Event Schedule

I'm Just Here for the Riot is a feature-length documentary that dives into the mob chaos and dramatic aftermath of Vancouver’s shocking 2011 Stanley Cup riot.

This hybrid feature documentary is based on the performance of James Luna, who toured a performance piece called ISHI: The Archive Performance reflecting on Ishi's story and the impact of colonization that exists today. This screening is supported by York University.

When the window for securing a ticket to the Tonga versus France Rugby World Cup game closes, Maka (John-Paul Foliaki) is forced to get creative for his chance to see his favourite team. This screening is supported by First Nations House & Office of Indigenous Initiatives, University of Toronto.

With the arrival of a mysterious nine-year-old Aboriginal boy (Aswan Reid), the lives of the denizens of a rural monastery in 1940s Australia slowly come out of balance.

This film is preceded by the short film "He Pounamu Ko Āu" by Director Tia Barrett. When Community Sergeant “Taffy” Tawharau (Cliff Curtis), a Māori police officer, returns home, he is faced with a dilemma. Indigenous activists in the vicinity have been holding militant boot camps and are suspected of plotting to kill the country’s Prime Minister… or so the police have said. This screening is supported by Ngā Aho Whakaari.

Based on the play of the same name by Kenneth T. Williams, and inspired by true events, Café Daughter is a coming-of-age story about Yvette Wong, a young Chinese Cree girl in 1960s Saskatchewan, who explores and embraces her Cree identity after the passing of her mother.Sensory Friendly Screenings are screenings where the environment is adjusted to accommodate people who would appreciate a positive, inclusive space, such as a relaxed attitude towards noise and movement, slightly lowered volume and lights at a dim level, and a minimal introduction with no Q&A. People also are more than welcome to leave their seats to roam around.

After experiencing a traumatic event in Igloolik (an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut), Uyarak leaves her community and family in Nunavut to live in Montréal. When Covid-19 lockdowns close off the Canadian Arctic from the rest of the world, Uyarak is further separated from her closest friend, eldest sister, Saqpinak. This screening is supported by CBC.

Based on the play of the same name by Kenneth T. Williams, and inspired by true events, Café Daughter is a coming-of-age story about Yvette Wong, a young Chinese Cree girl in 1960s Saskatchewan, who explores and embraces her Cree identity after the passing of her mother. This screening is supported by Telefilm.

This film is preceded by "Sunflower Siege Engine" directed by Sky Hopinka. Observation of an important infrastructure in Amazonia: downstream on a cargo boat that brings passengers and goods to the isolated communities in the Peruvian rain forest. Cargo boats form a non-lieu, a space of transition for the travellers taking journeys that can last days, as well as for the Indigenous communities living on the edges of the Amazon River, fighting for the survival of their cultural traditions and struggling to adapt to modernity.

Vaychiletik explores this fierce yet beautiful reality, forged from the dreams of the Mayan people of Mexico.

In Inky Pinky Ponky, co-directors Damon Fepulea’i and Ramon Te Wake form a portrait of hope, pride, and persistence in the face of intolerance. Anchored on a magnetic performance by Faletau-Prescott, Te Wake and Fepulea’i bring us into Lisa’s world, a reality of pain and joy, and show that the latter will always win out.

WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) explores how children of Indian Residential School survivors — including three generations of director Dr. Jules Koostachin’s own family — are moving beyond the burden of intergenerational trauma and into healing.

In this documentary, Mexican Tzotzil director Xun Sero confronts his past with honesty, understanding and forgiveness.