AKI and Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) to Open and Close the Festival
May 7, 2026, Tkaronto/Toronto—The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (imagineNATIVE) is pleased to announce the programming for its 26th festival year, taking place June 2–7, 2026, in Toronto and June 8–14, 2026, online.
As the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content, imagineNATIVE celebrates Indigenous film and media arts from around the world. This year’s festival features works representing 56 Indigenous Nations across 20 countries.
The 2026 theme centres around creating space for urgent dialogue, uplifting stories of resistance, solidarity, and truth-telling, and affirming Indigenous knowledge as a pathway toward a sustainable future and shared humanity.
Kicking off the festival’s opening night is a screening of the documentary AKI, directed by Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe), while the festival will close with the Canadian Screen Award-nominated historical drama Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) from Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk).
Among the many highlights of this year’s programming is Mārama, a gothic horror film directed by Taratoa Stappard (Ngāti Toa/Ngāti Raukawa me Ngāti Tūwharetoa), and originally developed through the imagineNATIVE Institute’s 2020 Screenwriting Features Lab. The film will screen as part of TD Free Friday, where all screenings on June 5 will be free.
Additional highlights include REZervations for Two, a new reality dating series from APTN, and the imagineNATIVE Originals program, featuring new works from emerging to mid-career Indigenous filmmakers across Canada.
The festival also spotlights the future of Indigenous cinema with a youth-made shorts program, including the winning film from the 2025 imagineNATIVE Tour’s Indigenous Youth Short Film Contest.
In addition to its film programming, imagineNATIVE also announced its slate of special events and media arts programming, including the Welcome Gathering and the highly anticipated The Beat, a live concert at the El Mocambo featuring performances by Gary Farmer and the Dish and Spoon Band, Evan Redsky and MR SAUGA.
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is proud to present the following film works as part of its 2026 programming:
Features + Double Bills
AKI – Opening Night Screening
Director/Writer/Producer: Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe)
Co-Producer: Jamie Manning
Canada | 2025 | 85 min
Anishnawbemowin | Documentary Feature
AKI is an exquisite meditation on the relationship between community and the earth. Following the activities of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek as they live the seasons, we are transported by laughter, awe, and love. The land is a tricky character, and the water that is her lifeblood speaks to us of life’s rhythms and wisdom. In AKI, the only words spoken are in Anishnawbemowin in honour of our loss and our revival of the language of our ancestors. AKI stuns with unforgettable cinematography matched by an ingenious soundtrack by Juno Award–nominated cellist Cris Derksen and multi-instrumentalist Julian Cote. The beaver just might steal the show.
River of Spirits
Director/Writer: TAWNA Collective (Sápara/Kichwa/Mestizo)
Co-Writer: Lucia Ferré
Producer: Boloh Miranda
Ecuador | 2025 | 61 min
Spanish, Achuar | Documentary Feature
North American Premiere
From anti-colonial art collective TAWNA, River of Spirits follows Luciano as he moves across his territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon in a solar-powered canoe. In the region, Indigenous leaders are creating a solar revolution to save the land, the people, and their culture from a ghost road that threatens to fracture the rainforest. Along the way, Luciano meets with community members to imagine sustainable alternatives grounded in collective decision-making and resistance to extractivist logic. Moving between documentary and experimental modes, River of Spirits attends to the sacred relationships between Amazonian Indigenous Peoples and the land, weaving together spirituality, resistance, and the beauty of living presence.
Preceded by Materia
Director/Writer/Producer: Alisi Telengut (Mongolian/Telengut)
Canada | 2025 | 6 min
English | Experimental Short
Canadian Premiere
Materia transforms ordinary objects into vast terrains of texture and light. Through macro and microscopic imagery, the film explores the hidden kinship between the human body and the mineral world.
Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising
Director/Co-Writer: Shane Belcourt (Métis)
Producer/Co-Writer: Tanya Talaga (Anishinaabe)
Canada | 2025 | 90 min
English, Anishinaabemowin | Documentary Feature
What they call a terrorist, we call a warrior. In the summer of 1974, a group of young Anishinaabe warriors led by Louis Cameron launched an armed occupation of Anicinabe Park. Their demands were for better housing, employment opportunities, the return of Anicinabe Park lands, and an end to the brutal systemic racism in Kenora, Ontario. The 39-day occupation became a moment that pushed Indigenous rights forward.
In Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising, director Shane Belcourt relies on first-person accounts, new interviews, archival footage, and Louis Cameron’s own words to paint a picture of this moment in history and its connection to the present. Louis’ son, Tyler Cameron, reflecting on his father as “one of the most wanted men in Canada,” brings heart to the complex and enigmatic Louis, offering us a portrait of Anishinaabe power in times of struggle.
Nika & Madison
Director/Writer: Eva Thomas (Walpole Island First Nation)
Co-Writer: Michael McGowan
Producer: Tyler Levine
Canada | 2025 | 87 min
English | Dramatic Feature
Madison (Star Slade) is a university student living in Toronto. During a visit back home to the rez, she finds herself in the back of a cop car after getting into a bar fight. Her childhood friend Nika (Ellyn Jade) finds Madison being assaulted by the arresting police officer. Nika fights him off, putting him in a coma. Scared and knowing the (in)justice system often works against victims, especially Indigenous women, they go on the run — first finding protection under the jurisdiction of the rez, then running further into the bush. Running out of options, with police forces hot on their tail, the friends find out how much they rely on each other and the support of their community to face the music.
Preceded by Windsong
Director/Producer: Loren Waters (Kiowa/Cherokee)
USA | 2026 | 4 min
English | Music Video
World Premiere
“Windsong” is a lush, visually poetic music video from Kalyn Fay’s album Garden, filmed on location at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where nature, art, and sound intertwine in a dreamy meditation on growth and longing.
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]
Directors: Adam Khalil (Ojibway), Zack Khalil (Ojibway)
Producers: Jacque Clark (Ojibway), Franny Alfano, Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington
Denmark/USA | 2026 | 80 min
English | Documentary Feature
Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, exposing the pervasive worldviews that justified their collection. Aanikoobijigan documents the vital work of the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA), a group representing all Michigan tribes in the struggle to bring Ancestors and funerary objects back from settler-colonial institutions.
Adam and Zack Khalil’s formally daring film follows the pressing battle to rebury remains held in sterile storage, laying bare the history of stolen Indigenous collections and the fight to enforce repatriation laws. Through an essayistic approach and vérité portraits, the film celebrates the courageous individuals performing this emotionally draining labour of return, honouring those dedicated to restoring dignity and community to their Ancestors.
Preceded by All My Love Thanks
Director/Writer/Producer: Blackhorse Lowe (Navajo)
Writer/Producer: Laura Ortman (Apache)
USA | 2026 | 3 min
English | Music Video
A Laura Ortman music video.
APTN Presents: REZervations for Two
Director/Writer: Vanessa Loewen (Manitoba Métis Federation)
Producers: Sharol Stewart (Métis), Crystal Dubois (Ojibway)
Canada | 2026 | 44 min
English | Reality TV
World Premiere
Hosted by Scott Wabano and Kairyn Potts, REZervations for Two is where Indigenous blind dating comes with unexpected twists and turns. Each episode follows a new dater hoping to find a connection, but of course, we have to make it interesting! From surprise moments to playful challenges set up by the hosts, nothing is ever as simple as dinner and drinks. Scott and Kai are there to stir the pot, share dating advice, and keep the chaos in check… or at least try to.
