2026 imagineNATIVE Catalogue

SPEAK YOUR TRUTH, IGNITE NEW STORIES

The Canada Media Fund is here to support bold, courageous voices across the audiovisual industry—from television and web series to documentaries, video games, IDM and immersive projects. Wherever there’s a vision and a desire to shine a light, we’re there to light the spark.

cmf-fmc.ca

DECLARATION OF INDIGENOUS CINEMA

We, the Indigenous screen storytellers United in this northern corner of our mother, the earth In a great assembly of wisdom declare to all nations:

We glory in our past

When our earth was nurturing our oral traditions of our dreams. When night sky evoked the visions of our dreams. When the sun and the moon were our parents in our stories told.

When storytelling made us all brothers and sisters.

When our stories brought forth great chiefs and leaders.

When justice was upheld in the stories told.

We will

Hold and manage Indigenous cultural and intellectual property.

Ensure our continued recognition as primary guardians and interpreters of our culture.

Respect Indigenous individuals and communities.

Faithfully preserve our traditional knowledge with sound and image. Use our skills to communicate with nature and all living things. Through screen storytelling heal our wounds.

Preserve and pass on our stories to those not yet born.

We vow to manage our own destiny and maintain our pride and identity through story.

Guovdageaidnu, Sápmi, October 2011

Written by Asa Simma (Sámi), with support from Darlene Johnson (Dunghutti), and accepted and recognized by the participants of the Indigenous Film Conference in Kautokeino, Sápmi, October 2011.

Nia:wen, miigwetch, thank you to the International Sámi Film Institute (ISFI) for sharing this document with imagineNATIVE. For more information on the ISFI, visit isfi.no.

DECLARATION OF INDIGENOUS CINEMA

Neyanahn neheyowahk

Ota askihk mesiweteh oschi

Kahkeyow kah eeyeneeseyahk oomsi niditwahnahn:

Nemamistinahn kayas kekway

Okospi aski kamanatchitaht nepeekswiwenahnah oksi eseh powahtamahk.

Okospi katipskahk mana epowatamahk kekway kawetotamahk.

Okospi pesimohk peyahkwan kemamanak ekwa kepapanak kachimoyahk.

Okospi kaki achimoyahk eyawis kewahkohtonow sooskwats.

Okospi mana kachimoyahk ketakotahanahnahk okimowak ekwa kamistahksochik.

Okospi weyasoweewin kwayes kespayoh achimowinihk.

Keyanow

Kamichimininow neheyow pimatsowin ekwa peekswiwin.

Keschinats tahnistohtakwow keyanow nehkahn ota kahpi kahnweemsoyahk neheyowahk.

Tamanatchihehtoyahk neheyowahk ekwa meena kitaskeenow.

Tamanahchitiyahk kepimatsowinanah ayamowenihk lee movies tawapahtahoweeyahk.

Eeyenehsowin tapachitayahk tayameyahk aski aschi ekwa kahkeyow kekway kapimatahk.

Tanahtohoweyahk lee movies kayehtotahmahk.

Tahkahnwehtamahk achimowina okik kitchi meeskwa kahnehtowkitchik.

Keyanow kahpahmehtanow kepimatsowinana ekwa kahmamistinow tawapatamahk lee movies eeyahkoh.

Translated by Gail Maurice.

FESTIVAL GREETINGS

Welcome to the 2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. This year more than ever I have felt it necessary to be mindful and grounded in the values I grew up with. Values centred around generosity, kindness, respect, listening, and reciprocity. What we hold dear and how we carry ourselves in the world has never seemed to matter more.

Our Festival is more than just a presentation of works; it is an opportunity to experience the world through the lens of Indigenous artists and filmmakers. The diversity of thought, vision, and unique perspectives offered simply cannot be overstated. These perspectives are so valuable and greatly needed within cinema, exhibition, and stage. To the many filmmakers and artists who have contributed to this year’s edition, I thank you wholeheartedly. We are honoured to have you as part of this event. Whether you are a first-timer or returning participant, please know that your work has found a home and an audience that will truly love, appreciate, and celebrate what you have created.

I want to acknowledge and thank all our funders and supporters who ensure that imagineNATIVE can present this Festival as well as our year-round activities in between.

Having annual support has allowed us to build relationships, be consistent in our work, and remain accountable to the communities we serve. Throughout the year imagineNATIVE occupies and holds space for advocacy, mentorship, and creative development. Thanks to your support, we are able to offer professional growth for Indigenous artists working within film and media arts yearround. Organizational stability has allowed us to be consistent with our mission and mandate for over 25 years and has ensured that our voices are used to articulate the importance of the Festival globally.

I want to also thank the team that is imagineNATIVE. A special nod my co-leads David Morrison and Lindsay Monture, two very thoughtful and grounded people whose consistent, sound counsel has helped me in my decision making. I could easily fill the entirety of this page with my individual acknowledgements for how exceptional this team is. I feel so much gratitude that my everyday nine to five is with this group of people. I also want to acknowledge our many faithful and dedicated volunteers. The Festival simply would not be what it is without you. Finally, I must acknowledge the support and work of our board. Thank you for your wisdom, support, and guidance.

