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

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.

Big hair, big fashion, make-up, dance, drag, vogue, catwalk. Whatever way you werk it, you’ll leave grandma screaming, “That’s My Baby!” Films included: Club Kid Alley, BUTTERFLY/BATAPLAI, Ancestral Threads, Brolesque, and The Alexander Ball.

Compelling experimental shorts that weave soundscapes with the evolution, formation and connection to land and water. Films included: Baigal Nuur - Lake Baikal, Drumoh, Distant, The Golden Age, kobechenonk, Ajá (Water), and Biolumin.

A large part of the human experience is learning how to deal with the multitude of ways we can experience and process grief. Whether the grief is deep and spiritual, steeped in love, cultural, physical, sudden or anticipated, learning to embrace loss is a life skill. Films included: Heart Like a Pow Wow, A Bear Named Jesus, Four Nights and a Fire, A Boy and His Loss, Grape Soda in the Parking Lot, I won’t remain alone, and Fast Eddie.

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.

A child’s call for action for the people of the world to do better for Mother Earth and future generations.

In this documentary, Mexican Tzotzil director Xun Sero confronts his past with honesty, understanding and forgiveness. As a Mexican Tzotzil, Xun grew up between the sacrality both of Guadalupe Virgin and Mother Earth. As a son, he grew up among the derision of not having a father and blaming my mother for it. “Mom” is a dialogue between mother and son exploring their contradictions, knowing and recognizing each other, and reflecting on naturalized violence and its reproduction.

The imagineNATIVE Originals program showcases the creations of up-and-coming filmmakers, developed through imagineNATIVE Institutes' commissioned mentorships and continuous year-round support.