Boca Vieja
Director/Writer/Producer: Yovegami Ascona Mora (Mixe)
Co-Producer: Mónica Cruz Arcos
Mexico | 2025 | 85 min
Spanish | Documentary Feature
Canadian Premiere
Yovegami Ascona Mora’s Boca Vieja offers a sensitive and complex portrait of the director’s ancestral home in southern Mexico. The film lingers with equal care on the beauty of the sea and the beauty of the people who live alongside it, shaped by deep relationships to land and water. At the same time, the film traces the resilience of a community navigating the ebb and flow of daily life while resisting the persistent threat of territorial dispossession. Poetic and attentive, the film invites viewers to witness a living landscape where memory, place, and environmental change are deeply intertwined.
The sea is huge, the sea is a woman, the sea is delightful. Beautiful things are kept inside. She is a woman named Maria.
Preceded by Vuogáiduvvan (Adaptation)
Director/Writer: Aslak Paltto (Sámi)
Producer: Sadetło Scott (Tłı̨chǫ)
Canada/Finland | 2026 | 5 min
Northern Sámi | Documentary Short
North American Premiere
Traditional Sámi reindeer herding is on the brink of change due to the rapidly warming climate. No matter what, reindeer herders must adapt; otherwise, the reindeer starve, and there will be no future left.
Ea
Director/Writer/Producer: Noah Keone Viernes (Kānaka ‘Ōiwi)
Co-Director/Co-Producer: Sancia Miala Shiba Nash
Co-Producer: Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick
Japan/USA | 2025 | 70 min
English, ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi | Documentary Feature
North American Premiere
Directed by Noah Keone Viernes and Sancia Miala Shiba Nash, Ea (Sovereign) is a powerful feature documentary centring on Keʻeaumoku Kapu, a Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) leader and caretaker of the Nā ʻAikāne o Maui Cultural Center. The film chronicles the Kapu family’s multi-generational battle to reclaim ancestral land in Maui’s Kauaʻula Valley — a struggle against the enduring legacies of plantation agriculture, the US-backed overthrow, and modern militourism.
Preceded by Why Would I Leave
Director/Writer/Producer: Jade Baxter (Nlaka’pamux)
Canada | 2025 | 9 min
English, Nlakapamuxcheen | Documentary Short
World Premiere
The filmmaker’s firsthand account of the 2021 catastrophic wildfire season in the Nlaka’pamux Nation, weaving together historical and contemporary issues her community faces.
Walls – Akinni Inuk
Directors: Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg (Kalaaleq Inuk/Greenlandic), Sofie Rørdam
Producer: Emile Hertling Péronard (Kalaaleq Inuk/Greenlandic)
Denmark/Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) | 2025 | 75 min
Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) | Documentary Feature
In Walls – Akinni Inuk, directors Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg and Sofie Rørdam present a powerful indictment of the Greenlandic carceral system. This documentary focuses on Ruth, an inmate at the Nuuk correctional facility serving an ”indeterminate sentence” with no fixed end date. Ruth’s legal journey is marked by a tragic irony: She has spent significantly more time imprisoned for a battery charge than she did for her original manslaughter conviction.
The film thrives on the intimate bond between Ruth and co-director Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, who spent years conversing with Ruth across the prison fence. The directing team uses a cinéma vérité style to capture their evolving lives, documenting a period where Nina became a mother and Ruth became a grandmother. Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg and Rørdam’s emotional sincerity create a rewarding exploration of human empathy amidst systemic failure.
Preceded by Niimi
Director/Writer/Producer: Dana Solomon (Anishinaabe)
Co-Producer: Houston Bone
Canada | 2025 | 15 min
English | Dramatic Short
An Indigenous ballerina attempts to reignite her passion for dancing following a traumatic incident with her previous coach.
Meadowlarks
Director/Writer: Tasha Hubbard (Cree)
Co-Writer: Emil Sher
Producers: Tyler Hagan (Métis), Julia Rosenberg
Canada | 2025 | 91 min
English | Dramatic Feature
Meadowlarks tells the story of four siblings, separated from each other during the Sixties Scoop, finding each other again 50 years later. Set against the picturesque backdrop of the tourist destination town of Banff, feeling as foreign in their own lands as they do with one another, the siblings sift through the trauma of separation, unpacking the spaces in their lives in which they needed one another, and working out how to become family again. This emotional journey is carried through strong performances from Michael Greyeyes, Michelle Thrush, Carmen Moore, and Alex Rice.
Ceremony
Director/Writer/Producer: Banchi Hanuse (Nuxalk)
Co-Writer: Jessica Mayhew (Métis)
Canada | 2026 | 83 min
English, Nuxalk | Documentary Feature
North American Premiere
In Nuxalkulmc (Nuxalk Territory), the disappearance of the sputc (ooligan) — a small fish that has nourished the people of the Nuxalk Nation for generations — becomes a lens through which history, memory, and resilience unfold. Beginning from a request from Nuxulk leadership, director Banchi Hanuse’s film is twelve years in the making. Told through Nuxalk voices, radio broadcasts, rare archival material, watercolour animation, and careful scientific observation, the film traces how colonial policies and industrial extraction have imperilled both the fish and the people. Guided by Elders and cultural leaders, the story weaves together Indigenous sovereignty, cultural resurgence, and the sacred bond between human beings, non-human beings, and the land. Ceremony is made with the community, for the community — honouring the knowledge of the ancestors and envisioning a future rooted in the enduring presence of Nuxalk lands and waters.
Preceded by Yiyíistsʼą́ą́ʼ (Listen)
Director/Writer: Malakye Zaayin Tsosie (Navajo)
Producer: Kaitlyn Sanchez
USA | 2025 | 16 min
English, Navajo | Documentary Short
Ontario Premiere
The Navajo language is spoken less frequently across generations. However, its resilience persists through a small Navajo radio station, the director’s family members, and the people of the Navajo Nation.
The Colleano Heart
Director: Pauline Clague (Yaegl)
Producer: Kate Pappas
Australia | 2025 | 87 min
English | Documentary Feature
International Premiere
As “daring, glamorous shapeshifters who defied the colonial system,” the Colleano family rose to the highest levels of circus stardom. Once one of the world’s most prominent forms of mass entertainment, the circus carried the Colleanos across continents and to international acclaim. The Colleano Heart tells the story of a family who achieved global success while concealing their Aboriginal identity, yet remained deeply committed to family, culture, and the future. Director Pauline Clague combines the Colleano family’s home movies, archival recordings, and the descendants’ reunion across continents to uncover family histories to present a rich portrait of the power of family, talent, commitment, and the enduring power of kinship.
