Looking back on 25 years of imagineNATIVE, this year’s milestone festival will start with the traditional Welcome Gathering held at Spadina Museum on Tuesday, June 3. The gathering will feature a performance by Kehewin Native Dance Theatre, delectable food from Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin (They Feed the People) and The Three Sisters Indigenous Vendors Market, encouraging guests to buy Indigenous-made, not Indigenous inspired, products. 

Following the Welcome Gathering, the Opening Night Party featuring the sounds of DJ Thomas Hernan will be hosted at Malaparte on King West in the heart of the entertainment district. 

On Saturday, June 7, The Birthday Beat returns to Steam Whistle Brewery, hosted by Kairyn Potts and Scott Wabano of The Real Rank Podcast. The party will feature performances by Robin Cisek, DJ Classic Roots, HUIA ft Rei, and headliner MELODOWNZ ft. DJ Seymore. 

Six exhibitions, one guided tour: The Art Crawl is a free fan-favourite event happening on Thursday, June 5. The tour will take folks to Collision Gallery, Onsite Gallery, Gallery 44, YYZ Artists’ Outlet and Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space from 5:00 PM ET onwards. As part of The Art Crawl, guests will get to experience the following exhibitions: Mekwâc (Artist: James Monkman), Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982-2024) (Curator: Ryan Rice, Artist: Rosalie Favell), Artificial Future (Artist: Emma Martin), Pick It Up, Quick (Artist: Jake Kimble) and Reel Kinship: 25 years of imagineNATIVE and Vtape (Curator: Emily Laurent Henderson).

Back for another year is the iNdigital Space + Arcade open from Wednesday, June 4 to Sunday, June 8 at the TIFF Lightbox, Gallery for free. This large-scale presentation invites you to see, listen, and play with the diverse Official Selection, which includes VR, 360° Video dome, projection installations, AR, video games, and interactive web and digital media works. 

Also featured in the iNdigital Space + Arcade are the festival’s 14 audio works. Selections this year include the works of January Rogers (Mohawk/Tuscarora), Josh Carriere McKenna (Métis), Kahstoserakwathe Paulette Moore (Mohawk), Loren Waters (Cherokee/Kiowa), Ramon Kataquapit (Cree), Cheyenne McNenly (Dene), Angela P Startz (Inupiaq), Sunrise Tippeconnie (Comanche), tvli jacob (Choctaw), Angela P Startz (Inupiaq), Sunrise Tippeconnie (Comanche), tvli jacob (Choctaw), Jean Luc Kanapé (Innu), Tammy G Wolfe (Cree), Kairyn Potts (Nakota Sioux), Scott Wabano (Cree), Robbie Wing (Cherokee), Kaniehtiio Horn (Mohawk), Kyle McKearney (Métis) and Shayla Oulette Stonechild (Cree/Métis).

For Indigenous screen industry professionals, imagineNATIVE’s Industry Days is hosting several meetings, panels, and networking events throughout the festival including Micro Meetings, imagineNATIVE Originals screenings and the Industry Days Closing Reception with speakers including Indigenous Cinema Alliance members, past and present imagineNATIVE leadership and more!

Closing the festival’s special events will be the Awards Presentation on Sunday, June 8, at the TIFF Lightbox. The presentation will be hosted by Janelle Niles with performances by Lacey Hill ft Derek Miller and Adrian Sutherland. 

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, along with its year-round activities are made possible with the support of many public funders, and sponsors imagineNATIVE acknowledges and gives appreciation to APTN, Bell Media the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, Canada Media Fund,  the Indigenous Screen Office, the Ministry of Ontario, Miziwe Biik, Netflix, Ontario Creates, the Ontario Arts Council, TD Bank and Telefilm. 

Full programming and ticket information are now available at imagineNATIVE.org.