iN2020 Audience Choice Awards

A queer, bi-racial couple on the path towards having a child through the fertility treatment process explores their differences in race, culture, class, gender roles and dynamics.

Director/Writer: Theola Ross – Pimichikamak Cree Nation
Producer/Writer: Alexandra Fisher Bailey (Métis)
Canada | 2020 | 11 min
English/Cree | Short Documentary

Theola Ross is a Cree Language Carrier and has a Bachelor of Social Work from Ryerson University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba. Her work focuses on real-life issues and is witness to individuals’ daily struggles and triumphs.

Content Warning: Mature audience

In Q’umk’uts’ in Bella Coola, Nuxalk language can be heard coming through car radios and stereos in family homes. Upholding ancestral nationhood, this community radio station contributes to the continuum of the Nuxalk language, broadcasting the laws of the lands and waters.

Director: Banchi Hanuse – Nuxalk
Canada | 2020 | 3 min
Nuxalk/English | Short Documentary

Banchi Hanuse is an award winning Nuxalk filmmaker. Hanuse was a production assistant and project coordinator at the National Film Board of Canada, contributing to projects such as Finding Dawn, directed by Christine Welsh and Cry Rock. She is a founding member of Nuxalk Radio and where she is a coordinator.

Content Warning: None

Divided by war, two men find themselves stuck in opposing trenches in No Man’s Land, WWI. Unable to kill each other and unable to make it to safety, they are forced to communicate resulting in a powerful journey and an intimate look at humanity

Director: Jack Steele – Wiradjuri
Producer: Mitchell Stanley – Wiradjuri
Australia | 2019 | 15 min
English | Short Drama

A graduate from the Metro Screen Film School, Jack Steele has over 12 years of experience in film and television. His goal is to develop working relationships globally and continue telling stories that resonate with audiences of all ages.

Content Warning: None

Narrated by community, Audrey’s Story honours Audrey Anderson’s life while revealing injustices found within the mechanics of a flawed judicial system. Set in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Michelle Derosier’s film is an expression of compassion towards racial justice reckoning.

Director: Michelle Derosier – Anishinaabe
Canada | 2019 | 22 min
English | Short Documentary

Michelle Derosier (Anishinaabe) is a community activist, artist and filmmaker. Her first feature film Angelique’s Isle screened at the 2018 imagineNATIVE Festival. She is co-owner of Thunderstorm Pictures and co-founded Biindigaate Indigenous Film Festival in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Content Warning: None

Long ago, four extraordinary individuals of dual male and female spirit brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii. Beloved by the people for their gentle ways and miraculous cures, they imbued four giant boulders with their powers. The significance of the rocks at Waikiki Beach is forever changed when they are encountered by a curious child.

Director: Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu – Kanaka Maoli
USA | 2020 | 9 min
Niihau Hawaiian w English Subtitles | Short Drama
Ontario Premiere

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu is a Native Hawaiian teacher, cultural practitioner, composer, producer and filmmaker who uses digital media to protect and perpetuate Indigenous languages and traditions. They are a transgender health advocate, burial council chair and composer of “Ku Haaheo E Kuu Hawaii”, the internationally-known anthem for the protection of Mauna Kea.

Content Warning: None

The speckling of paint immerses the screen in tapestries of nature both above and below. At the forefront are Indigenous worldviews, rippling wisdom of deities based on the animistic beliefs and shamanic rituals from Mongolia and Siberia.

Director/Producer/Writer: Alisi Telengut (Mongolian/Telengut)
Canada | 2020 | 7 min
Mongolian w English Subtitles | Short Documentary
Canadian Premiere

Alisi Telengut (Mongolian) is an award-winning Canadian artist, filmmaker and animator. She creates animation frame by frame under the camera, with painting as the medium, to generate movement and explore painterly visuals. Her films have screened at Sundance, Slamdance, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), AFI, ZINEBI and Ann Arbor.