Mārama
Director/Writer: Taratoa Stappard (Ngāti Toa/Ngāti Raukawa me Ngāti Tūwharetoa)
Producers: Sharlene George (Ngāti Paerangi o Ngāmaru/Ngāti Māoate e Ngāti Tamarua), RickyLee Waipuka-Russell (Ngāti Raukawa/Ngāti Kahungunu/Ngāti Mutunga), Paraone Gloyne, Rouzie Hassanova
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 89 min
English, Māori | Dramatic Feature
Set in the Victorian era, horror film Mārama has been touted as venturing into “bold new cinematic territory: Māori Gothic.” A young Māori woman, Mary (Ariāna Osborne) travels to a grand English manor in search of her missing parents at the invitation of its owner, Nathaniel (Toby Stevens). Within its dark halls, she is haunted by visions hinting at something sinister and violent beneath the surface. The debut feature of London-based Kiwi Taratoa Stappard, Mārama wrestles with themes of colonization, Māori oppression, and the spiritual realm.
Preceded by KINKU
Director/Writer: Wayra Ana Velásquez (Kichwa Otavalo)
Director/Writer/Producer: Segundo Fuérez (Kichwa Otavalo)
Ecuador | 2025 | 6 min
English, Spanish | Dramatic Short
Canadian Premiere
A stop-motion short film about different ways to meet the ones we love.
Journey Home, David Gulpilil
Directors/Producers: Trisha Morton-Thomas (Anmattyerr), Maggie Miles
Producers: Jida Gulpilil (Yolgnu), Lloyd Garrawurra (Yolgnu), Rachel Clements
Australia | 2025 | 88 min
English, Yolngu | Documentary Feature
North American Premiere
Directed by Trisha Morton-Thomas and Maggie Miles, Journey Home, David Gulpilil, is a powerful documentary profile that serves as an intimate look into the life of the legendary Anmatyerr actor. Assembling a survey from a storied career, the film is a testament to a living culture, utilizing archival footage to weave together a narrative defined by its soft, meditative tone.
The film moves beyond a standard biography, focusing deeply on the themes of grief and the essential nature of care. It specifically explores the cultural significance of the death ceremony and the sacred process of returning a deceased person to their ancestral home. Eschewing traditional didactic methods, the documentary does not seek to “educate” in a conventional sense; instead, it presents Gulpilil’s life and legacy strictly on his community’s own terms. The result is a poignant reflection on ancestral connection and the enduring strength of Indigenous cultural continuity.
Preceded by HOLDING S P A C E
Directors/Writers: Apryl Day (Yorta Yorta/Wemba Wemba/Barapa Barapa), Jirra Lulla Harvey (Yorta Yorta/Wiradjuri)
Writer/Producer: Kieran Mpetyane Satour (Malngin/Pertame/Worimi)
Australia | 2025 | 13 min
English, Yorta Yorta | Documentary Short
International Premiere
A love letter to Cummeragunja and the Barmah Forest. Land holds memories of grief and joy; it tells our stories of resilience and love.
SPI
Director/Writer: Sayun Simung (Tayal)
Producer: Hui-Chen Huang
Taiwan | 2025 | 98 min
Tayal | Documentary Feature
Ontario Premiere
In Tayal tradition, spi means to dream — a vital connection to one’s ancestors. Following her grandfather’s passing, filmmaker Sayun Simung’s family struggles with grief and a growing sense of cultural disorientation. When her teenage cousin becomes pregnant, the resulting family tensions expose deep generational gaps and the erosion of traditional values. Amidst this turmoil, their grandfather continues to appear in their dreams, serving as a spiritual anchor. By weaving together her family’s personal struggles and her own quest to reclaim her Tayal roots, Simung explores the delicate balance between modernity and Indigenous memory. SPI is a poignant exploration of how a family, shaped by decades of assimilation, strives to honour and carry forward the Gaga — the ancestral ethical system — and the enduring spirit of their Elders in a rapidly changing world.
Blood Lines
Director/Writer/Producer: Gail Maurice (Métis)
Co-Producers: Paula Devonshire (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte), Jamie Manning
Canada | 2025 | 89 min
English, Michif | Dramatic Feature
Beatrice (Dana Solomon) is a store clerk with a passion for storytelling and a strained relationship with her recovering alcoholic mother Leonore (Gail Maurice). When Chani (Derica Lafrance) rolls into their small Métis community looking for her family roots, Beatrice’s interest is piqued, leading her to offer Chani a chance to get her story out in an effort to find the connection she’s been looking for. As the two become closer, family history bubbles to the surface and family secrets lead to a shocking discovery. Gail Maurice’s sophomore feature tells a story of reconciliation, reconnection, identity, kinship, and love beautifully immersed in her Métis language and culture.
Dream Touch Believe
Director/Writer/Producer: Jenna Naranjo Winters (Santa Clara Pueblo)
USA | 2025 | 85 min
English | Documentary Feature
International Premiere
As a young soldier in the Vietnam War, a blast from a grenade cost Michael Naranjo his eyesight. While the Tewa and Santa Clara Pueblo artist has no eyes and the use of just one of his hands, his sculptures are treasured worldwide and sit prominently in spaces as esteemed as the Vatican. Through interviews and archival footage, a portrait emerges of a deeply thoughtful and principled man who defied expectations and had the strength to fight past critics and stereotypes to build the life he had always dreamed of. Lovingly directed by his daughter Jenna Naranjo Winters, Dream Touch Believe is a documentary that stands as a testament to the power of creativity, perseverance, and family love.
Preceded by Honor of the Paintbrush
Director/Writer: Louise Thomas (Maskago Cree)
Producer: Wapikoni Mobile
Canada | 2025 | 8 min
English | Documentary Short
Ontario Premiere
Louise, an Anicinabe woman, found the strength to move on after the loss of her husband by devoting herself to the art gallery she opened in his honour. Through this process, she shows how healing can bring positivity and renewal.
Powwow People
Director: Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk)
Producer: Adam Piron (Mohawk)
USA | 2026 | 88 min
English | Documentary Feature
From the booming voice of the powwow MC, the local vendors and volunteers setting up, children running and climbing in and out of bleachers and tents, in between drums and dance, Sky Hopinka’s Powwow People is a documentary vérité celebrating a community of many Nations across Turtle Island coming together in this specially curated event. Filmed over the course of a single day, Hopinka’s second feature captures the audience not just as observers, but as participants with the inside perspectives of an organizer, an MC, a dancer, and a drummer reflecting on how their roles within the powwow circle ties them to their identity, community, and the passing on of tradition.
Preceded by Are You Native?
Director: Victoria Cheyenne (Aymara)
Producers: Shauna White Bear (Arikara), Erin Brender
USA | 2026 | 18 min
English | Documentary Short
World Premiere
In a conversation through time, Indigenous moccasin maker Shauna White Bear responds to the VHS tape she recorded 30 years ago for her father as she reflects on her identity, artform, and grief.
Levers
Director/Writer/Producer: Rhayne Vermette (Red River Métis)
Canada | 2025 | 92 min
English, French | Experimental Feature
Rhayne Veremette’s sophomore feature surrounds a pivotal event: the sun does not rise for one day. While the world watches a new sun rise, mysterious events weave together the lives of a sculptor, a civil servant, and a security guard. Vermette’s latest is a haunting and meditative cinematic journey. Known for her unique approach to blending documentary elements with abstract form, Vermette crafts a visual tapestry that challenges conventional narrative structure. The film explores profound themes of memory, landscape, and the emotional resonance of the everyday, utilizing unconventional techniques to draw the viewer into a deeply personal, yet universally felt, experience. Levers is a compelling and unique cinematic work that pushes the boundaries of the experimental form, delivering an uncompromising vision of interior and exterior worlds colliding on screen.
