A family of North Korean refugees tries to adjust to a new life in Etobicoke, Ontario, with painful memories of the oppressive regime still fresh in their minds.

Through his father’s gift of a secret and tiny hand-carved cedar canoe, an Indigenous child discovers the strength and resilience to endure his first year at a residential school.

In a film that explores the rights of non-human animals through the compassionate lens of international photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, we meet individual animals living within — and rescued from — the machine of our modern world. 

In 1994, then-General Roméo Dallaire was on the ground in Rwanda as a genocide unfolded. He returned to Canada haunted by these memories, and has found a new mission: to end the recruitment of child soldiers around the world.  

In this important and affecting documentary based on his book They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children, Dallaire travels across Africa and North America speaking with child soldiers, self-defence groups, militia leaders and those trying to help these children. As he searches for solutions to this horrific practice, animated sequences are interspersed to add the first-person voice of Michel Chikwanine, a former child soldier, who recounts a chilling story that makes it clear why this work is so crucial.  

“The cause couldn’t be more urgent… The face of the cause couldn’t be more eloquent.” – Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

A five-year search around the world for ways in which people take the experience of being scared and turn it into something sacred. Sites of catastrophe are scoured for signs of hope.

Tyler (Lulua), a young aspiring filmmaker, spends his days comedically documenting life on the Tl’etinqox Reserve where he lives, but everything changes when he meets the mysterious Aaron (Koostachin) who encourages him to tell a new kind of story. What starts out as a personal project about his family soon leads to the reveal of a shocking secret that threatens to unravel his life. 

A coming of age story that is often funny and surreal, this debut feature from director Trevor Mack is also a poignant look at the importance of family and being in touch with one’s ancestry.

“Portraits from a Fire boasts some superb production values… wrapped around a simple, heartfelt tale that is clearly close to the heart of its 29-year-old director.” – Chris Knight, The National Post

This remarkable second feature from Bretten Hannam follows two-spirit Mi’kmaw teenager Link (Lewitski) on a remarkable journey of self discovery set against the gorgeous backdrop of the Annapolis Valley. After finding out that his estranged mother may be alive, Link and his brother (Winters-Anthony) escape from their abusive father and set out to find her, helped along their way by Pasmay (Odjick), a young drifter who helps Link come to terms with his newfound sexuality.

Adapted from Hannam’s award-winning short film Wildfire, this realistic coming of age story is full of hope, love and heartbreak, and is a bold addition to the new wave of Indigenous filmmaking.

“Brettan Hannam's glorious first feature catapults him into the pantheon of filmmakers to watch.” – Frank J. Avella, Edge Media Network

After spending most of her life working as an Innu language translator and transcriber, Joséphine Bacon rose to fame late in life in her second career as an award-winning poet. This moving profile frames her life and work in a new context, offering a deeply personal look at an important literary figure in Canada.

Je m'appele humain premiered at the Quebec City Film Festival to great acclaim, and went on to receive four Prix Iris nominations, including Best Documentary.

Driven by a desire to spark change in her community, young activist Mani (Jacobs) returns to her reserve from the big city to promote the ending of alcohol prohibition on her reserve. When she runs into opposition from the local convenience store owner Nadine (Poupart), the two square off, forcing the divisive issue into the spotlight leading to unexpected consequences.  

This critically acclaimed first feature from Caroline Monnet is a thought-provoking and timely look at an ongoing debate that rarely gets the media attention it deserves. 

 

A compelling and propulsive dystopian thriller grounded in an allegory for the residential school system, Night Raiders is the story of Niska (Tailfeathers), a Cree mother in an impossible situation. As she travels across a war-torn Turtle Island (North America), she is caught in a desperate attempt to save her daughter from a state-run forced re-education camp. With the world against her, 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 Tailfeathers along with a stellar supporting cast, this powerful and heartfelt debut feature from Danis Goulet premiered at TIFF in 2021 and was nominated for eleven Canadian Screen Awards, winning six, including Best Original Screenplay.