Access Available: North America
Content Warning: None

A devastating disease threatens to destroy Aotearoa’s last remaining Kauri trees. Standing in the way of losing these prehistoric giants forever is a Māori healer, Tohe Ashby. Discover the roots of Indigenous medicine in a final bid to save the last of these great trees.

Director: Ngariki Ngatae – Ngati Uri/Ngati Arera/Ngati Rupe/Ngati ’Akatauira
Producer: Karen Sidney (Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki/Rongowhakaata/Ngati Rongomaiwahine)
New Zealand | 2020 | 11 min
Māori | Short Documentary | World Premiere

Ngāriki is Māori ki Moananui-O-Kiva (Pacific Ocean) with connections to Ngāti Uri, Ngāti Ārera (Rarotonga), Ngāti Rupe (Aitutaki) and Ngāti ‘Akatauira (Mitiaro). An emerging writer-director and indigenous storyteller currently based in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Ngāriki has broad experience across the arts, activism, and film. Through Indigenous filmmaking, Ngāriki seeks to free the indigenous voice to be heard authentically. She draws upon her Polynesian Māori and mixed whakapapa and is heavily influenced by the narratives, ceremonies, healing, rituals and connections to spirit that are born from her indigenous roots.

Ngāriki has voyaged at sea for six months on a traditional Polynesian double-hulled canoe and her research interests are in exploring the intersections of indigenous storytelling, indigenous sovereignty and community transformation. She draws upon her Polynesian Māori and mixed whakapapa and is heavily influenced by the narratives, ceremonies, healing, rituals and connections to spirit that are born from her indigenous roots.

Content Warning: None

Patterns of spirited beadwork visuals move across the screen as a caribou and a bear engage each other in Inuit throat singing in this mesmerizing experimental short.

Director: Glenn Gear – Inuk
Canada | 2020 | 1 min
Without Dialogue | Experimental
World Premiere

Glenn Gear is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist of Inuit and Newfoundland heritage, currently residing in Montreal. He has worked on films and new media projects with the National Film Board.

Content Warning: None

A horrific act of violence is committed upon a Sámi reindeer herder during a blizzard on the tundra. Her sister senses that something is wrong, and the connection between them reunites them physically and spiritually across the landscape.

Director: Marja Bål Nango – Sámi, Ingir Bål Nango – Sámi
Producer: Elisa Fernanda Pirir Ruiz – Maya- Guatemala
Norway | 2019 | 15 min
Sámi w/ English subtitles | Short Drama
Canadian Premiere

Marja Bål Nango is a Sámi director from Galgujávri, Norway. She is co-directing this film with her sister Ingir Bål. Both are Sámi and working as reindeer herders.

Access Available: Canada
Content Warning: Sexual Violence

The death of a beloved grandfather calls a man to the ocean where sinking offers a respite from his isolation in this poetic short about family, love and loss.

Director: Deborah Brown – Torres Strait Islands-Meriam/Badu/Scottish
Australia | 2019 | 10 min
English | Short Drama
World Premiere

With over 15 years of experience in dance and theatre, award-winning director Deborah Brown has  recently completed her Masters in Screen Directing at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

Content Warning: Nudity

During a naming ceremony for his grandchild, an elder tells a traditional oral story of when the Earth was visited by the sky people, made with the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Director/Producer: Erik Sanchez (Shoalwater Bay/Chinook/Mexican)
USA | 2019 | 4 min
English | Short Drama
World Premiere

Erik Sanchez is a Shoalwater Bay Indian Artist. He graduated from Everett Community College in 2018 with an Associates of Fine Arts in Photography and is currently a junior studying Cinematic and Performing Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Opening for Shadow of Dumont
Director: Trevor Cameron -Métis

Content Warning: None

A survivor of the ’60s Scoop, Nakuset relates the story of her perseverance through childhood abuse and struggles with identity. Her Bubbi (Jewish Grandmother) was a source of unconditional love, guiding her to transform her life and advocate for herself.