What We Carry
Director/Writer: Jessie Anthony (Onondaga Nation)
Co-Writer: Katrinka Scott
Producer: Kat McDermott (Bigstone Cree Nation), Bracken Burns
Canada | 2025 | 88 min
English | Documentary Feature
Toronto Premiere
What does reconciliation look like for the descendants of a residential school teacher? Katrinka and her daughter Bracken, explore this and many other questions after they open a trunk full of memories belonging to Katrinka’s mother, Jennifer Notley, an English school teacher who travelled by boat, train, and plane to answer the call for a position at Desmarais (St. Martin’s) Residential School in Treaty 8 territory. The discovery of Jennifer’s history leads Katrinka and Bracken on a journey to meet with community members from the Bigstone Cree Nation, many of whom attended St. Martin’s, to get a full picture of the impacts of residential schools, and more specifically, Jennifer’s impact on the community. Jessie Anthony’s debut documentary feature provides a fresh perspective on reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, with many challenging but much-needed discourses on privilege, accountability, and healing.
Preceded by The Orange Flower
Director/Writer/Producer: Selah Rayne (Mountain Cree)
Canada | 2025 | 4 min
English | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
The Orange Flower is a poignant short film that explores the legacy of residential schools through the eyes of a child, offering a deeply emotional glimpse into a painful chapter of history.
Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) – Closing Night Screening
Director/Writer: Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
Co-Writer/Co-Producer: Samuel Cohn-Cousineau
Producers: Carol Kunnuk (Inuk), Jonathan Frantz
Canada | 2025 | 100 min
Inuktut | Dramatic Feature
Sapa and Kaujuk, young sweethearts betrothed to one another, are pulled apart after Kaujuk’s father mysteriously dies, leaving her mother widowed and agreeing to take a new husband in another village. While settling into her new life, Kaujak is approached by a number of suitors fighting for her hand. Kaujuk remains steadfast in her faith that “future husband” Sapa will come back for her. From celebrated Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk comes a traditional Inuit tale about a betrothed love lost, the promise of a new life gone awry, and the hope of love returned, with a lingering troll and magical realism steeped throughout. With authentic performances by first-time actors, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) brings Inuit culture and folklore to life in stunning cinematic fashion.
imagineNATIVE Originals
imagineNATIVE Originals are imagineNATIVE’s year-round film commissions from emerging to mid-level filmmakers across Canada, sharing a world premiere during the Festival! Thank you to the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), Charles Street Video (CSV), the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF), and Capilano University for your continued partnership!
Itseetamapi
Director/Writer: Adam Solway (Blackfoot)
Producer: Austin Ladouceur
Canada | 2026 | 12 min
English, Blackfoot | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
A young Blackfoot woman with an unexplained connection to the spirit world struggles to understand her gift as a dark presence begins drawing closer, threatening to overwhelm her life.
Bimaadizi/Along in Space and Time
Director/Writer: Katia Ferderber (Anishinaabe)
Producer: Victoria Anderson-Gardner (Anishinaabe)
Canada | 2026 | 5 min
English | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
A young woman comes to meet a guy at the right place and right time. Will she allow herself to be open to kind, gentle Native love?
A Girl Like That
Director/Writer: Shae-Lynn Pearson (Haida)
Producer: RaeAnne Boon
Canada | 2026 | 9 min
English | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
After a breakdown on a remote road, a woman accepts help from a stranger — only to realize that the real danger may not be the empty highway.
Visitant
Director/Writer/Producer: Skylar Wesley (Ojibwe)
Canada | 2026 | 9 min
English | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
Guided by a whispering trail through a frozen forest, Taylor discovers shimmering regalia. This ancestral dream leaves her fingertips tingling, sparking a soulful journey to bring her heritage into reality.
Short Film Program: Parenting Under Pressure
Under bombardment, under racism, under darkness, under systems, under uncertainty, under conflict. These are stories of the everlasting, unconditional, supportive, fierce, brave love of parents that nurture the hearts of their children through hard times.
Ya Hanouni
Directors/Writers/Producers: Lyna Tadount (Kabyle), Sofian Chouaib (Amazigh)
France | 2024 | 3 min
Arabic | Dramatic Short
While a mom and dad try to put their baby to sleep, a competition arises between them: Who will manage to get the baby to say their first word?
Braids
Director/Writer: Elise Beers Aachix̂ Qağaduug (Aleut/Unanga)
Producers: Bryson Alejandro, Jekeva Phillips
USA | 2025 | 14 min
English, Lakota, Navajo | Dramatic Short
Toronto Premiere
Braids follows a young Native American boy, Raven, who grapples with identity, tradition, and societal pressures in a world that often misunderstands his heritage, forcing him to balance cultural integrity with conforming to societal expectations.
I Duok om I Bohuntung – The Owl and the Rainbow
Director: Jo Luping (Kadazan)
Writer: Lynda Chanwai-Earle (Ngāti Poon Yue)
Producer: Antony Gusscott
Aotearoa (New Zealand)/Malaysia | 2025 | 10 min
Kadazan | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
When depression pulls her daughter into darkness, a mother must transform to restore hope and bring colour back to their lives.
Womb
Director/Writer: Ira Hetaraka (Ngātiwai/Ngāpuhi)
Producer: Amanda Jane Robinson
United Kingdom | 2024 | 15 min
English, Māori | Dramatic Short
Canadian Premiere
A young Māori girl in the care of a conservative English couple savours her mother’s weekly visitations, as a custody battle driven by racial bias will ultimately decide their fate.
Flowers
Director/Writer: José Cardoso (Mestizo Kañari)
Producer: Adrian Van Wyk (South African, Khoi descent)
Ecuador | 2024 | 30 min
English, Spanish, Tupí, Portuguese, Vietnamese | Documentary Short
Ontario Premiere
An Amazon ethnocide is justified by war in Ukraine. The filmmaker leaves the screen and meets his 3-year-old son, who marvels at the flowers growing in the garden.
A Bridge in the Mist
Director: Hsueh-Bin Chieh (Paiwan)
Producers: Maraos (Tao), Alang Galavangang (Bunun), Alui Djadjavac (Paiwan), Phil Tang
Writer: Yi-Fang Li
Taiwan | 2025 | 28 min
Atayal | Documentary Short
Canadian Premiere
A Tayal daughter becomes a hostage to save her people, fracturing her family amid colonial war.
Short Film Program: Crack-ups
A zombie boyfriend in 16mm, a well-travelled message in a bottle, scheming Mohawks in a corporate afterlife, Māori prepping for the rapture, a rez tour with a truck full of empties, and a Sápmi land-based standoff. Save your big auntie laughs for these comedy shorts that will have you cracking up.
Convenience Store NDN Zombie
Director/Writer: Cole Forrest (Anishinaabe)
Producer: Ashley Browning (Pojoaque Pueblo/Santa Clara Pueblo)
Canada/USA | 2025 | 7 min
English | Dramatic Short
Ontario Premiere
Zoe and Benny are in love. Benny dies the night before Halloween and is reanimated as a zombie. Claire, Zoe’s best friend, has nefarious intentions.