“Night Raiders should become the most talked-about Canadian film of the year. And for good reason.” – Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail

Tia (Bshara) is a 10-year-old refugee from Syria, living in Montreal and struggling to make friends and feel comfortable in her new environment. While her parents are preoccupied with her mother’s pregnancy and the challenges of everyday life in a new place, Tia is left mostly to her own devices. 

Everything changes when she discovers a magical portal that transports her to Igloolik, a community in the Arctic Circle. There she meets Piujuq (Tulugarjuk), an Inuk girl who she quickly forms a deep bond with in spite of their cultural differences. Through their friendship, the stories of Piujuq’s grandmother, and their wanderings across the striking northern landscape, the girls are immersed in Inuit myth and magic. 

A heartwarming magical-realist fable about friendship and discovery, Tia and Piujuq is a delightful adventure for all ages. 

Jared Peters and Sergei Radic, two youth from vastly different backgrounds, become linked by an armed robbery gone wrong. When Jared is released from prison 22 years later, the trauma of that event returns and threatens both their lives.

The term “blood quantum” refers to a colonial system enforced on Indigenous peoples in North America which determines their individual status and rights based on their “percentage” of Indigenous ancestry. It is a tool of control, assimilation and erasure of Indigenous peoples.

In this brilliantly provocative horror film set in an isolated Mi’kmaq community, the Indigenous population remains immune to a raging zombie virus infecting the surrounding white population.

Blood soaked, fast paced and darkly comic, Blood Quantum is a wild ride using the zombie genre as a vehicle to explore white supremacy, colonialism, genocide and Indigenous self-determination.

On August 9, 2016, a 22-year-old Cree man named Colten Boushie was killed by a gunshot to the back of his head after entering a rural farm property in Saskatchewan with his friends. When an all-white jury acquitted the white farmer of all charges, the case received international attention and sent Colten’s family and community on a quest to fix the Canadian justice system.

Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, this profoundly affecting documentary weaves a narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own family story, the history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands.

Nîpawistamâsowin was the opening night film at Hot Docs 2019, where it won the prize for Best Canadian Documentary.

When Mitzi Bearclaw (Angeline) turns 25, it’s time to start making big decisions for the future. Her dream to design cool hats is put on hold when she chooses to move from the city back to her isolated reserve to look after her sick mother.

With the reserve bully (Supernault) constantly at her heels and an old flame (Kapashesit) suddenly back in her life, she is grateful that her cousin (Martin) is there to help her in the fight to stay positive under trying circumstances. With a lot of laughs along the way, Mitzi embarks on a quest to get her family back on the right track!

Director Rubbo constructs an eye-opening look at Cuba while waiting for an interview with Fidel Castro that never takes place.

An exploration of what the word democracy means, and how it has evolved over the years from its birth in Athens to its global impact in the 21st century.

In 2011, close to 4000 First Nation people in Manitoba were forced from their homes after artificially diverted floodwater swamped their communities to save the city of Winnipeg. Most of the evacuees, the majority from Lake St. Martin and Little Saskatchewan First Nations, checked into Winnipeg hotels, assuming they would return to their homes within a couple of weeks. Shockingly, nearly 7 years later over 1700 evacuees remain displaced and continue to be stranded in a political firestorm between First Nation band councils, the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters, hotel owners and the federal and provincial governments. The displacement has triggered a rise in substance abuse and suicide rates. Plans for getting people home seem to be at a standstill. Interspersing intimate clips of everyday life with footage of heated political debates, this deeply intimate documentary tells the unexpected story of the real people behind the national headlines of the 2011 Manitoba flood.

Harrowing stories of survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system are woven together in this profoundly moving film about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of institutionalised racism, abuse and injustice on a national scale.

A Bosnian immigrant, once a famous actor in his home country, struggles with the challenges of a new life in Canada and the memories of what he was forced to leave behind. Starring Jasmin Geljo and Cintija Asperger, who were both nominated for Canadian Screen Awards.