Director: Victoria Anderson-Gardner – Ojibwe
Canada | 2020 | 10 min
English | Short Documentary
World Premiere

Victoria Anderson-Gardner is a queer, Ojibwe filmmaker from Eagle Lake First Nation, currently based out of Toronto. They completed their Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of Image Arts, Ryerson University.

Content Warning: None

Weka bird feathers are second only to the Kiwi bird in status and used to make Māori cloaks called Korowai. Terminally ill, Jean sets out to complete her final Korowai in this beautiful study on the healing power of making.

Director: Kirsty Griffin – Ngati Porou/Ngati Awa, Vivienne Kernick
Producer: Kirsty Griffin – Ngati Porou/Ngati Awa
New Zealand | 2020 | 27 min
English | Short Documentary
North American Premiere

Kirsty Griffin (Ngati Porou, Ngati Awa) and Vivienne Kernick founded Bella Pacific Media in 2011 developing a collaborative style that draws on their complementary skills.

Access Available: North America
Content Warning: None

Beautifully shot in macro 3D, Lichen is a departure from renowned filmmaker Lisa Jackson’s previous work. Ancient, diverse and containing multiplicities, Lichen lives in extreme environments including outer space.

Director: Lisa Jackson – Anishinaabe
Canada | 2019 | 11 min
English | Short Documentary

Lisa Jackson is known for her cross-genre projects including VR, animations, films and a musical. Playback Magazine named her one of 10 to watch and her work has played at festivals internationally including Berlinale, SXSW, Tribeca and London BFI.

Access Available: Ontario
Content Warning: None

Guided by two small spirits, Naja escapes a traumatic event. Flickering and dancing the spirits guide her as she transforms into the Northern Lights.

Director/Producer/Writer: Marc Fussing Rosbach – Inuk
Greenland | 2020 | 5 min
No Dialogue | Short Drama

Born in Denmark, Marc Fussing Rosbach is a self-taught filmmaker. He has worked as a visual effects artist, composer, and editor on a number of film, TV and music video productions. He was also a TV host for Nuuk-based Tumit Production and is the CEO and founder of Furos Image, a production company based in Greenland.

Content Warning: None

Opening for Monkey beach
Director: Loretta Todd – Cree/Métis

Access Available:Canada
Content Warning: Mature Audience

With a machete and a hammer, Nooroa Baker goes out to collect a few ingredients to create a traditional Māori medicine that holds great Mana within and is at risk of being forgotten forever.

Director: Joshua Baker – Kuki Airani Māori
Cook Islands | 2019 | 9 min
Māori w English Subtitles ǀ Documentary Short
World Premiere

Teariki Productions’ founder Joshua Baker has studied film production in both New Zealand and Australia. Graduating in 2018 with a Performance and Screen Arts Degree in Directing and Writing he returned to the Cook Islands to begin the Te Kuki Airani Film Festival.

Content Warning: None

Kahu is the last man standing in a world devastated by disease. Atua was made as part of the NATIVE Slam V, The NATIVE Slam is an international Indigenous collaboration challenge that brings Indigenous filmmakers together for just 72 hours to make a film.

Directors: Brown Bitty – Muaupoko/Ngai Tara/Ngati Raukawa/Ngati Huia, Chantelle Murray – Bardi, Bailey Poching – Ngati Whatua/Samoan of Aleisa and Tanugamanono
Producers: Pauline Clague – Yaegl, Libby Hakaraia -Maori/Ngati Raukawa ki te Tonga/Ngati Kapu
New Zealand | 2020 | 7 min
English/Samoan | Short Drama

Brown Bitty is an Alumni of the Berlinale film Talents, her films carry a host of awards including a FIFO Prix Spécial Du Jury, Best International Documentary for Spirit Women from the Wairoa Māori film festival, NZFC Huia Publishers Pikihuia Highly Commended Script award and the Australian Solid Screen
award for contribution to the screen arts.