Washed Up
Director/Writer/Producer: Sophie Hampson (Ngāti Huri/Raukawa)
Co-Producer: Acacia Wong
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 5 min
English | Dramatic Short
International Premiere
A widow’s message in a bottle washes up into the hands of an unexpected reader.
The Prince and the Pauper
Director/Producer: Tai Leclaire (Mohawk/Mi’kmaq)
Producers: Alex Nystrom (Ojibwe), Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache)
Canada/USA | 2025 | 17 min
English | Dramatic Short
Canadian Premiere
A famous Mohawk ghost, determined to escape the corporate afterlife, is drawn into
an unexpected encounter with an identical and partially deceased descendant.
The Rapture
Director/Writer/Producer: Jaimee Poipoi (Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Kahungunu)
Director/Producer: Roo Reihana-Wilson (Ngāpuhi/Ngāi Tūteauru/Ngāti Hine)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2026 | 11 min
English, Māori | Dramatic Short
International Premiere
With the rapture just days away, two haututu (mischievous) cousins reunite to complete their koro’s (grandfather’s) last wish: to return home. But are they ready?
Taxi the Empties
Director/Writer/Producer: Gerald Little Light (Siksika)
Co-Director/Co-Writer: Madden Running Rabbit (Siksika)
Co-Producer: Laszlo Uhrik
Canada | 2026 | 30 min
English | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
When Indigenous teen Madden faces eviction unless he finds work by day’s end, his desperate attempt to cash in empties for survival money spirals into a perilous odyssey across the rez.
Borderline
Director/Writer/Producer: Johannes Vang (Northern Sámi)
Norway | 2026 | 12 min
English, Northern Sámi, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
A Norwegian customs officer, a Finnish poacher, and a mysterious Swedish woman meet at the border between their homelands, becoming entangled in a conflict over laws, language, and prejudice.
Short Film Program: Witching Hour
Stories that reach into spaces known, unknown, and, at times, unsettling.
W7éyle (moon’s wife)
Director/Writer: Amanda Wandler (Secwépemc)
Producers: Kira Doxtator (Anishinaabe/Oneida/Dakota), Joshua Settee (Cree), Major Major, Anthony Poon, Kora Vanderlip
Canada | 2025 | 15 min
English, Secwépemctsín | Dramatic Short
Ontario Premiere
In a near future where immortality is offered in a pill, a Secwépemc woman must choose between eternal life and walking the path of her ancestors.
I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden
Director: Vea Mafile’o (Tongan/Māori/Hawaiian)
Writer/Producer: Nora Aati (Samoan)
Co-Producer: Seuta′afili Dr. Patrick Thomsen (Samoan)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 16 min
English, Samoan | Dramatic Short
International Premiere
When a Samoan woman enters therapy, she must navigate a series of alter egos protecting her from painful memories.
Love Is Trash
Director/Writer: Kenny Welsh (Whitesand First Nation)
Producer: PoChun Chen, Sylvia Liu
Canada | 2025 | 16 min
English | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
A woman at a data collection agency creates ad recommendations based on people’s trash and finds herself drawn to a man through his garbage.
John’s First Tattoo
Director/Writer/Producer: Jett Kowalchuk (Métis Nation Saskatchewan)
Canada | 2024 | 10 min
No dialogue | Dramatic Short
Ontario Premiere
John adjourns from his mundane life in order to get his first tattoo. His walk-in takes a turn when the parlour he visits promises more than just ink on skin.
Klee
Director/Writer/Producer: Gavin Baird (Métis)
Producers: Kayla Peters (Sturgeon Lake First Nation), Jacob Farrell (Peepeekisis Cree Nation)
Canada | 2025 | 19 min
English | Dramatic Short
Klee follows an alien who is sent to earth and tasked with a mission to invade, seduce, and terminate a family of colonizers in 19th century Saskatchewan.
Short Film Program: Love Has No Gender
We all need spaces of protection, exploration, and friendship especially when we face a great crisis. Our society’s understanding of difference and precarity will lead to a holistic embrace of everyone. These stories are about finding this sense of safety and love in order to live Queer and Trans joy.
IXIM (el amor no tiene género)
Director/Writer/Producer: Alex PV (Maya Mam)
Guatemala | 2024 | 30 min
Spanish, Q’eqchi’ | Documentary Short
Canadian Premiere
This documentary portrays Ménica Chub, a Maya Q′eqchi′ trans woman, and her struggle for inclusion rights in society over the last five years.
Ata Pūao
Director/Writer: Allie Howell (Waitaha/Ngāti Rangiwewehi)
Co-Writer: Pūmanawa Rawiri (Marutūāhu/Waikato Tainui/Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki)
Producer: Angel Kameta (Ngāti Whakaue/Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 14 min
English, Te Reo Māori | Dramatic Short
Canadian Premiere
Amid the nightlife of a new city, a young Māori trans woman reckons with safety, isolation, and the fragile bonds of old friendships outgrown — as the promise of belonging rises just beyond the horizon.
HOST
Director/Producer/Writer: Zachery Cameron Longboy (Sayisi Dene)
Canada | 2024 | 11 min
English | Experimental Short
Ontario Premiere
The artist leads a procession of his infections (HIV, Parkinson’s, spinal stenosis, and bedbugs) to the water in this ritual of co-existence.
O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You)
Director/Writer/Producer: Giselle Ilaoa (Alafua – Sāmoa/Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Ngāti Raukawa – Aotearoa)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 9 min
English, Sāmoan | Dramatic Short
International Premiere
Manaia, a young woman caught between expectation and self-acceptance, finds herself confronting her repressed sexuality when a chance reunion with her first love stirs old feelings.
Gâteau Girl (Pussy Pussy Pussy)
Director: Shanelle St. Hilaire (Red River Métis)
Canada | 2024 | 1 min
No dialogue | Experimental Short
Ontario Premiere
Following raw desire and allowing instinct to lead, through joyful exploration and unmasking, she becomes both a carefree wanderer and the radiant spectacle.
Short Film Program: Families by the Fire
The love of grandmothers and their grandbabies, Mi′kmaq and Anishinaabe traditional tales, a young gunslinger Western, a Hawaiian volcano story, and a fortune teller with a warning. Come gather for this collection of family-friendly stories told in animation and collaboration across generations.
Niwahkohmahkanis
Director/Writer/Producer: Zoey Roy (Nehithaw Dené/Métis)
Co-Writers: Cindy Horner (Métis), Maleah Horner (Métis), Maxine Roy (Dene), Akira Horner (Métis), Maria Campbell (Cree Métis)
Canada | 2024 | 4 min
English, Cree | Music Video
Ontario Premiere
Niwahkohmahkanis shines a light on the love children have for their grandmothers and the special relationship they share.
Wolverine and Little Thunder: An Eel Hunting Adventure
Director/Writer/Producer: Alan Syliboy (Mi’kmaq)
Co-Producer: Stephanie Joline (Inuk)
Canada | 2025 | 9 min
English | Dramatic Short
Rooted in Mi′kmaw storytelling, this animated short follows two young friends whose eel-fishing trip becomes a lesson in courage, problem-solving, and cultural connection.
