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The NFB at imagineNATIVE’s 25th and F1RST Enters Its Second Year!

Ed Sum

In Person Events Runs June 3-8, 2025 with an online following.

June feels like Indigenous Month rather than the single day set aside based on the press releases I’ve been receiving. At the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto, not only will there be four films from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) to showcase the creations from this world, but also, this event will celebrate 25 glorious years! And so no one feels left out because they can’t travel there, an online version will be available from June 9 to 15 which will include these works!

And as a side note, I’ll be doing some coverage with the Victoria Film Festival’s F1rst: A Celebration Of Indigenous Films, which takes place June 19 to 22nd. They will screen Reel ‘Native American’ (not the actual title, as I feel the word used is still considered offensive) on June 21st as a free event, and Inkwo for When the Starving Returns later that day. The latter is a popular film, and details are provided below.

Ninan Auassat: We, the Children

By Kim O’Bomsawin
June 5, at 11:00 a.m. | TIFF Lightbox 3

Shot over more than six years, Abenaki director Kim O’Bomsawin’s Ninan Auassat celebrates the power and vitality of Indigenous youth from three different nations—Atikamekw, Eeyou Cree and Innu. Filmed from “a child’s eye-view” and without adult voices, the film reveals the dreams of a new generation poised to take flight.

Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man

By Sinakson Trevor Solway
June 7, at 2:30 p.m. | TIFF Lightbox 1 (screening in-person only)

Siksika filmmaker Sinakson Trevor Solway intimately portrays the lives of Blackfoot men as they navigate identity, kinship and the complex expectations of manhood. Through unfiltered moments set against the breathtaking landscape of the Prairies, Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man reimagines what it means to be a Native man.

My Friend the Green Horse

By Alanis Obomsawin
ONTARIO PREMIERE, filmmaker in attendance

Sensory Friendly Screening:
June 4, at 11 a.m., TIFF Lightbox 2

Short Film Program: FAMILY MATTERS
June 8, at 1 p.m. | TIFF Lightbox 3

Often feeling alone in her waking life, a young Alanis Obomsawin found friendship with the Green Horse, a benevolent being she visited regularly in her dreams. In this short film combining stop-motion animation and live action, the Green Horse and other animal spirits guide Alanis to realize the immensity of the gift of life and the power of kindness.

Alanis will also take part in ReMatriate the Lens, a women’s roundtable discussion on Friday, June 6, at 4:15 p.m. at The Well, presented as part of imagineNATIVE Industry Days.

Inkwo for When the Starving Return

By Amanda Strong
For a review, please check this link here.

Short Film Program: WITCHING HOUR | Friday, June 6, at 10 p.m. | TIFF Lightbox 3 | Filmmaker in attendance

Michif/Métis creator Amanda Strong’s Inkwo is a stop-motion animated adaptation of a short story by Richard Van Camp in which a gender-shifting warrior uses their Indigenous medicine (Inkwo) to protect their community from a swarm of terrifying creatures. Featuring such voice talents as Paulina Alexis and Tantoo Cardinal.

To note, they make up part of my top ten picks of must sees. The other works include:

13 Moon Calender

An Anishinaabe XR artwork that pays homage to each of the 13 Moons, sharing the teachings on the turtle’s back.

The Legends of Eternal Snow

When Khabyy is tasked with exchanging riches for the hand of a beautiful young bride for his old Chief, he does not anticipate the mission leading him back to a dark and haunted past. Accompanied by two other men, one bent on challenging Khabyy’s authority and the other softening to the bride’s strong will to escape, the group finds themselves battling the harsh Yakutia climate and barely surviving. Tensions rise throughout the long and arduous journey and when they seek shelter in an old abandoned hut, they discover it holds a subject of lore with which Khabyy is all too familiar.

Endless Cookie

Pete and Seth Scriver’s Endless Cookie is a refreshingly unique animated documentary, a testament to their singular vision and handcrafted charm. It’s a film that deftly navigates complex themes of race and identity through the lens of a deeply personal journey, tracing the bond between two half-brothers — one Indigenous, one white — as they traverse the stark contrasts between isolated Shamattawa and 1980s Toronto. The Scrivers’ animation style, imbued with a raw, unpolished energy, perfectly complements their candid storytelling.
The film’s humour is both sharp and endearing, weaving together anecdotes about documentary filmmaking amidst a chaotic household, grocery store escapades, and encounters with caribou. Beyond the laughter, Endless Cookie is rooted in a quiet yet powerful resistance to colonialism, offering a nuanced exploration of Indigenous life. It’s a film that finds beauty in the every day, weaving together oral histories and cosmic musings into a bittersweet tapestry of life.

Seeds

Kaniehtiio Horn’s Seeds is a sharp, unsettling thriller and black comedy that digs deep into Indigenous anxieties. Horn, pulling triple duty as writer, director, and star, crafts a taut narrative around Ziggy, a Toronto bike courier and emerging influencer drawn back to her community and into the orbit of a suspicious seed company, Nature’s Oath. The film’s strength lies in its ability to blend the familiar tropes of a thriller with the specific, often overlooked, suspicions of Indigenous communities, exploring the fraught relationship between land, reproduction, and corporate exploitation.
The remote setting and the increasingly strange happenings around Ziggy’s aunt’s house and the cache of seeds she protects amplify the palpable, creeping dread. Horn skillfully weaves Kanienʼkehá:ka perspectives into the narrative, creating a film that is both thrilling and deeply resonant. It’s a work that lingers, built on dark humour and subversion of genre, all with a very Mohawk twist.

Shorts Program: WITCHING HOUR

When INKWO is part of the package deal, it’s best to see all the short films altogether. Most of the times, just what storytellers from this nation tell is far more foreboding and imaginative when compared to what the mainstream pumps out. The other films are Uncommon Ground, Uasheshkun, Settler and Haze Over.

The Lost Tiger

Teo, a Tasmanian tiger found and raised by a family of wrestling kangaroos, feels out of place more than ever when his differences become apparent after his attempt to fit into the family’s travelling wrestling show. Recurring visions of his origins spark a journey to self-discovery and a mission to save his homelands from coloniz— “conservation.”
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