Chantelle’s debut directing piece My Name Is Mudju, won best short at Rotorua Indigenous Film Festival, and her film SHED  (2019) opened the Sydney Film Festival. Chantelle is currently working through her first feature script process with a mentor in Aotearoa.

Bailey Poching’s first short film Cosmic Adventures screened at Maoriland Film Festival and Wairoa Maori Film Festival last year. Bailey also starred in the short film Nancy From Now On, which won the Audience Choice Award for Short Film at imagineNATIVE 2019 and the Creative New Zealand Emerging Talent Award at NZIFF.

Access Available: North America
Content Warning: None

Opening for The Legend of Baron To’a
Director: Kiel McNaughton – Māori/Pasifika

Access Available: Canada
Content Warning: 13+, Violence & offensive language

As part of the International Sámi Film Institute project “Home, Sweet Home”, this documentary short takes a look at life during the Corona Virus lockdown and our relationship to nature.

Director: Ann Holmgren – Sámi
Norway | 2020 | 3 min
Swedish w/ English Subtitles | Documentary Short
International Premiere

Ann Holmgren is a Sámi–Swedish filmmaker working in a wide range of filmic expressions.

Content Warning: None

An old Inuvialuit story about a man who, in his avarice, corrupts his own soul to the point where he is driven to cannibalism. The story tells of the misfortune that lays with over harvesting. As all traditional harvesters know: if you are not responsible, you can destroy your own ecosystem and be left with nothing.

Director: Tom Mcleod – Inuvialuk
Animator: Darcie Bernhardt – Inuvialuk
Mentor: Glenn Gear -Inuk
Canada | 2019 | 4 min
English ǀ Dramatic Short
Ontario Premiere

Tom Mcleod is an Inuvialuk storyteller and multimedia artist based out of OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario, and Aklavik, Northwest Territories, in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.

Content Warning: None

The Vibrant Eyes (Interlude) is a glimpse into a moment of solitude and offering as the artist describes wanting to open up herself.

Director: Morningstar Angeline – Blackfoot/Chippewa Cree/Navajo/Latina
USA | 2020 | 1 min
English ǀ Experimental Short

Morningstar Angeline is a writer, actress, director, lyricist and performer. She currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California.

Content Warning: None

This film is a reaction to colonialism and quarantine. It’s made from many perspectives and experiences, pieced together by one Indigenous voice. It’s observational cinema, non-traditional documentation. There are various qualities of footage: lo-fi camcorders, iPhone cameras, archival images and screen recordings. The piece is intended to provoke thought on how to keep our communities safe.

Director: Fox Maxy  – Ipai Kumeyaay/Payomkawichum
USA | 2020 | 31 min
English ǀ Experimental Short
Canadian Premiere

Laura Hinman is native to California. She directs, writes, operates cameras and acts. She’s based in LA, balancing film and cultural work. Her work has been shown at AFI DOCS, Bowery Film Festival (NY), Socially Relevant Film Festival (NY) and the We Are Here Fest at the Abrons Arts Center (NY).

Content Warning: None

A commentary about the ongoing colonialism in Sápmi; how the by-passing of Sámi communities’ consent in order to develop colonial projects, such as the Arctic railway, is slow violence towards the Sámi communities and their lands.

Director: Sunna Nousuniemi – Sámi
Finland | 2020 | 3 min
Sámi w/ English Subtitles ǀ Experimental Short
Canadian Premiere

Sunna Nousuniemi – Niillasaš Jovnna Máreha Juhani Sunna (born 1993) is a Sámi filmmaker, artivist and DJ from Inari, Sápmi. This is Nousuniemi’s debut short film that she completed at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences.

Content Warning: None

Māori Elder Hamo must bear the burden of carrying the spirits of her ancestors to their sacred mountain.

Director: Kath Akuhata-Brown – Māori
New Zealand | 2020 | 6 min
Māori/English ǀ Dramatic Short
International Premiere

Kath Akuhata-Brown is of Ngati Porou descent, a Māori tribe located on the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island. She is currently based in Wellington, New Zealand.