The Wild Sheriff
Director: Sarah Houle (Métis)
Writer: Shane Ghostkeeper (Cree Métis/Saulteaux), Vittal Ghostkeeper (Cree Métis/Saulteaux)
Producer: Kaytlyn Turner
Canada | 2025 | 12 min
English | Dramatic Short
Ontario Premiere
A violent storm is brewing as two powerful forces are about to collide. The orphaned Wild Sheriff seeks to bring order as he wrestles with his inner chaos.
Migizi Makes A Deal With Gzhemnidoo
Director/Writer/Producer: Esbikenh (Anishinaabe)
Canada | 2025 | 13 min
English, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
A visually striking 2D animated Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) short celebrating the importance of Indigenous language and tradition — an engaging Anishinaabe story that resonates with audiences of all ages.
Nenaboozhoo
Director/Producer: Isaac Murdoch (Anishnaabe)
Writer: Danielle Boissoneau (Anishnaabe)
Producers: Tyler Young, Danny Silver, Dong Chang, Christopher Johnson
Canada | 2025 | 15 min
Anishinaabemowin | Dramatic Short
A traditionally animated in-language Anishinaabe story of how the arrow got its feathers.
Molly of Denali | Episode 505: There is Pele
Director: Amanda Strong (Michif/Red River Métis)
Writer: Princess Daazharaii Johnson (Neets’aii Gwich’in)
Producer: Yatibaey Evans (Ahtna/Athabascan)
Canada | 2025 | 25 min
English, Ōlelo Hawai‘i | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
Molly and Grandpa Nat travel to Hawaiʻi and Molly wishes to see a volcanic eruption. She learns about Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani and the tradition of making offerings to the goddess Pele.
Tankha
Directors: Alexander Moruo (Sakha), Markel Martynov (Sakha)
Writers: Tatyana Ushnitsky (Sakha), Nikolay Syromyatnikov (Sakha)
Producers: Anna Borisova (Sakha), Roman Okoneshnikov (Sakha)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 13 min
English, Sakha (English dub) | Dramatic Short
Toronto Premiere
During the mystical period of Taŋkha, three friends receive a mysterious prediction from a fortune teller, unleashing strange events. As curiosity turns to fear, they must solve the riddle.
Short Film Program: Survivance
Survivance, coined by Anishinaabe writer Gerald Vizenor, is the combination of survival and resistance where culture, imagination, and ancestral connection thrive. The heart of these films beats with the survivance derived from monumental storytelling.
Pouākai (Raptor)
Director: Libby Hakaraia (Ngāti Kapu)
Writer: Ricardo Giraldo (Ngāti Porou)
Producers: Tainui Stephens (Te Rarawa), Desray Armstrong (Te-Aitanga-a-Hauiti/Ngāti Porou)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | Dramatic Short
Māori | 2026 | 15 min
Ontario Premiere
When his only child is snatched by a legendary giant raptor, a young Māori chief must confront his deepest fears and summon the strength of his ancestors to face the creature in its mountaintop eyrie.
ACE
Director/Writer: Raymond Edwards (Māori)
Producer: Lindsay Gough
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2024 | 15 min
English, Māori | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
On a quest to save his parents’ marriage, 10-year-old Jimmy takes a mythical journey through his imagination to the underworld, where he learns the ways of courage and sacrifice.
Guardian of Baikal
Director/Writer/Producer: Uladay N. Bayar (Bair Uladaev (Buryadmongol))
Co-Producer: Lodon Erdenedalai (Mongol – Oirad Clan)
Co-Writer: Irina Urbaeva (Buryadmongol – Ekhirit Clan, Besegen Abzay Lineage)
Mongolia | 2025 | 13 min
Buryadmongolian | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
Warrior turned cab driver, a living tree, now a silent sculpture. Will the Guardian hear Baikal’s Spirit after many reincarnations? Did he fulfill his duty and preserve his people’s traditions?
First Horse
Director: Awanui Simich-Pene (Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Hauā)
Writer: Heperi Mita (Ngāti Pikiao/Ngai-Te-Rangi/Ngāti Whakahemo)
Producer: Mia Henry-Teirney (Ngāti Kahu/Te Rarawa/Ngāti Kuri)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2024 | 11 min
Te Reo Māori | Dramatic Short
Canadian Premiere
In 1826 Aotearoa, a small girl in an isolated setting comes into first contact with two facets of colonization: a foreign infectious disease and the first horse she’s ever seen.
Shaaghan Neekwaii (Two Old Women)
Director/Writer/Producer: Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets’aii Gwich’in)
Co-Producers: Taa’aii Peter (Gwich’in), Jason Ryle (Anishinaabe), Heather Rae (Chickamauga)
USA | 2025 | 13 min
Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa | Dramatic Short
Ontario Premiere
During a forbidding Alaskan winter, two abandoned elderly women decide whether they will try to survive or resign themselves to death.
Gaza Bride 17
Director/Writer/Producer: Waseem Khair (Palestinian)
Co-Producers: Mariam Basha, Sana Tanous, Israel Bañuelos, Roger Waters
Palestine | 2025 | 20 min
Arabic | Dramatic Short
Canadian Premiere
A fisherman from Gaza is trapped in his haunting memories.
Short Film Program: Land Meditations
A sumptuous audio-visual journey through the Jarnami desert landscapes of Australia, Te Hākari wetlands of Kuku and the Ōtaki in Aotearoa, La Alta Guajira desert in Colombia, and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory in Canada. We are guided by Elders, knowledge keepers, ancestral law, and knowledge derived from the land.
Midnight Migrations: Wëdzey Tąy (Caribou Trails)
Directors/Writers/Producers: Darcy Tara McDiarmid (Han/Northern Tutchone), Chantal Rousseau
Canada | 2026 | 17 min
English, Hän | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
Out of the depths of time immemorial, caribou navigate under starlight across a mysterious landscape of pristine beauty. The caribou persevere through cataclysmic changes, outrunning all climactic forces from the impact of the people who have turned away from our traditional ways and our spiritual laws.
cadèwašteya
Director/Writer/Producer: Nadine Arpin (Red River Michif)
Canada | 2025 | 3 min
Southern Michif, Northern Michif, Nakota, Gaelic | Experimental Short
Toronto Premiere
cadéwašteya (Nakota: with a good heart) is meant as a form of prayer which draws its medicine from the teachings of the sacred circle. This experimental reel evokes meditative reflection on love and healing.
Jülapüin Yonna (The Dream of Dance)
Director/Writer: Luzbeidy Monterrosa Atencio (Wayuu)
Producer: Sara Cardozo
Colombia | 2025 | 16 min
Wayuunaiki | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
The dance announces the death of the Earth in order to heal her, for she has been violated by coal extractivism in Wayuu territory.
HINA
Directors/Producers: Dolina Wehipeihana (Māori – Ngāti Tukorehe), Louise Pōtiki Bryant (Māori – Kāi Tahu/Kāti Mamoe/Waitaha)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 18 min
English, Māori | Experimental Short
Ontario Premiere
In the Te Hākari wetlands, a young woman reconnects with her ancestral land. Created by Dolina Wehipeihana and Louise Pōtiki Bryant and filmed with Dolina’s daughters, HINA honours the enduring bond between wāhine and whenua.
