Bear Nation

Combining interviews and live cinema, Rising Through the Fray plunges us into the heart of Indigenous Rising Roller Derby, the first international team to bring together Indigenous players from several countries. For Sour Cherry, Krispy, Hawaiian Blaze, and their teammates, the sport becomes much more than a competition. Through it, they find a space for sisterhood, resilience, acceptance, and healing. On camera, they share intimate stories not only of being uprooted and the wounds of intergenerational trauma, but also of reconnecting with their culture and of the relief of finding a community. In this powerful, feminist documentary, these women assert their right to exist on their own terms.

After marrying a settler, Mary Two-Axe Earley lost her legal status as a First Nations woman. Dedicating her life to activism, she campaigned to have First Nations women's rights restored and coordinated a movement that continues to this day. Kahnawake filmmaker Courtney Montour honours this inspiring leader while drawing attention to contemporary injustices that remain in this era of truth and reconciliation.

Acclaimed journalist Tanya Talaga brings her evocative storytelling from the page to the screen with her search for a long-lost matriarch named Annie, solving an 80-year-old family mystery. With lush cinematography and evocative storytelling, Anishinaabe journalist Tanya Talaga embarks on a deeply personal search to find out what happened to her great-great-grandmother in The Knowing. Co-directors Talaga and Kanien’kehá:ka filmmaker Courtney Montour (Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again) use archival footage and intimate interviews to piece together the unknown story of Talaga’s family member, Annie Carpenter. In the first two parts of the four-episode docuseries, they skillfully illustrate how hard it is for Indigenous families to get answers from authorities, especially about those who have entered the residential school or Indian hospital systems. ...

Indigenous peoples face some of the highest rates of sexual and physical violence, substance abuse, HIV and suicide in all of Canada. But statistics never tell the whole story. Sex Spirit Strength follows Michael and Jack, two young Indigenous men, as they shed the stigma and shame associated with their sexual health and gender identity. Michael, a former addict who lived a high-risk lifestyle that left him with permanent scars, hopes his activism work will discourage other young people from going down the same path. Jack, a transgender gay man, is committed to bringing pride back to two-spirit identity through education and activism.