Content Warning: None

An alcoholic Sámi lady is alone in her countryside cabin during the COVID-19 pandemic. She discovers that someone has drawn on her cabin wall and she tries to find out who did it.

Director: Ingir Bål Nango – Sámi, Marja Bål Nango – Sámi
Norway | 2020 | 16 min
Sámi/Norwegian w/ English Subtitles ǀ Dramatic Short
International Premiere

Content Warning: None

Drawn from the artist’s life story, RKLSS is a film of how art and exposure to traditional teachings saved his life after being subject to beatings, torture and prolonged, involuntary segregation in a maximum-security facility as a young offender.

Director: Tank Standing Buffalo – Potowatami/Métis/Black
Canada | 2020 | 10 min
English ǀ Animation Short

Tank Standing Buffalo is an accomplished animator and has worked on numerous self-directed projects as well as many commissions.

Content Warning: Contains Violence

Opening for Love And Fury
Director: Sterlin Harjo – Seminole/Muscogee Creek

Te Puhi prepares herself for the toughest day of her life as the harsh reality of her father’s dementia forces her to face the painful truth that she must let go of the most important person in her life: her daddy. A powerful story sharing the love between a father and his daughter and the ability for that bond to remain, even when all else seems lost.

Director: Cian Elyse White – Māori
Producer: Tweedie Waititi – Māori
New Zealand | 2020 | 12 min
Māori w/ English Subtitles ǀ Short Drama
World Premiere

Cian Elyse is a writer/director from the tribe most famous for storytelling, Te Arawa. Cian’s vision is to share the beauty of the Māori language and the principles of the culture. Daddy’s Girl is Cian’s debut as a director for screen.

Access Available: Canada
Content Warning: Mature audience

Created by a collective of filmmakers from the Solomon Islands, Sky Aelans poetically shares imagery of community and land, looking at decades of logging that have drastically changed the landscape and lifestyle of their home. Now, the last untouched forest of the country is at risk of being lost. The Indigenous communities who live in the high mountain forests, known locally as the Sky Aelans or Sky Islands, are the last guardians of these sacred spaces. This film is a reflection and celebration of the vital bond that these communities have with their Sky Aelans.

Director: Daniel Kakadi – Solomon Islander, Edward Manuga – New Guinean/Solomon Islander, Georgianna Lepping – Solomon Islander, Jeremy Gwao – Solomon Islander, Junior Patrick Kauha Maka – Solomon Islander, Mannar Levo – Solomon Islander, Neil Nuia – Solomon Islander, Regina Lepping – Solomon Islander, Zahiyd Namo – Solomon Islander
Executive Producer: Tracy Rector – Choctaw
Solomon Islands | 2020 | 6 min
English ǀ Short Documentary
Canadian Premiere

Daniel Kakadi is a Solomon Islander. He is a freelance photographer and filmmaker. His passion and focus are in telling the stories and the beauty of the environment and the culture in the Solomons and to advocate for change in his country.

Edward Manuga is a Papua New Guinean/Solomon Islander based in Honiara, Solomon Islands. He is a passionate self-taught videographer and photographer.
Georgianna “Jojo” Lepping (Solomon Islander) is a filmmaker, activist, writer and freelance media maker based in the Solomon Islands.

Jeremy Gwao is a proud Solomon Islander. He is a young journalist with a vivid passion for photojournalism and filmmaking. He is recognized as one of the British Council’s Top 100 Young Journalists Worldwide.

Junior Patrick Kauha Maka hails from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. He is a freelance photographer. Junior uses his passion for photography to tell stories and to advocate about issues in Melanesia that often go unheard in order to make a change.

Mannar Levo is the lead cinematographer and editor. His work centres on advocacy for the environment and culture in his community. He is
the director of photography for Sky Aelans. Neil Nuia is a creative director for Dreamcast Art Hub in the Solomon Islands. Neil is a photographer,
film producer and the founder of the PhotoUp Newlooks and OneMoreShot initiatives.