Nia:wen,

Naomi Johnson

Executive Director

Kanyen′kehà:ka/Mohawk

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Graham Greene at the Festival last year, where we honoured him with the August Schellenberg Award. Marking the 25th anniversary of the “Augie” with Graham felt especially poignant. Raised in the same community of Six Nations as he was, I vividly remember sitting on my grandparents’ living room floor at ten years old, filled with pride as his face appeared on the screen at the Oscars. Seeing someone from our community nominated for an Academy Award was more than a milestone, it was transformative. For me, and for so many others, Graham’s success expanded what we believed we could achieve. He did not just break through barriers, he shifted them. At a time when Indigenous presence in mainstream media was rare, Graham became a powerful and consistent force on our screens. His work carried excellence, dignity, and representation into spaces that had long excluded us. His legacy is not only in the roles he played but in the doors he opened and the futures he helped us imagine.

From all of us, nia:wen, Graham.

Written by Naomi Johnson, imagineNATIVE Executive Director.

Hello,

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I’d like to welcome all of those embarking on another edition of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival!

The 26th annual edition of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the second time it is occurring in June — Indigenous Peoples Month — and whether you’re a filmmaker, artist, audience member, or participant, I’m sure your time spent at the Festival will bring a sense of community, entertainment, and great memories.

A huge thank you to our community and partners who support the Festival and share in our efforts to make this the best version of the world’s largest Indigenous film and media arts festival.

None of this could happen without the imagineNATIVE staff who work so hard to pull off each of these events. We are grateful for your work and dedication. Of course, we must also thank the volunteers who make the Festival experience what it is.

We hope you have a great time discovering new stories from around the globe. Thanks for being with us!

Ó:nen ki' wáhi, Kelly Boutsalis

Chair, Board

of

Directors Mohawk,

Six Nations of the Grand River

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) is delighted to return as a partner of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Now in its 26th year, this Festival remains one of the most vital cultural spaces in Canada — an affirmation that Indigenous narratives and cultural sovereignty are living, breathing realities being shaped right now by Indigenous creators on their own terms.

The CMF is committed to supporting that work through investment, partnerships, and the belief that Indigenous stories belong at the centre of the Canadian screen sector.

To the organizers, artists, community leaders, Elders, staff, volunteers, and audiences who make this Festival so extraordinary — thank you. We are honoured to stand with you.

Enjoy the Festival!

Valerie Creighton President + CEO Canada Media Fund

Message from the Governor General 2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

I would like to convey my warmest greetings to everyone attending the 2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media

Now in its 26th year, this Festival is a celebration of Indigenous arts in a variety of forms. I am certain that participants will be entertained and inspired by the diverse selection of Indigenous films and media art being presented in

I am pleased to convey my warmest greetings to everyone taking part in this edition of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

I would like to thank imagineNATIVE for hosting this event. You can take pride in your commitment to supporting and promoting Indigenous artists.

Indigenous-led organizations are essential to shaping how stories are told, ensuring authenticity, creativity and cultural strength are reflected on screen. For more than 25 years, imagineNATIVE has been committed to promoting a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through the presentation of contemporary Indigenous-made media art.

The Right Honourable Mark Carney, P.C., O.C., M.P.

As the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content, imagineNATIVE plays an important role in amplifying Indigenous voices, providing networking opportunities and advancing reconciliation. Seeing initiatives like this take root and grow across the country is inspiring and fills me with hope for our collective future.

Congratulations to the organizers, artists and partners who make this festival a success. I wish everyone a wonderful and inspiring

I would like to convey my warmest greetings to everyone attending the 2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Now in its 26th year, this festival is a celebration of Indigenous arts in a variety of forms I am certain that participants will be entertained and inspired by the diverse selection of Indigenous films and media art being presented in Toronto and online.

I would like to thank imagineNATIVE for hosting this event. You can take pride in your commitment to supporting and promoting Indigenous artists.

from the

I am pleased to convey my warmest greetings to everyone taking part in this

Indigenous-led organizations are essential to shaping how stories are told, ensuring authenticity, creativity and cultural strength are reflected on screen. For more than 25 years, imagineNATIVE has been committed to promoting a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through the presentation of contemporary Indigenous-made media art

As the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content, imagineNATIVE plays an important role in amplifying Indigenous voices, providing networking opportunities and advancing reconciliation. Seeing initiatives like this take root and grow across the country is inspiring and fills me with hope for our collective future.

Congratulations to the organizers, artists and partners who make this festival a success. I wish everyone a wonderful and inspiring experience

I wish you all a memorable experience.

Message

Governor General 2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

edition of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Mary Simon

The Right Honourable Mark Carney, P.C., O.C., M.P. Prime Minister of Canada Ottawa 2026

Welcome to the 26th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival!

