Canada – June 21: National Indigenous Peoples Day. NFB marks National Indigenous Peoples Day with the launch of Kevin Settee’s The Lake Winnipeg Project. Plus 400 titles on the NFB’s Indigenous Cinema page, new educational resources and the ever-popular Aabiziingwashi (Wide Awake) cinema initiative.

Jun 22, 2021 | International

Toronto – National Film Board of Canada

In honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21), Kevin Settee’s four-part series of short films, The Lake Winnipeg Project, is premiering online at Indigenous Cinema, the NFB’s rich online collection of Indigenous-made films. Lake Winnipeg’s shores are home to many vibrant Indigenous communities, including the Anishinaabe, Cree and Métis. The Lake Winnipeg Project is an Indigenous-led community-engagement project that explores the communities’ deep connection to the land and water at a time when many external forces are imposing change.

The Indigenous Cinema page offers free streaming of more than 400 new and classic titles from the NFB’s collection of films by Indigenous directors.

NFB.ca also now features a channel on the devastating impact—and ongoing legacy—of residential schools in Canada, offering 23 films, including Jay Cardinal Villeneuve’s Holy Angels, Kent Monkman’s Sisters & Brothers, Marie Clements’ The Road Forward and Alanis Obomsawin’s We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice.

Two of the NFB’s most recent works by Indigenous creators are currently on the festival circuit: Courtney Montour’s Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (Seen Through Woman Productions/NFB), which has received the Rogers Audience Award and the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award at Hot Docs and the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director at DOXA.

The NFB’s online learning portal, CAMPUS, features a number of new resources anchored in the NFB’s Indigenous collection, with mini-lessons written by Indigenous educators based on such acclaimed works as Alanis Obomsawin’s Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger, Christopher Auchter’s Now Is the Time, and Tasha Hubbard’s Birth of a Family.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, led by strong local partners across the country, the NFB’s Aabiziingwashi (Wide Awake) Indigenous cinema initiative remained active via virtual screenings, as well as in-person screenings where public health measures permitted. The NFB collection of Indigenous-made works consists of documentaries and animated films that can foster dialogue on a range of topics and themes. NFB representatives can help communities and organizations find a film or curate a program for their own local screening events by emailing wideawake@nfb.ca.

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Curator’s perspective | Director’s notes

About the NFB

Lily Robert

Director, Communications and Public Affairs, NFB

C.: 514-296-8261

l.robert@nfb.ca