Regina Lepping (Solomon Islander) is an actor, youth advocate, filmmaker and activist. Regina co-founded the Honiara Film Club, an initiative that brought to light issues of gender-based violence in the Solomon Islands.

Zahiyd Namo is a photographer/filmmaker from the Solomon Islands. His work is inspired by everyday island life, telling authentic life stories of Pacific peoples through photography and film.

Access Available: Canada
Content Warning: 13+ Contains some nudity

Tekahionwake documents the short life of poet, writer, artist and performer E. Pauline Johnson. Her words were influential throughout Canada and England. She was a woman who worked in two worlds, one of her Mohawk heritage from her father’s side and one of her British heritage from her mother’s. Inspired by a full length stage play written by Tom Hill and Dinah Christie.

Director: Shelley Niro – Mohawk
Canada/Haudenosaunee | 2019 | 20 min
English ǀ Experimental
Toronto Premiere

Shelley Niro belongs to the Bay of Quinte Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan. Her most recent feature film was The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw. Her award-winning artistic practice includes painting and photography. Cian’s debut as a director for screen.

Access Available: Canada
Content Warning: None

There is joy and grief in equal parts. “Mooz Miikan” is intended as a love letter to my father and a means to process my sorrow.
 – Evelyn Pakinewatik

Director: Evelyn Pakinewatik – Ojibwe
Canada | 2019 | 8 min
English ǀ Short Documentary
World Premiere

Evelyn Pakinewatik is an emerging Ojibwe artist,  writer, educator and director. Their work primarily explores the intersection of dreams and memory.

Content Warning: Mature Audience

A multi-channel video created specifically for the screens of Times Square, She Never Dances Alone is Gibson’s celebration of the Indigenous matriarchy, centring on the jingle dress dance, a powwow dance that originated with the Ojibwe tribe and is traditionally performed by women to call upon ancestors for strength, healing and protection.

Director/Producer: Jeffrey Gibson – Choctaw/Cherokee
United States | 2019 | 2 min
English ǀ Experimental
Canadian Premiere

Jeffrey Gibson is an interdisciplinary artist based in Hudson, New York. His artworks make reference to various aesthetic and material histories rooted in Indigenous cultures of the Americas and in modern and contemporary subcultures.

Content Warning: None

Suodji (Shelter) is an adaptation of an old story from Utsjoki, Sápmi. It is a legend of what the director’s relative Ovllá-Ivvár Helander did during the 1918 Influenza Epidemic in Utsjoki. Ovllá-Ivvár decided to fool Death and take his fate into his own hands. The protagonist of the film walks in Ovllá-Ivvár’s footsteps, performing her own modification of the old tale. But in the end, who is really who?

Director: Marja Helander – Sámi
Producers: Marja Helander – Sámi, Liisa Holmburg – Sámi
Writers: Marja Helander – Sámi, Mauri Lähdesmäki
Finland/Norway| 2019 | 4 min
Sámi w/ English Subtitles ǀ Experimental
North American Premiere

Master of Fine Arts, visual artist and photographer Marja Helander is an internationally recognized and awarded Deatnu Sámi. Her recent video works are playful, exploring the contradiction between the traditional Sámi way of life and modern society.

Content Warning: None

Potosí, the colonial mining town. At the Pithole, faces of the workers leaving the mine. These faces, turned into still images, are observed by the youth. Absorbing the people, the land, the industry, survival and the past in change.

Director/Producer: Miguel Hilari – Aymara/German
Bolivia | 2019 | 22 min
Spanish w/ English Subtitles ǀ Short Documentary
Canadian Premiere

Miguel Hilari films deal with memory, migration, colonial history and work. They have been screened at Cinéma du Réel, CPH:DOX, Oberhausen, Images, Lincoln Center and Valdivia among other venues.

Content Warning: None