Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s We Were Dangerous is a simmering, potent drama set against the stark backdrop of a 1954 New Zealand reform school. It's a story of rebellion, told through the intertwined fates of Nellie and Daisy, two young women seeking escape from a system that seeks to break them. The arrival of Lou adds a complex layer to their dynamic, as the girls navigate the oppressive regime of a devout matron and the unsettling experimental punishments meted out under the cover of night. Director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu doesn’t shy away from the darkness, but rather leans into moments of joy and absurdity in what the trio of young women face. The film pulses with a quiet rage, a testament to the enduring power of friendship in the face of systemic injustice. It's a challenging, yet deeply human story.

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.”

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.

This impressively candid documentary revisits the three-minute long “incident” at the University of Auckland which triggered race relations between Māori and non-Māori in 1970s New Zealand. Current Interviews with the engineering students who participated in the mocking haka party and members of the activist group that disrupted it, now adults, reflect on their versions of what happened. Directed by Katie Wolfe (one of the directors of 2017’s Waru) this doc, originally a theatre piece, is the ultimate telling of this true story. With archival footage and insights from those who were there, The Haka Party Incident brings forgotten history to life.

From the opening shot of a buffalo hide illustrating the texture and movement of the hair, the beauty of the buffalo’s exterior welcomes us into this stunning documentary about personal connection fueling a desire to return the animal back to their ancestral homelands. In addition to providing the historical background on the hows and whys buffalo populations were decimated, the film also follows the present-day quest to right the relationship between humans, buffalo, and the land. Filmed on many tribal lands across Turtle Island, filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, founding director of the International Buffalo Relations Institute, tracks the efforts of buffalo activists to return free-ranging buffalo back to their lands.

Paige Bethmann’s debut Remaining Native is a vital, unflinching documentary that follows runner Kutoven Stevens, who goes by Ku, on his journey from small-town Nevada to an out-of-state university. Through a masterful use of voiceover and interview, Bethmann explores the meaning behind Ku’s choice to honour his ancestors’ survival of boarding school through his dedication to running and the path that it sets him on. It’s not a film that offers easy answers, but rather a deeply human portrait of Indigenous individuals navigating the complexities of their heritage in a world that often seeks to erase them. It’s a powerful testament to the enduring strength of community and the ongoing fight to preserve cultural identity and to find healing. Most recently awarded SXSW’s Audience Award and Special Jury Award for Best Documentary, Remaining Native is a necessary film and offers a crucial perspective on the lived realities of Indigenous people today.

Over six years, Ninan Auassat: We, The Children embeds itself among three groups of youth that live on the Atikamekw, Eeyou Cree, and Innu Nations. Told entirely from the point of view of the children and teens, the level of trust and caring that filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin has put into these relationships is evident by the candidness of what the youth share. In between sweeping cinematography, they talk about what life is like in a fly-in community, the complications of being in school with Innu being their first language, and how their lives are different from non-Indigenous kids their age. Apart from the differences, this film also shows how similar children are, no matter where they’re from.

Indigenous women’s contributions to the growth of Indigenous Cinema were never easy. From the early days of Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin’s career to today’s emerging Iskwewak storytellers, Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin meets with Indigenous female filmmakers to share their stories and struggles of breaking into the industry and what it takes to uplift the next generation.

Ryland Walker Knight’s Mann’s Sparks is a hypnotic essay film that stitches together footage from Michael Mann’s iconic filmography with Beach House’s 2015 album Depression Cherry into an editorial masterstroke. As much as the film stands as a testament to Knight’s craft as editor, it also acts as a thematic dialogue between the dream pop band’s music and the images by one of cinema’s greatest auteurs, spanning Mann’s work from Thief (1981) to Blackhat (2015). It’s a mesmeric work, both visually and sonically, acting also as a document of Knight’s own development as an editor after suffering an injury and using Mann’s footage and the band’s album to relearn how to edit. Mann’s Sparks is a spellbinding celebration of cinematic language and how it can be reused, relearned, and reimagined into new possibilities.

A tight-knit village on the outskirts of Oaxaca called La Raya is a place where everyone leaves for work in the North. It’s also home to Sotera Santos, a young girl whose parents have promised to return for her. Sotera and her friend Eric discover a mysterious fridge and, after trying to sell it around the village, they discover it has magical properties. This bright dramedy combines the realities of migration for those left behind, found families, and a dash of magic realism to depict a charming community that has plenty of heart.