As a sector and artistic leader, the Festival presents every year an outstanding selection of contemporary Indigenousmade works in film, video, audio, and digital media, sharing powerful stories that deepen understanding of Indigenous Peoples and cultures.

Recognized for its leadership in Indigenous screenbased storytelling, imagineNATIVE provides a vital and safe space for Indigenous artists, including directors, producers, writers, and designers to showcase their creativity, innovation, and perspectives while connecting with audiences in Canada and around the world. The Festival also plays an important role in enriching Canada’s cultural landscape through meaningful collaboration, co-presenting events with film festivals and arts organizations, in Toronto and beyond.

I extend a warm welcome to everyone taking part and congratulate all those who have contributed to this year’s event. Wishing you a wonderful and inspiring Festival!

The Honourable Marc Miller Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture

Wa’tkwanonwera:ton/

Greetings to this year’s imagineNATIVE filmmakers, artists, creators, festival planners, and attendees.

It is a great honour to welcome you, as the Ontario Regional Chief of the Chiefs of Ontario, to the 2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival taking place from June 2-7, 2026, in Toronto.

As the world’s leading Indigenous media arts festival, imagineNATIVE continues to set the global standard for excellence and innovation in Indigenous screen content. Following the celebration of its 25th anniversary last year, we look forward to another powerful Festival filled with bold, barrier-breaking, and inspiring work.

The significance of this Festival cannot be understated; it provides an incredible opportunity for our Nations’ perspectives and creations to be amplified and celebrated on our own terms. imagineNATIVE creates space for authentic storytelling, grounded in our realities, our languages, and our world views. It supports the artistic vision of our creators with the respect and inclusivity they deserve.

Our stories are a critical component to our sovereignty and our values as Indigenous Peoples. By sharing diverse media rooted in our communities, the talented artists and creators showcased at this Festival continue the essential work of dismantling harmful stereotypes and replacing them with the vibrant, truthful brilliance of our Nations.

Through storytelling, Indigenous artists not only pave the way for future generations but also honour the legacy of our Ancestors by reclaiming and strengthening our narratives with resilience and pride.

I invite all of you in attendance to immerse yourselves in these stories, elevate our artists, and celebrate the incredible talent that connects us all.

Sken:nen/In peace,

Abram Benedict Ontario Regional Chief

FESTIVAL GREETINGS

As Premier of Manitoba, I'm honoured to provide a message of greeting to the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival on the occasion of your 26th anniversary.

The work imagineNATIVE does to bring Indigenous stories onto the screen is deeply impactful and has helped so many people feel seen and represented, in addition to supporting countless young Indigenous filmmakers to find their place in the world of cinema. In an industry that has not always made space for authentic Indigenous experiences, imagineNATIVE's work continues to have a profound impact as we work to walk the path of reconciliation here in Canada and around the world.

To everyone at imagineNATIVE, thank you for being a champion of Indigenous cinema, and for your dedication to making this Festival a success. And to all those attending, I wish you a meaningful and joyful time as you experience the excellence of Indigenous cinema.

The Honourable Wab Kinew Premier of Manitoba

It is my pleasure to extend greetings to everyone taking part in the annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content.

imagineNATIVE is a Torontobased organization that presents Indigenous screen content and media arts. The Festival brings together filmmakers, artists, and audiences to engage with contemporary Indigenous-made works.

The organization’s programming supports opportunities for learning and exchange through film, video, audio, and digital media created by Indigenous artists.

The City of Toronto acknowledges the role of Indigenous cultural organizations in the City’s cultural landscape. The City is committed to working with Indigenous communities in Toronto and to recognizing the contributions of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples.

On behalf of Toronto City Council, please accept my best wishes for a successful Festival.

Yours truly,

Olivia Chow Mayor of Toronto

+ Media Arts Festival, the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content.

The organization’s programming supports opportunities for learning and exchange through The City of Toronto acknowledges the role of Indigenous cultural organizations in the city’s

FESTIVAL GREETINGS

I am delighted to welcome you to the upcoming imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival as they celebrate their 26th anniversary!

As the largest presenter of Indigenous screen content, imagineNATIVE has been acknowledged as the global centre for Indigenous media arts. All year round, they have collaborated and co-presented arts events with various other Canadian film festivals and arts organizations.

imagineNATIVE has continuously demonstrated their commitment to promoting knowledge and fostering greater understanding of Indigenous Peoples and cultures through their presentations of contemporary Indigenous-made media arts, comprising films, videos, audio, and digital media. Their presence has gone far beyond local recognition, garnering attention at both the national and international levels for their excellence and innovation in programming.

As we gather to attend this Festival, whether in-person or online, I hope we can all enjoy this showcase of exceptional and powerful Indigenous storytelling together.

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this year's Festival another resounding success!

Yours warmly,

Kristyn Wong-Tam Member of Provincial Parliament, Toronto Centre

Festivals such as imagineNATIVE play a vital role in the global film ecosystem by engaging audiences.