Crown and Country
Director/Writer: Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu (Warlpiri)
Director/Producer: Marc Peckham
Co-Writer: Jerry Jangala Patrick (Warlpiri)
Co-Producer: Kim Williamson
Australia | 2025 | 35 min
English, Warlpiri | Experimental Short
International Premiere
Warlpiri Elder Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu and his father, Jerry Jangala Patrick, take you on a journey through desert landscapes and Indigenous spirituality from Lajamanu in the Central Australian desert.
Short Film Program: Revitalized Legends
Legends are a pathway to the knowledge of our ancestors. These are stories we grew up with, reimagined in innovative and creative ways to ensure we continue to understand the world around us.
Corn Husk Doll
Director: Yuma Dean Hester (Anishinaabe/Cree)
Writer: Kaniehtenhawi Deer (Mohawk of Six Nations)
Producer: Ashley Maracle (Mohawk of Tyendinaga)
Canada | 2025 | 14 min
Gayogohó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) | Dramatic Short
Toronto Premiere
A retelling of a traditional Hodinöhsö:ni’ story in the Gayogohó꞉nǫʼ language.
Nivingajuliat
Directors/Writers/Producers: Shelby Lisk (Kanyen′kehá:ka), Tess Girard
Canada | 2026 | 12 min
English | Documentary Short
Toronto Premiere
In her latest wallhanging, artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona reimagines the Inuit legend of Sedna, transforming a tale shaped by patriarchal violence into a vision of female sovereignty and self-determination.
The Woman Who Married A Bear
Director/Writer/Producer: Kaa,Laa Mary Goddard (Tlingit)
Co-Director: Dave Fedorski
USA | 2025 | 12 min
Tlingit (Lingít) | Dramatic Short
International Premiere
While picking berries, a woman insults the spirit of a bear who disguises himself as a handsome man and lures her to his den.
A’Likou (River People)
Director/Writer: Peter Toyat (Melanau)
Producer: Tan Seok Yee
Malaysia | 2025 | 14 min
Melanau | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
In the ancient Melanau kingdom, a humble fisherman’s life unravels when his sister is taken as a sacrifice. Defying rulers, spirits, and fate, his quest to save her forges him into a warrior king whose choices ignite a war among nations.
Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawer of Rocks)
Director/Writer/Producer: Louise Flaherty (Inuit)
Canada | 2025 | 14 min
Inuktitut | Dramatic Short
Two women are led astray and become trapped in the lair of the Mangittatuarjuk, the Gnawer of Rocks. They must use the teachings of their Elders to defeat the monster.
Short Film Program: Legendary Lineages
Aunties, uncles, leaders — these are people whose life’s work has contributed to the future fabric of the Indigenous world. By striving to maintain their families, their communities, and their Indigenous ways of life, these people have transformed the worlds around them. Be inspired by their stories.
Run as One
Director: Amber-Sky Ranville (Ojibwe)
Writer: Christian Picken (Swampy Cree)
Producer: Ella Cowan
Canada | 2025 | 6 min
English | Documentary Short
World Premiere
Like his song “Run as One,” Errol Ranville’s life is a call for Indigenous strength and solidarity. An anthem passed down through family, music, and memory.
Erroll Kinistino: Inspiration and Activism in the Arts
Director/Writer/Producer: Jimi Leigh Kinistino (Cree)
Co-Producer: Patrick Cameron
Canada | 2025 | 17 min
English | Documentary Short
World Premiere
A short documentary covering the long and storied career of Erroll Kinistino as he recounts his roots in activism and an artistic upbringing that led him into the world of entertainment, and his journey through the worlds of theatre, music, and the arts.
Sally’s Bravery
Co-Directors/Co-Writers: Nathalie Rankin (Anicinape), Roxanne Lauzon (Anicinape)
Producer: Wapikoni Mobile
Canada | 2025 | 5 min
French | Dramatic Short
Ontario Premiere
In canoeing over 650 km with her children, Sally Diamond left a legacy of courage and strength that we honour in this documentary.
Moon Noonk Edouard
Director/Writer: Jessie Ray Short (Michif)
Producers: Marie-France Guerrette, Christine Aubé
Canada | 2026 | 35 min
English, French | Documentary Short
World Premiere
For the first time, Édouard Beaupré’s story is told by a member of his own family. Filmmaker Jessie Ray Short blends documentary with carefully crafted recreations to conjure an oneiric space shaped by memory, dreams, and truth.
Homesteads: Whina Cooper
Director/Writer/Producer: Kimiora Kaire-Melbourne (Māori)
Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 26 min
English, Māori | Documentary Short
International Premiere
Through her daughter’s eyes, this film returns to Dame Whina Cooper’s homestead, a historic remnant of her legacy, revealing the whenua (land) that shaped the activist who would become Te Whaea o te Motu (Mother of a Nation).
Short Film Program: In Defiance
Your mother is a river guardian. You’re born fighting gold mining. You survive boarding school to fight for Sámi sovereignty. Kokum Penny tells you about burning the school down. And the kids say, “I won’t do what you tell me.” In defiance of colonialism, you thrive.
The Neighborhood Kids | AND THE KIDS SAY
Director: Polaris Castillo (Nahua Mexica)
Writers/Producers: Verde (Kumeyaay), Amon the MC (Kumeyaay)
USA | 2025 | 4 min
English | Music Video
International Premiere
In a picture-perfect suburb where a secret society is abducting people off the streets while the world turns a blind eye, two neighbourhood kids rebel to remove their blindfolds.
Endless Sunlight
Director/Writer/Producer: Tyson Houseman (Nêhiyaw)
Canada | 2026 | 8 min
English | Documentary Short
Ontario Premiere
Five generations of matriarchal lineage are woven across time as Kokum Penny Roan describes how her uncle burned down a residential school when he was a child.
Vieljažagaid iežaska jáhkku (Brothers of Faith)
Director/Writer/Producer: Gákte Biera (Northern Sámi)
Norway | 2026 | 15 min
Northern Sámi | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
Two brothers try to hold on to themselves inside a colonial boarding school designed to erase who they are.
Charip: Lightning in the River
Directors/Writers: Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW), Mullu TV
Producers: Evaristo Pujupat Shirap (Wampís), Aquiles Mucushua Aujtukai (Wampís), Celso Petsain (Wampís), Ricardo Pérez, Lucía Galarza Suárez
Perú | 2025 | 20 min
Wampís | Documentary Short
Canadian Premiere
When gold mining threatens their ancestral territory in the Peruvian Amazon, the Wampís Nation rises to defend land, rivers, and sovereignty, confronting global extractivism with resistance and territorial control.
Ixquic
Director/Writer: Elvis Caj (Maya Poqomchi’)
Producers: Isha Sumner (Garífuna), Benjamín Sagüí (Keqchí)
Guatemala | 2025 | 25 min
Spanish, Poqomchi’, K’ekchi’ | Dramatic Short
North American Premiere
Ixquic, an Indigenous teenager, rejects her mother’s fight to protect a threatened river. When the river begins to bleed, and ancestral forces awaken, she must reconcile her identity with the legacy she denied in order to defend her territory.
