In a violent relationship, it takes a mother’s strength to save herself and her children from the man she loved. Once Were Warriors is a violent love story set against a contemporary urban backdrop.
1492: Conquest of Paradise depicts Christopher Columbus’ discovery of The New World and his effect on the indigenous people.
Terry is a homeless drifter just trying to get by in a new city. But when his life is threatened, he attempts to escape with the help of Eva, a sex worker also on the run
Two teenage girls run away to Hollywood, chasing stardom, but their dreams lead them into prostitution, trapping them in the dark underbelly of the sex work industry as they travel from Texas to California.
A prehistoric epic that follows a young mammoth hunter's journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his tribe.
An Indigenous teenage boy fights through distorting realities as a family secret unravels.
Brother and sister Enrique and Rosa flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life.
Two young men spend an ordinary weekend together as Jehovah's Witnesses in the historic industry town of Trail, British Columbia. They eat junk food, play video games, watch movies, drink energy drinks, go out in the Ministry, then go their separate ways towards the silence of living. In that silence they contend with the hidden realities of their lives and feelings.
A young half-breed boy, the son of a hockey player and an Indian woman, is adopted by a Jewish shopkeeper, but finds himself torn between the different cultures with which he comes into contact.
Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.
Yellowtail is the story of a young Native American cowboy searching for meaning as his chaotic lifestyle begins to wear on him both physically and mentally. To find his purpose the young man has to reflect on his upbringing as a native to become the spiritually connect man he was meant to be.
During the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia, Rapayet and his indigenous family get involved in a war to control the business that ends up destroying their lives and their culture.
A lurid, dark look into the lives of sex workers, where victims of child abuse deal with the consequences later in life.
Cult filmmaker Hisayasu Sato's second comedy of the year, this silly softcore effort stars pretty Nao Kikuchi as a young married woman who takes a job at a call-girl agency with the mistaken belief that it is a maid service. After she is raped on her first assignment, Kikuchi is understandably shocked, but quickly warms to her new career and becomes quite the professional. Unfortunately, her husband soon discovers the true nature of her work.
An Anishinaabe man is restless and isolated in the city of Minneapolis, haunted by an ominous sense that he doesn’t belong. Shinaab eerily portrays Indigenous people’s dislocation and alienation on their own land as sinister and enigmatic forces.
When Miro returns home at the end of World War II he finds his land taken, his people gone, his daughter stolen and his service record treated with contempt. But the battlefield has taught him how to fight and he sets out to reunite his family waging his own form of justice.
Manawan, 1977. A vehicle falls into a river near a Native community. Two Quebecers managed to escape, but five Atikamekws lost their lives. While the police conclude that it was an accident, the victims’ families are left with unanswered questions. A historical, poetic and choral tale, Soleils Atikamekw is inspired by the dreams, impressions and memories of the relatives of the five victims. In an intimate, humanistic approach, the filmmaker involves the families both in front of and behind the camera. Documentary and fiction come together in a deeply moving film about grief, injustice and memory.
In this feature drama, a Canadian Indigenous youth attempts to find a place for himself. He faces culture shock as the educational system teaches him to be a white man and tries to find a way of life more meaningful to his Indigenous culture and ancestry.
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.
Set in the late 90s, Rustic Oracle is a dramatic feature about Ivy, an 8-year-old girl trying to understand what happened to her big sister who has vanished from their small Mohawk community. With minimal clues, Ivy and her mother Susan embark on an unwelcome journey to find Heather which will ultimately bring the pair closer together despite challenging circumstances. Behind the story of desperation, told through the eyes of a child, lies one of hope, growth, awakening and love.