They give Canadian and Indigenous films the opportunity to stand out by telling stories that reflect who we are and resonate with audiences.

Telefilm Canada is proud to partner with imagineNATIVE, which year after year helps energize and strengthen cinema.

Have a great Festival!

Julie Roy Executive Director and CEO, Telefilm Canada

The Indigenous Screen Office is proud to once again support the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. For 26 years, the Festival has been a cornerstone in advancing Indigenous narrative sovereignty and continues to stand as a vital global platform for Indigenous storytelling, connection, learning, and celebration.

We extend our sincere thanks to the organizers, artists, staff, and volunteers whose dedication brings this remarkable event to life each year. We are equally grateful to the filmmakers who share their stories with courage and vision, and to the audiences who gather to experience and honour the richness of Indigenous voices.

Kerry Swanson Chief Executive Officer, Indigenous Screen Office

FESTIVAL GREETINGS

Wa’tkwanonhwerá:ton,

Welcome to the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival! This year we aim to uplift stories that speak truth to power and empower strength, solidarity, and resistance among Nations. Acknowledging that we are currently in a time of immense pressure on humanity, we want our community to be able to gather with intentionality, to support one another’s voices, to collaborate and generate unity within each other’s movement spaces. May imagineNATIVE be the safe haven in which our community can unload the burden of colonialism within the industry and find solace in our shared humanity. Let’s continue the tradition of celebrating Indigenous excellence as an act of resistance.

This year, we are honoured to present 20 featurelength films, over 80 short films, 14 digital and interactive works, 11 audio works, and plenty more special programming. We are representing 57 Nations from 20 countries across the world in 51 languages.

Nyá:wen/miigwetch to everyone who has contributed their stories, time, resources, and hearts into this year’s edition.

We look forward to gathering with all of you!

Nyá:wen,

Lindsay Monture

Artistic Director

Kanyen′kehá:ka

Baamaapii, Kaitlynn Tomaselli Program Manager Anishinaabe

Welcome to the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival!

We are so excited to welcome you to this year’s Festival and to gather once again around the vibrant exchange of ideas, stories, and relationships that define imagineNATIVE’s Industry Days. Thank you for your continued support and engagement over the years. We are deeply grateful to our community, including our board of directors, artists, industry partners, funders, partners, donors, and Members who make this Festival possible.

Industry Days has long been a cornerstone of the Festival, creating space for Indigenous filmmakers and media artists to connect, learn, and build lasting professional relationships. Our team has worked to create a program of panels, workshops, events, and networking opportunities that reflect both the urgent trends of the film industry and the incredible talent within our community.

We invite you to fully engage with everything Industry Days has to offer. Please come by and ask questions, share ideas, make connections, and take part in the conversations that help move Indigenous screen-based storytelling forward.

We look forward to connecting with you throughout the week. Enjoy the days ahead!

Mahsi

Cho,

David Morrison Associate Director Dene

Baamaapii, Bliss Bondy Institute Manager Ojibwe

CURATORIAL VISION

For our 2026 Festival, we are choosing to open up spaces for much-needed dialogue that reflects what many of our artists and audiences are feeling at this moment. We want to share stories that will empower our continued resistance to the status quo. We will see works that uplift hope and strength and continue to speak truth to power. We know that Indigenous knowledge and ways of being are true pathways to a sustainable future. These ways are ancient. They have been laid out for us as the original instructions of how humanity can coexist with our Mother Earth. No borders, man-made laws, nor colonial governments can supersede the original caretaking instructions of the lands that Indigenous Nations have been carrying since time immemorial.

As we approach the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, we find ourselves in a time where all across the globe we have become witnesses to an escalation of polarizing political views amidst ongoing genocide, the rise of oppressive governments, economic crises, loss of human rights, and the destruction of our lands. For many in this industry, it can feel dystopian to attend special events, celebrations, and award ceremonies while carrying the weight of the world’s troubles. Times like these can feel like humanity is losing itself, but we know that there is power in the energy created when we gather. It is now more vital than ever that we continue to make intentional connections with each other.

So let’s come together to share stories rooted in a time before colonial structures were imposed upon us. Let the stories of solidarity, resistance, and Indigenous ways of being illuminate our cinemas and spaces, and light the pathways back to our shared humanity.

In solidarity,

Lindsay Monture Artistic Director

ABOUT imagineNATIVE

imagineNATIVE is a registered charity committed to inspiring and connecting communities through original Indigenous film and media arts. We are located on the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Huron-Wendat Nations. We acknowledge the Dish with One Spoon covenant, a treaty whose spirit is based in collective stewardship and the sharing of land and resources and which extends to all Nations living in present-day Toronto.

