Education
Indigenous Realities
Celebrating Indigenous Stories
Indigenous Realities: Celebrating Indigenous Stories focuses on celebrating Indigenous storytelling, while discussing colonization and residential schools through the thriller Night Raiders. It includes an 74-minute conversation with filmmaker Danis Goulet (Cree/Métis) and actress Brooklyn Letexier-Hart (Cree/Métis), a lesson plan, and support resources.
This filmmaker discussion, recorded on April 20, 2022, remains relevant, powerful, and interactive for students watching it today.
Learn more about the film and special guest speakers below.
This Resource Is:
- Free of charge
- Interactive with student polls, discussion boards and more
- Suitable for Grades 9-12
- Presented in English, with a French-subtitled version available
About the Film
Night Raiders
A compelling and propulsive dystopian thriller, Night Raiders follows Niska, a Cree mother, as she travels across a war-torn Turtle Island (North America) in a desperate attempt to save her daughter from a forced re-education camp. Niska joins forces with a group of underground resistance fighters seeking to free their children and save their future.
Anchored by an incredible lead performance from Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers along with a stellar supporting cast, this powerful and heartfelt film provides opportunities for classroom discussions about Canada’s residential school system, the role Indigenous filmmakers can play in shaping cultural conversations, and how working in genre cinema in surprising and provocative ways can itself be a decolonizing act.
About The Guests
Please note: Guest biographies reflect their roles and achievements at the time of recording.
Danis Goulet
(Cree/Métis)
Writer and Director of Night Raiders
Danis Goulet is an award-winning filmmaker from La Ronge, SK, now based in Toronto. Her films have screened at festivals worldwide including Sundance, Berlinale, TIFF, and MoMA. She is a former programmer and current board member for TIFF, and was the former Director of the imagineNATIVE Film+Media Arts Festival. She is currently filming Reservation Dogs, with Sterlin Harjo and Devery Jacobs, and the upcoming Ivy.
Brooklyn Letexier-Hart
(Cree/Métis)
Star of Night Raiders
A newcomer to film and television, Brooklyn Letexier-Hart can currently be seen as the lead in the feature film Night Raiders. She can also be seen frequently recurring on Burden of Truth. Born and raised in Winnipeg Manitoba Treaty 1 territory, her mother is Métis and her father is Cree, and her home community is Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. She will next be seen as the lead in the independent film, Broken Angel.
Ronnie Dean Harris
(Stō:lo/St’át’imc/N’laka’pamux)
Moderator
Ronnie Dean Harris aka Ostwelve, is a Stō:lo/St’át’imc/N’laka’pamux artist based in New Westminster, B.C. Harris has extensive experience facilitating dialogues between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and youth around the concept of reconciliation. He is the current Indigenous Cultural Development Director at Massey Theatre in New Westminster working on various cultural and social activations. You can hear him as the voice of Dad/Walter on the PBS/WGBH series Molly Of Denali and seen on various other TV and film projects.
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