Opening video speech from Musqueam Elder Larry Grant

Debra Sparrow weaves together the past and the present by reviving the blanket-making traditions of the Coast Salish communities. Through her Blanketing the City project, Sparrow wraps the city of Vancouver in the colorful, intricate designs that are the foundation of her people. Every time she creates a blanket, she’s building a bridge to her ancestors and repatriating lost connections. For the Musqueam people, weaving blankets is not just art, it’s a way of life.

Director: Cristóbal Ruiz

Director/Writer: Madison Thomas (Ojibwe) Producer: Darcy Waite (Cree) Canada | 2023 |11 min | English | Dramatic Short

Starbound is a short sci-fi/ family drama that explores the return of eight year old Billy Campbell after being abducted by aliens four years earlier.

Madison Thomas is a storyteller of mixed ancestry whose nuanced and unique work has played festivals and won awards worldwide.

Content Warning: Intergenerational trauma

Director/Writer: Kaayla Whachell (Ryukyan/Métis)

Canada | 2022 | 14 min English | Documentary Short

Alexa navigates the world around her as a young Indigenous woman. Through her Digital Voice project, she creates a safe space for herself and her friends to speak about life’s hardships. Kaayla Whachell is an award-winning cinematographer who strives to create a safe film environment for all.

Content Warning: MMIWG2S, intergenerational trauma

Director/Producer: Keisha Erwin (nīhithaw (Woodland Cree))

Canada | 2023 | 10 min Woodland Cree, English | Documentary Short

In this heartfelt, short documentary, Keisha Erwin shares their transformative journey of reconnecting with their family and culture in Northern Saskatchewan, demonstrating the power of healing through reconnection. Keisha is a Two-Spirit nīhithaw emerging artist, academic, and band member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Saskatchewan.

Content Warning: Triggering historical trauma

Director/Writer: Asia Youngman (Cree/Métis)

Canada | 2022 | 16 min English | Dramatic Short

After moving to a new town, a teenager must navigate peer pressure when her next-door neighbour convinces her to explore a nearby island in search of a legendary lake monster.

Asia Youngman is an award-winning director and screenwriter based in Vancouver, Canada, who was named one of Playback’s “10 to Watch” in 2021.

Content Warning: Coarse language; adult themes; use of alcohol, tobacco products, vapour products, or cannabis

Directors/Writers: Kayah George (Tsleil- Waututh/Tulalip), Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos

Canada | 2023 | 9 min English | Documentary Short

An ancestral connection and love for the water runs deep between a grandmother and granddaughter, sustaining the fight against the impacts of industrialization.

Kayah George “Halth-Leah” proudly carries the teachings of her Tulalip and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and is an Indigenous environmental leader, activist, poet, and filmmaker.

A short, 20-minute film on Musqueam culture. The film provides an overview of Musqueam history, traditions, and contemporary community. From the beginning, through contact to the present, we have practiced and continue to maintain strong and proud traditions. Archaeological evidence at villages such as c̓əsnaʔəm dates back in excess of 5,000 years and to over 9,000 years at səw̓q̓ʷeqsən (Glenrose) along the Fraser River. Our enduring traditions have allowed us to set legal precedents with regard to important issues, including Canadian Supreme Court decisions on the Guerin case (R. v. Guerin, 1984) and the Sparrow case (R. v. Sparrow, 1990).

Director Elle-Maija Tailfeathers (Blood Tribe, Blackfoot Confederacy / Sámi) tells the story of the Musqueam's 200-day vigil to halt a Vancouver condo development that unearthed ancestral remains.

We join Paul Natrall, known locally as ‘Mr Bannock’ as he takes us through his home territory, the Squamish Nation. We explore the significance of community leadership and the importance of sourcing local ingredients in the creation of his world-famous food truck.

Joe Buffalo is an Indigenous skateboarding legend. He’s also a survivor of Canada’s notorious Indian Residential School system. Following a traumatic childhood and decades of addiction, Joe must face his inner demons to realize his dream of turning pro.

Director/Writer: Sean Stiller (Secwépemc) Canada | 2023 | 12 min | Cree, English Documentary Short

Former model, Joleen Mitton is on a mission to use fashion as medicine for Vancouver’s Indigenous community. She takes us inside Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, a multifaceted celebration of traditional and contemporary Indigenous identity. Sean Stiller is an award-winning filmmaker specializing in documentary and Indigenous commercial and commissioned films.

Content Warning: Triggering historical trauma

Director/Writer/Producer: Michelle Derosier (Anishinaabe) | Canada | 2022 | 7 min English | Animated Dramatic Short

A boy carrying the heavy burden of loss decides to join the dead in order to free himself of his grief until a divine intervention shows him the way of letting go. Michelle Derosier is an artist, activist, and storyteller from Migisi Sahgaigan First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario, Canada.

Content Warning: Residential school trauma, historical trauma, suicidal themes

A woman visits her late mother in her dreams. A reminder that when our loved ones pass, they are never really far away.

Director/Writer/Producer: Eva Thomas (Walpole Island First Nation/Tohono O'odham/Cherokee)

Canada | 2023 | 14 min English | Dramatic Short

A woman vigilantly trails the cops who pick her friend up after a night out. She doesn’t know where they are taking her, but she knows she will not become a victim. Eva Thomas is a writer, director, and producer.

Content Warning: Triggering historical trauma

Directors/Producers: Bawaadan Collective/Yuma Hester (Anishinaabe/Cree) Canada | 2022 | 20 min English | Documentary Short

A morality tale for adults played out as an allegory to the loss of connection between humans and animals, and the global pandemic.

The Bawaadan Collective is a group of Indigenous artists and non-Indigenous accomplices working in contemporary media production.

Director/Writer: Lindsay McIntyre (Inuit) Canada | 2023 | 16 min Inuktitut, English | Dramatic Short

An Inuk mother lives under the watchful eye of her RCMP officer husband, falling under pressure for her and her daughter to assimilate to their new life in the south.

Lindsay McIntyre is an award-winning filmmaker of Inuit/mixed-settler descent working with themes of personal histories and bridging gaps in collective experience