Since our first Festival in 2000, the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival has programmed film, video, audio, and digital media works made by Indigenous media artists from across the world in key creative roles, such as producers, directors, and writers. imagineNATIVE has embraced works from Indigenous creators which push artistic boundaries to represent a diversity of ideas, themes, and genres in our programming, seeking representations of subjects that are not necessarily available through mainstream forms of media. In keeping with our artistic policy, the Festival prioritizes works that balance and present unique perspectives; cultural, community, and social relevance; a creative approach to form characterized by innovative expression; a distinctive style; personal vision; and a practice of crossing aesthetic borders in terms of genre, medium, and emerging content platforms.

imagineNATIVE supports the diverse artistic visions and perspectives of Indigenous artists working in media arts; works selected for programming do not need to have overt Indigenous content or themes. As identified in our mission statement, imagineNATIVE is committed to dispelling stereotypical notions of Indigenous Peoples through diverse media presentations from within our communities, contributing to a greater understanding by all audiences of Indigenous artistic expression.

Founded by Cynthia Lickers-Sage and Vtape with the help of other community partners, the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is now the largest festival of its kind and an international hub for creative excellence and innovation in media arts. In addition to the Festival, the Centre for Aboriginal Media (imagineNATIVE’s legal name) also presents the annual imagineNATIVE Tour and numerous co-presentation screenings of Indigenous works year-round, both nationally and internationally. In 2017, we also launched the imagineNATIVE Institute, which provides professional development opportunities for Indigenous creatives in the screen industry.

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

401 Richmond St W, Suite 446 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 3A8

info@imagineNATIVE.org imagineNATIVE.org

@imagineNATIVE #imagineNATIVE

imagineNATIVE is a registered charity (legal entity: The Centre for Aboriginal Media).

Charitable Number: 89893 8717 RR0001

To donate, please visit: imagineNATIVE.org/support/donate

At imagineNATIVE, we strive to create a Festival atmosphere that brings people together in a good way to celebrate our stories, cultures, and art. All attendees of imagineNATIVE events — including Elders, invited delegates, and members of the public — have the right to be free from harassment, discrimination, and threatening or disrespectful behaviour both in-person and online.

Unacceptable behaviour includes but is not limited to:

• Offensive verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, harassment, disability, physical appearance, size, race, ethnicity, or religion

• Deliberate intimidation

• Harassing photography

• Sustained disruption of talks or other events

• Inappropriate physical contact

CODE OF CONDUCT

imagineNATIVE reserves the right, without notice, to refuse entry to Festival events and venues or revoke accreditation from those who engage in such conduct.

If you experience a violation of the code of conduct at the Festival, please contact a staff member. All violations of the law should be reported to local law enforcement. In emergencies, immediately dial 911.

We strive to work responsibly, professionally, and with care at all times and ask that you share this commitment to fostering a supportive, loving, and safe Festival environment.

STAFF + BOARD

Kite Alison Korogyi

Claudia Skunk Victoria AndersonGardner Amelia Winger-Bearskin

Ahnahktsipiitaa (Colin Van Loon)

Travis Mercredi

Accessibility Coordinator

Shishir Suresh

Communications Coordinator Anthony Grosbeck

Box Office Manager Agatha Cheng

Publications + Archives Coordinator Gigi Wall

ADDITIONAL + EXTERNAL TEAMS

Cultural Advisor Luana Harper-Shirt

HR Consultant

Elena Romanova, Red Door HR

TRAILER TEAM

Trailer Visionary

Lindsay Monture

Videographer

Tom Scollard

Production Management + Post-Production

Jenna Bjornson

Bookkeeper Carol Wang

Public Relations

Route 504 PR

Box Office Coordinator Karel Malkoun

Website Coordinator Jaylynn Brooks

Volunteer Manager Amaliya Louis

Volunteer Coordinator Kylor Ma

Communications Manager Kathleen Walsh

TRAILER CONTRIBUTORS

Māoriland Film Festival

David Hernández Palmar Sunná Nousuniemi

Pauline Clague

Tracy Rector

Digital Ad Management Innovate By Day

Website Development raisin digital

TRAILER SPECIAL THANKS

Tia Wood

Tara Barnes

Matt Grady

Festival Videography Peppercorn Imagine

Festival Photography Lindsay Duncan

TRAILER VERSIONING

Catalogue Design Joel Martin Graphic Design (JMGD)

Catalogue Printing Colour Code Printing

TRAILER MUSIC

Streamland Media “Sage My Soul” Performed by Tia Wood Courtesy of SME Canada Inc. By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment (Canada)

PROGRAMMING SELECTION COMMITTEE

Our Programming Selection Committee is made up of filmmakers, artists, and curators. They provide additional perspectives on individual titles, overarching themes, and the programming structure of the Festival. This year, imagineNATIVE’s Artistic Director, Lindsay Monture, is joined by four industry professionals to oversee the selection of Film + Video works, with two more advising on the selection of Digital + Interactive and Audio works.

Adam Piron Film + Video

Adam Piron (Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and Mohawk) is a Southern California-based filmmaker, writer, and curator. He is the Director of the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program and a co-founder of COUSIN: a film collective dedicated to supporting Indigenous artists pushing the boundaries of the moving image. As a film programmer, he has served as a member of the Sundance Programming Team since 2013 and was previously the Film Curator for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He has guest curated film programs for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, TIFF, the Autry Museum of the American West, and Metrograph.

