His recent animation Kablunât: Legend of the Origin of the White People (2016) draws from a Nunatsiavummiut legend recorded by a Moravian missionary. Making use of archival photographs collected over nearly nine years, Gear reinterprets the legend for a contemporary Inuit audience, while framing the story as a reclamation from colonial retellings. “I wanted to literally insert myself in that narrative, break it apart and see what was there in a kind of dreamlike way,” he notes.
An epic action-fantasy drama rooted in the soul of Cagayan, Philippines. Hawil, a warrior consumed by guilt after killing his own brother, embarks on a harrowing journey in search of redemption. Along the way, he confronts ancient forces, painful truths, and monsters... both real and internal that threaten to break him. Hawil learns that healing comes not from forgetting the past, but in accountability, self-forgiveness, and transformation.
In the snowy heart of Yakutia little girl Nyukku embarks on her first Munkha, Sakha traditional fishing. Filled with excitement and armed with her "magical" mittens, she dreams of catching a big pile of fish. However, her brother Michil is quite skeptical about the "magic" of her mittens and teasingly predicts that she will lose them. Nyukku's enthusiasm is undiminished, so she challenges Michil to a bet. Unfortunately, her adventure leads to an unexpected chaos and failure, and Nyukku loses the bet. Through this experience and guided by their father's wisdom, Nyukku and Michil learn a valuable lesson: the true magic lies in the strength of family bonds and mutual support. As a result, the children save the catch, and miraculously, Nyukku gets her lost mitten back.
Inspired by a true discovery that occurred in 1991 (Alboyanco, Angol), the short film tells the story of a boy who, while playing hide-and-seek with his cousins, accidentally discovers a large ceramic vessel. This encounter will reveal important knowledge about his culture and, in particular, about the unique death rite at the El Vergel cultural complex.
A little girl will have to sing to the mythical goddess of water so that this valuable liquid can reach her community.
Akateko. La aparición de san Miguel Arcángel
Chinanteco. Jujmi La niña del Río
Chocholteco. La niña de la lanilla
The Chuj tell the story of three brothers and the reason behind the origin of the largest salt mines in San Mateo.
Cora. La creación del mundo
Cucapá. El origen de los montes
As a young fisherman cruises along a rugged shoreline, a tiny mouse in Haida regalia appears and starts to knit a blanket. A story unfolds on the blanket as it grows longer, illustrating the ancient tale of Haida master sea hunter Naa-Naa-Simgat and his beloved, Kuuga Kuns. When a SGaana (the Haida word for “killer whale”) captures the hunter and drags him down into a supernatural world, the courageous Kuuga Kuns sets off to save him. Will the lovers manage to escape the undersea Mountain of SGaana, or will they, too, become part of the Haida spirit world forever?
The big bad cats are the villains/Indians, and the little mice are the settlers going west in their little covered wagons, and the Indians are on a rampage about it. Things look dark indeed for the settlers when the likes of Buffalo Bill, General Custer and Daniel Boone are unable to defeat the attacking cats but...wait...up in the sky...here comes the singing, flying mouse...Mighty Mouse. Not recommended for Revisionists.
Taqralik Partridge asks what if every language that had been lost to English — every word, every syllable — grew up out of the ground in flowers? Taqralik’s grandmother’s Scottish Gaelic and her father’s Inuktitut unfold in memories of her family, of pain, and of love.
At Archer’s Aunty Gladys’ funeral, he hears a tap on the window — it’s a bear named Jesus, who has come for Archer’s mom. “A Bear Named Jesus” is an allegory for religious interference, with an aching yet humorous look at estrangement and mourning for the loss of someone still living.
Combining figurative abstraction with magic realism, this animated short depicts a world in which whales fall out of the sky and fish turn into balloons. It is a black and white evocation of the real world, transformed by the director's special sense of whimsy. With bold lines reminiscent of the stark simplicity of Inuit art, this cautionary tale is a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things. We are all affected by the fate of the Arctic, which each year is disappearing a little farther into the ocean.
An unapologetic confrontation of cultural appropriation and everything that’s wrong with hipsters in headdresses. The takeaway? Just don't do it.
In a forgotten community, an artisan girl puts an old K'iche' invocation to the test and summons a curious spirit into our world.
Three children - Niukku, Michil, and Aiaal - set out for a fortune-telling event. They must unravel a mysterious prophecy to discover what the future holds for them.
Oral legend of the Amazonian nationality Secoya del Ecuador. Tells the story of Ñañe (the moon) and how it created the world.