit's approach to the work is to release the image the artist sees imprisoned in the rough stone. The film centres on an old legend about the carving of the image of a sea spirit to bring food to a hungry camp.

Filmmaker: John Feeney

Synopsis: During the short Arctic summer on Baffin Island, the native Inuit enjoys four months of continuous daylight. But it is no time for relaxation, for provision must be made for the long, cold winter night ahead. In this film Idlouk, an Inuit hunter, tells of his life in this northern land.… Read more

Synopsis: On June 11 and 20, 1981, the Québec Provincial Police (QPP) raided Restigouche Reserve, Québec. This film provides a historical perspective on the issue, and documents, with newsclips, photographs and interviews, the two police raids.… Read more

Synopsis: At age thirty-five, Gil Cardinal searches for his natural family and an understanding of the circumstances that led to his coming into foster care as an infant. Foster Child is a documentary--unstaged and unrehearsed--about the process of that discovery, beginning with his fruitless attempt to see his own file.… Read more

Synopsis: A provocative film in which articulate young Indians test their inherent, tolerant philosophy against the more pragmatic ideas of Saul Alinsky. The Indians argue for a revision of the hundred-year-old Indian Act by peaceful persuasion. Alinsky advocates a more direct development of power to bring about the changes they seek.

Synopsis: A film about the three Conferences on the Constitutional Rights of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada (1983-84-85), focussing on the concept of self-government.

Only available in English/Version anglaise seulement.

Filmmaker: Maurice Bulbulian

Contact: National Film Board of Canada

Producer: National Film Board of Canada

Synopsis: During the winter since times predating agriculture, the Cree of Mistassini have gone to the bush of the James and Ungava Bay area to hunt. Three hunting families agreed to meet an NFB crew, who filmed the building of the winter camp, the hunting, the relationship to the land, and the rhythms of Cree family life.… Read more

Synopsis: At the 1956 gathering of the Blood Indians of Alberta, the exciting spectacle of the Sun Dance was captured on film for the first time.… Read more

Synopsis: Building a canoe solely from the materials that the forest provides may become a lost art, even among the Indians whose traditional craft it is. In this film, César Newashish, a sixty-seven-year-old Attikamek Indian of the Manowan Reserve north of Montreal, builds a canoe in the old way, using only birch bark, cedar splints, spruce roots and gum.

Synopsis: Sur la terre de Baffin, pendant le court été arctique, les Inuit profitent des quatre mois d'ensoleillement continuel pour faire leurs provisions en vue du long hiver à venir. Dans la région de Pont Inlet dans l'île d'Alukseevee, les Inuit Tununermiut chassent le phoque ainsi que le narval et le béluga. Nous rencontrons la famille d'un chasseur nommé Idlouk au camp.… Read more

Synopsis: Alanis Obomsawin was born during a solar eclipse: an event that foreshadowed her destiny as a storyteller. Katerina Cizek's portrait of this extraordinary artist, layered with animation, music and image, beautifully recalls Alanis Obomsawin's work.

Only available in English/Version anglaise seulement.

Filmmaker: Katerina Cizek

Producer: Gerry Flahive