Madeleine Hakaraia de Young Film + Video

Madeleine Hakaraia de Young (Ngāti Kapu) is the Kaiwhakahau Hōtaka at Māoriland Charitable Trust, where she oversees programming for the Māoriland Film Festival (MFF), the largest presenter of Indigenous screen content in the southern hemisphere. Year-round, Madeleine supports the wider work of the trust as a hub of Māori film and creative excellence centred on Te Uru Maire — the Māoriland Rangatahi Strategy, which nurtures rangatahi to find their voice through film and develop the practical skills to tell their unique stories.

Susan Blight Film + Video

Susan Blight (Anishinaabe, Couchiching First Nation) is an interdisciplinary artist and decolonial scholar. She served as Chair of Indigenous Visual Culture at OCAD University from 2019-2025 and as Associate Editor, Indigenous Places and Names at The Capilano Review. Susan is an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Arts at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design at York University. She is a 2024 recipient of the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Award (Civil Division), one of the highest distinctions a civilian can receive, for her work with Ogimaa Mikana.

Wanda Nanibush Film + Video

Wanda Nanibush is an Anishinaabe-kwe image and word warrior, curator, and community organizer from Beausoleil First Nation, Canada. Based in Toronto, Nanibush is the founding director of aabaakwad, an international yearly gathering of over 80 Indigenous curators, writers, and artists for talks and performances. She won the Toronto Book Award for her co-authored book Moving the Museum which chronicles some of her groundbreaking work at the Art Gallery of Ontario as the inaugural curator of Indigenous Art.

PROGRAMMING SELECTION COMMITTEE

Kahentawaks Tiewishaw

Digital + Interactive, Audio

Kahentawaks Tiewishaw is a Kanien′kehá:ka digital artist and game designer from Kanehsatake. A founding member of Revital Software, she creates video games that support Indigenous language revitalization and cultural storytelling. Her work blends traditional knowledge with digital innovation, including projects like Karihonniennihtshera and Katsi′noniowá:nen Kahentawaks uses game design as a tool for education, empowerment, and cultural preservation.

Wiremu Grace

Digital + Interactive, Audio

Wiremu Grace is from the Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Porou, and Te Atiawa tribes of Aotearoa. He has trained and worked as a visual artist, a carver, a musician, a performer, and a Kura kaupapa Māori language teacher. He has produced, performed, written, and directed for radio, television, film, stage, and virtual reality. Currently, he is working on a multimedia exhibition that explores a response to the past and present impacts of colonization.

B E C O M E A M E M B E R

Your support allows us to continue our mission, providing vital resources and opportunities for artists to thrive while sharing their voices We’re deeply grateful for your dedication to our cause, and together we can keep this important work moving forward Thank you for believing in the power of art to connect and inspire communities for future generations to come

imagineNATIVE.org/membership

I N D I V I D U A L M E M B E R S H I P S

VOLUNTEER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT + GUEST SERVICES

Guest Services

Festival Pass Pickup

During the in-person imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, a Guest Services team member will be available on-site for delegates to pick up their In-Person Festival Passes and to answer any questions.

Guest Services Information Desk Schedule

Welcome Gathering

Spadina Museum

285 Spadina Rd

Tuesday, June 2 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox

350 King St W

Tuesday, June 2 | 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Wednesday, June 3 | 10:00 AM - 8:30 PM

Thursday, June 4 | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Friday, June 5 | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Saturday, June 6 | 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Sunday, June 7 l 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Nia:wen, Miigwetch, Maarsii, Thank You, imagineNATIVE Volunteers

Much of what makes our Festival possible happens quietly behind the scenes. Our volunteers bring care, dedication, and heart to the unseen work that powers the 2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

From all of us at imagineNATIVE, nia:wen, miigwetch, maarsii, thank you for your support, time, positivity, and impact!

Thank you to Miziwe Biik for supporting the imagineNATIVE volunteer program.

Artist Hub

401 Commons + Rooftop Patio

401 Richmond St W, 4th Floor

The Artist Hub, located at the 401 Commons and Rooftop Patio, will be available to In-Person Festival Pass holders during the following dates and times. This is your space to network, visit, or simply take a break between screenings and events.

June 3-6 | 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM

ACCESSIBILITY

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival strives to provide an accessible environment and positive Festival experience for all patrons. We are committed to developing and maintaining the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) standards. All staff and volunteers have completed AODA training online to increase their awareness and attentiveness to the needs of our patrons.

All our venues are wheelchair accessible. Service animals, guide dogs, and support persons are welcome at all venues.

Tickets for most film screenings have assigned seating. The imagineNATIVE Awards Presentation will have general seating with accessible seating held until the show begins.

Please reach out to accessibility@imagineNATIVE.org if you need assistance or have any questions.

For more detailed information on accessibility at the Festival, visit imagineNATIVE.org/accessibility.

