INDIGENIZE CANADA by screening Indigenous-made films on National Canadian Film Day 150! WHAT IS NATIONAL CANADIAN FILM DAY 150? On April 19, 2017, a massive one-day celebration of Canadian cinema will take place across this great land with movies being made available via television, online and at over 600 screenings in cinemas, libraries, public squares and anywhere else you can imagine showing a film. A multitude of events will happen in every province and territory, most of these will be free and many will involve Canadian film talent. Highlights will include a star-studded interactive webcast for high school students, a pop-up drive-in and a kick-off event celebrating Indigenous cinema. GET INVOLVED! WHAT WE DO The stories of Indigenous peoples are foundational For the sesquicentennial year, REEL CANADA to our definition as a nation, and REEL CANADA continues its commitment to honouring the invites you to participate on National Canadian Film diversity of Indigenous peoples and their Day 150 (NCFD 150) by showing films by Indigenous cinematic stories through its initial 2017 event. storytellers. As a precursor to National Canadian Film Day 150 (NCFD 150) and as an important occasion to Participation is free and open to all, and partners acknowledge the original peoples of this land, who sign on for NCFD 150 will receive logistical REEL CANADA is hosting an Indigenous Film and promotional support as well as promotional Summit in Abbotsford, BC, on March 7th. This materials and giveaways in the official NCFD 150 high profile event will highlight the achievements, screening party kit. resilience and continued contributions of our nation’s Indigenous peoples and filmmakers WHAT IS REEL CANADA? through engaging workshops and screenings. National Canadian Film Day 150 (NCFD 150) is presented by REEL CANADA, an organization that As 2017 marks the nation’s has been promoting the power and diversity of Canadian film for more than 12 years. Since its sesquicentennial and National inception in 2004, REEL CANADA has recognized the Canadian Film Day 150, we importance of cinematic stories told by Indigenous encourage all Canadians to celebrate peoples, and includes these as a core piece of all one of our richest and most diverse our programmes – including NCFD 150, when screenings cultural resources by showing films by Indigenous filmmakers will by Indigenous peoples. take place across Turtle Island and beyond.

Save the date – Wednesday, April 19, 2017. To find out more and to get involved, APRIL 19, please visit canfilmday.ca or email us at [email protected]. 2017 THOUGHTFUL. IMPORTANT. INDIGENOUS Below are 12 titles that are perfect for mature audiences in search of expanded Indigenous programming. For more inspiration, reach out at [email protected] — we are happy to offer programming help (including rights, suitable suggestions and more) and discuss sensitivities regarding subject matter.

FIRE SONG RHYMES FOR YOUNG GHOULS 2015 / Director-Writer: Adam Garnet Jones 2013 / Director-Writer: Jeff Barnaby / 88 min / / 96 min / English / 14A English / 14A A young, two-spirited Anishinaabe man tries Taking over the family business — drug dealing — to reconcile his own identity with that of his 15-year-old Aila tries to stay out of the clutches of community. the evil residential school official, Popper, in this brutal portrait of life on a 1970s reserve.

FORGOTTEN WARRIORS THE SPIRIT OF ANNIE MAE 1997 / Director-Writer: Loretta Todd / 51 min / 2002 / Director: Catherine Anne Martin / 73 min / English / NR English / NR Despite being exempt from conscription at the A film celebrating the life of Mi’kmaw woman outbreak of World War II, thousands of brave Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, a key figure in Indigenous men enlisted voluntarily. These the American Indian Movement, who was “forgotten warriors” share their thoughts. mysteriously murdered in 1975.

THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN TOTEM: THE RETURN OF THE 2006 / Director: Zacharias Kunuk / Writers: G’PSGOLOX POLE Eugene Ipkarnak, , Herve Paniaq, 2003 / Director-Writer: Gil Cardinal / 70 min / Pauloosie Qulitalik, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Louis Uttak / English / 14A 112 min / English, Inuktitut, Danish / 14A In 1991, the Haisla people of British Columbia A portrait of the lives of the last great Inuk journeyed to a Stockholm museum to retrieve shaman, Avva, and his beautiful and headstrong their long-lost nine-metre mortuary pole. daughter, Apak.

KANEHSATAKE: 270 YEARS OF TREADING WATER RESISTANCE 2014 / Director-Writers: Janelle Wookey, 1993 / Director-Writer: Alanis Obomsawin / Jérémie Wookey / 48 min / English / NR 119 min / English and French / PG The Manitoba flood of 2011 saw 2,100 Indigenous A compelling review of the Oka Crisis, a 1990 people forced from their homes. Three years standoff between the Mohawks of Kanehsatake later, evacuees are still lacking infrastructure — and the Canadian army and provincial police. and drowning in political bureaucracy.

THE LESSER BLESSED TWO WORLDS COLLIDING 2012 / Director: Anita Doron / Writers: Anita 2004 / Director-Writer: Tasha Hubbard / 49 min / Doron, Richard Van Camp (novel) / 86 min / English / NR English / 14A In the early 2000s, members of the Saskatoon An Indigenous teenager living in a small police force drove Indigenous men into remote community struggles to find his place in the fields and abandoned them to die. These acts modern world. became known as the Saskatoon “freezing deaths,” a terrifying story blown open by one survivor.

MUFFINS FOR GRANNY UVANGA 2007 / Director: Nadia McLaren / 88 min / 2014 / Directors: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, English / NR Madeline Ivalu / 86 min / English / 14A Seven survivors tell the urgent story of how the A Montreal woman and her 14-year-old son Canadian residential school system affected travel to the Arctic community of to their lives and communities. meet his late father’s family and explore his culture.