Short Film Program: What's to Come
Community-based dark comedies, powerful spoken words, and a gentle story of siblings in the bush. Animated transformation, healing in a hide camp, carrying on traditional practices, and empowered myths. The future of Indigenous Cinema looks bright in this all-youth-made shorts program, including the winning film from the 2025 imagineNATIVE Tour’s Indigenous Youth Short Film Contest.
The Night Shift
Director/Writer: Emmitt Many Heads (Blackfoot)
Producers: Adam Solway (Blackfoot), Sinakson Trevor Solway (Blackfoot)
Canada | 2026 | 4 min
English | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
Directed and written by Emmitt Many Heads (age 18) and filmed in Siksika Nation, Alberta, during an Indigenous Youth Filmmaking Workshop as part of the 2025 imagineNATIVE Tour.
Little Orange Bandages
Director/Producer/Writer: Kile M. George (Anishinaabe)
Canada | 2025 | 4 min
English | Experimental Short
Toronto Premiere
An experimental short featuring a young Anishinaabe artist’s spoken word expression of frustration over the emptiness of reconciliation.
Lethal Ethel
Director/Writer: Elayna Einish (Naskapi)
Producer: Wapikoni Mobile
Canada | 2025 | 9 min
English | Dramatic Short
Toronto Premiere
Blending horror and humour, Lethal Ethel is a mockumentary that follows the story of a Naskapi vampire who goes to murderous lengths to protect her land and culture.
Abinoojiikaasmin (We Act Like Children)
Director/Writer: Evelyn Pakinewatik (Nbisiing Anishinaabe)
Co-Writers: Rosalie Mianskum (Nbisiing Anishinaabe), Tayton Mianskum (Nbisiing Anishinaabe)
Producers: Tara Levesque, Dennis Landry
Canada | 2026 | 13 min
English, Nbisiing Anishinaabe | Dramatic Short
World Premiere
Beyond the end of time, two children hide in spiritual stasis from the terrors of their perceived future.
Isunngannguaq
Director/Writer: Saima Romito-Kalluk (Inuit)
Producer: Celina Kalluk (Inuit)
Canada | 2025 | 5 min
No dialogue | Dramatic Short
Toronto Premiere
A young girl has the power to transform into a long-tailed jaeger, an Arctic seabird. She soon realizes that she will need to make a difficult choice.
Deneege Leł Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh
Director/Writer: Brittany Woods-Orrison (Koyukon Dené)
Producer: Sadetło Scott (Tłı̨chǫ Dene)
Canada/USA | 2026 | 5 min
English, Denaakk’e | Documentary Short
North American Premiere
Enduring the chaos happening to their peoples and homelands, a group of Alaskan Dene women find strength and hope in reviving the ancestral practice of brain tanning hides.
Eallu lea eallin
Director/Writer/Producer: Eila Marie Engkvist Muotka (Sea Sámi/Northern Sámi)
Norway | 2025 | 19 min
Northern Sámi | Documentary Short
North American Premiere
A young female Sámi reindeer herder must choose between pursuing further education or taking over her ancestors’ traditional way of life.
Akababuru: Expression of astonishment
Director/Writer: Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí (Embera Chamí)
Producer: Laura Giraldo Mira
Colombia | 2025 | 13 min
Embera Chamí | Dramatic Short
Canadian Premiere
An Indigenous girl afraid to laugh finds empowerment through a liberating retelling of a myth about a woman punished for laughing and discovers joy as resistance against those who oppress her.
Short Film Program: On the Land
The land is a mother, a sibling, a resting place, a source of healing and connection. These stories weave the present with millennia of Indigenous existence on the land, reminding us that when we reclaim our relationships on the land, we find our voices.
Iikaiksimatsa’pao’p: Grateful to Be on the Land
Director/Writer: Sinakson Trevor Solway (Blackfoot)
Producer: Guillaume Carlier
Canada | 2025 | 12 min
English, Blackfoot | Documentary Short
Ontario Premiere
This film highlights Cassie Ayoungman, founder of Soul of Miistaki, on her journey of self-discovery through climbing — integrating Indigenous teachings and land-based learning into climbing clinics with an aim to redefine relationships to the outdoors.
Sukkaillutit Uqaruk (Say It Slowly)
Director/Writer: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard (Inuk)
Producer: Sara Beate Eira (Sámi)
Canada | 2026 | 5 min
English, Inuktitut | Documentary Short
Canadian Premiere
A moving parallel between language loss and climate change, highlighting personal and communal resilience.
Raised by the Canoe
Director/Writer: Cathrine Paul (Skwxwú7mesh/Nuxalk/Kwakwaka’wakw)
Co-Producer: Jeremy Dyson
Canada | 2026 | 16 min
English | Documentary Short
Canadian Premiere
The Terry Lee Canoe Club of Sts’ailes First Nation began as a family crew and now thrives in resurgence, guided by Cathrine and Devin Paul, uniting generations through carving, training, and cultural continuity.
Tamatta Ataqatigiippugut – We are all connected
Director/Writer/Producer: Arina Kleist (Greenlandic Inuk)
Co-Producer: Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Inuk/Neets’aii Gwich’in)
Canada/Denmark/Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) | 2026 | 4 min
Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) | Documentary Short
North American Premiere
A reflection on ancestral spirits and our broken bond with Nature, told through compelling imagery and an Inuit perspective.
América
Director/Writer: Eduardo Valiente (Wankavilka)
Ecuador | 2025 | 11 min
Spanish | Documentary Short
International Premiere
In El Morrillo, clay remembers her hands. Between fire and earth, a Wankavilca grandmother shapes vessels, guarding ancient secrets, keeping alive a millenary craft that refuses to die.
WAT WAS HIE?
Director/Writer/Producer: Luke De Kock (Khoekhoe/San)
Co-Writer: Lucy Campbell
South Africa | 2025 | 31 min
English, Khoekhoegowab, Kaaps, Afrikaans, Xhosa | Documentary Short
World Premiere
Through historical sites and embodied storytelling, WAT WAS HIE? uncovers hidden histories of Cape slavery and colonialism in South Africa, amplifying Indigenous voices while asking, WHAT WAS HERE?
He Moʻolelo Wahi Pana (A Storied Landscape)
Directors: Kuʻulei Keakealani (Kanaka Maoli/Cree), Kapena Liu (Kanaka Maoli)
Producers: Alice Kaʻeuʻeu Shingle (Kanaka Maoli), Alison Week
USA | 2025 | 22 min
English, Ōlelo Hawaiʻi | Experimental Short
North American Premiere
Told through Hawaiian oral tradition, this story follows two sisters migrating across Hawaiʻi Island, where love, rivalry, and ancestral legacy intertwine with memory and landscape.
Full programming and ticket information are now available at imagineNATIVE.org.
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About imagineNATIVE:
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world’s largest Indigenous festival showcasing film, video, audio, and digital + interactive media made by Indigenous creators. The Festival presents compelling and distinctive works from Canada and around the globe, reflecting the diversity of Indigenous Nations and illustrating the vitality and dynamism of Indigenous arts, perspectives, and cultures in contemporary media.
For media inquiries:
Route 504 PR
imagineNATIVE@route504pr.com