Accessible Screenings

OPEN CAPTIONS + SUBTITLES

While we strive to offer captions on all films in cinema and online, some films may be presented with English subtitles only. Please refer to our online listings at imagineNATIVE.org for the most up-todate information on which screenings offer which type of readable text.

ASL INTERPRETATION

Select introductions and post-screening Q&As will be presented with American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. Please refer to our online listings at imagineNATIVE.org for the most up-todate information. If you are attending a screening and have accessibility needs, please reach out to accessibility@imagineNATIVE.org.

SENSORY FRIENDLY SCREENINGS

Anyone is welcome to attend Sensory Friendly Screenings. These screenings allow guests with various accessibility needs to have a positive sensory friendly and inclusive environment. This means:

Theatre lights are dimmed (not completely off)

Theatre sound levels are slightly lower than typical

• No trailers or advertisements will play before the screening

• Minimal introductions and no Q&As

• Guests can enter and exit the theatre freely during the screening

• Silence is not expected

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire Saturday, June 6 | 11:30 AM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

If you have an In-Person Festival Pass and you have accessibility needs, please reach out to accessibility@imagineNATIVE.org for accessibility information about Industry Days panels, workshops, Micro Meetings, networking receptions, and other events.

Health + Wellness Support Workers

imagineNATIVE recognizes the importance of healing and cultural safety. We understand that some content during the Festival may be upsetting or triggering for both direct and intergenerational survivors of trauma. For this reason, support workers will be available on-site.

These services are for anyone, including nonIndigenous people, requiring emotional support.

We strive to provide verbal disclaimers during introductions for in-person programs containing scenes of graphic violence, sexual violence, or content relating to residential schools. Please check our film listings online for up-to-date content warnings and ratings.

Support workers will be on-site at the TIFF Lightbox Green Room on select dates and times.

Support Worker Schedule

TIFF Lightbox, Green Room 350 King St W, 2nd Floor

Wednesday, June 3 | 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM, 4:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Thursday, June 4 | 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM, 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM Friday, June 5 | 3:30 PM - 7:15 PM, 7:45 PM - 10:15 PM Saturday, June 6 | 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM Sunday, June 7 | 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM

For the most up-to-date information, please visit imagineNATIVE.org/health-and-wellness.

Support services provided by Holistic Healers.

Seedlings Childcare

Provided in partnership with The Summerhill Club babysitting agency.

June 3-7 | 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM

Contact lindsay@imagineNATIVE.org to register.

Seedlings Childcare is for Indigenous artists and guests attending the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival with children 5 to 12 years of age. This service ensures industry professionals and other guests have the ability to attend programming throughout the day, knowing their children are being cared for in a safe environment.

Seedlings Childcare is located close to the TIFF Lightbox, where most of our Festival programming takes place making it convenient for parents to go back and forth. Children will be provided with snacks throughout the day, as well as the opportunity to engage in culturally relevant activities and programming.

Special thanks to Roo & You and the Dreamcatcher Charitable Foundation for their support of Seedlings. Capacity is limited. Registration is required.

Online Festival Accessibility

We are excited to once again present our Festival in a hybrid format!

Following the in-person Festival, select films will be available online at watch.imagineNATIVE.org from June 8-14 to ensure that we connect with those who are unable to attend in-person screenings.

Film availability is subject to location geoblocking and distribution rights.

Please reach out to accessibility@imagineNATIVE.org if you need assistance or have any questions.

Please visit our website at imagineNATIVE.org for the most up-to-date information on all our offerings for both versions of the Festival.

BOX OFFICE

In-Person Festival

Tickets for all screenings and special events will be available for purchase online at imagineNATIVE.org or at the on-site imagineNATIVE Box Office inside the TIFF Lightbox.

SCREENINGS

The on-site Box Office will open one hour before the first screening of the day. Please visit imagineNATIVE.org for the most up-to-date on-site Box Office hours and information.

Single Tickets Regular Admission

Screenings

$10

Seniors + Students with ID

$8

Screenings on TD Free Friday FREE, ticketed FREE, ticketed

Packages Price What You Get

5 Ticket Package

10 Ticket Package

In-Person Festival Pass

$45

$80

$250

5 tickets to any in-person film screening(s)

10 tickets to any in-person film screening(s)

1 ticket to all in-person screenings (8 tickets can be redeemed in advance; all others can be redeemed at the on-site Box Office on the day of the screening, pending ticket availability)

1 special event ticket (to be redeemed in advance)

Access to Industry Days and to the imagineNATIVE Swapcard platform

15% discount on Festival merchandise and discounts with select imagineNATIVE partners

TICKET PACKAGES

There are no restrictions on the number of tickets you can book for a single screening with a ticket package. Ticket packages are not valid for any Special Events, Industry Days, or Industry Events.

TD FREE FRIDAY

All screenings on Friday, June 5 are FREE. Tickets for screenings on Friday, June 5 cannot be purchased or booked in advance and will only be available on Friday, June 5 at the on-site imagineNATIVE Box Office. There is a limit of two tickets per person.

Miigwetch, nia:wen, thank you to TD Bank for supporting TD Free Friday!

INDUSTRY DAYS

Except where otherwise stated, Industry Days events are only available to In-Person Festival Pass holders. Tickets are not required for most Industry Days events, and admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please make sure you have your In-Person Festival Pass with you when attending.

INDIGITAL DAYS

iNdigital Days events are FREE. Except where otherwise stated, tickets are not required for iNdigital Days events and admission is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Special

Welcome Gathering

Opening Night Party*

TD Free Friday

The Beat

Awards Presentation

Art Crawl

$20

Spadina Museum

Malaparte

FREE, ticketed TIFF Lightbox

$20 in advance, $30 at door El Mocambo

PWYC**, ticketed

PWYC, ticketed

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Meeting Point: Gallery TPW

*Opening Night Screening tickets and Opening Night Party tickets are sold separately. Admission to one event does not include access to the other.

**Pay What You Can

All tickets are subject to HST. Please see below for information on HST rebates.

Online Festival

Online Festival Pass

$50

Access to all the films offered on watch.imagineNATIVE.org* Single Online Ticket

$8

*Subject to location geoblocking and distribution rights.

HOW TO PURCHASE

Tickets for both the in-person and online Festival are available for purchase through imagineNATIVE.org. During the in-person Festival, in-person tickets can also be purchased at the on-site imagineNATIVE Box Office.

Visit imagineNATIVE.org for more information on purchasing, redeeming, and accessing films during the Festival’s online portion. Access to online screenings starts on Monday, June 8 at 10:00 AM ET and ends Sunday, June 14 at 11:59 PM ET. Please note that not all films screened during the in-person Festival will be available online.

HST REBATE

Access to one feature film or one short film program on watch.imagineNATIVE.org*

Status card holders are eligible to claim a rebate of the 8% Ontario portion of HST paid on qualifying goods and services. Please contact boxoffice@imagineNATIVE.org if you wish to use your status card to purchase packages or tickets online. You can also visit the on-site imagineNATIVE Box Office and present your status card when purchasing in-person tickets.

Festival Venues

Please scan the QR code below or visit bit.ly/imagineNATIVEfestivalvenues for a full map of Festival venues and their addresses.

B r i n g H o m e a

F e s t i v a l K e e p s a k e

s t o r e . i m a g i n e N A T I V E . o r g

Every year imagineNATIVE works with an Indigenous artist to create an image for our Festival Tote Bag. The Tote Bag is offered to all delegates attending the Festival and is also available for purchase as part of our official Festival merchandise. The production of the bag is supported by Miziwe Biik.

Thank you, Tehatsistahawi (Tsista) Kennedy, also known as Hotdog Water Art, for your beautiful artwork!

Artist Statement

The design illustrates four people with their minds connected, both to each other and to the raised fist in the top centre. This raised fist serves as a focal point, with iconographic people standing hand in hand and bold shades of red and yellow radiating from it. Everyone in the design is gathering, sharing, and connecting with one another.

In terms of the broader composition of this artwork, Kennedy decided to go with a “less is more” approach for global Indigenous representation so all Nations can see themselves reflected in some way.

Born in the fall of 2001, Tehatsistahawi (Tsista) Kennedy is an Anishinaabe Onyota’a:aka artist belonging to Beausoleil First Nation and Oneida Nation of the Thames. He is a self-taught artist and often creates his work digitally. Tsista also creates original art pieces with other mediums, such as etching on birch bark.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Special Screening

Special Event

TUE JUNE 2 Welcome Gathering Spadina Museum, 285 Spadina Rd p. 109

WED JUNE 3

THU JUNE 4

Boca

Schedule is subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, please visit imagineNATIVE.org/festival/schedule.

AKI

Opening Night Screening TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1 p. 30

Nika & Madison TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 42

Aanikoobijigan TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1 p. 43

Opening Night Party TIFF Lightbox, Malaparte p. 109

APTN Presents: REZervations for Two TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 44

Meadowlarks TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1 p. 56

Ea TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 54

Walls – Akinni Inuk TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 55

Crack-ups TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 57

Art Crawl Meeting Point: Gallery TPW p. 110

Art Crawl Closing Reception 401 Richmond St W p. 110

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

FRI JUNE 5

Families by the Fire TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 61

SAT JUNE 6

SUN JUNE 7

Journey Home, David Gulpilil TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 78

Families by the Fire Sensory Friendly Screening TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 79

In Defiance TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 87

■ Feature Film ■ Short Film Program ■ Special Screening ■ Sensory Friendly Screening ■ Special Event

Love Has No Gender TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 64

Ceremony TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 67

Awards Presentation TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1 p.118

Survivance TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1 p. 68

Land Meditations CineCycle p. 91

Touch Believe TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 90

People TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 94

Dream

Powwow

Schedule is subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, please visit imagineNATIVE.org/festival/schedule.

The Colleano Heart TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 71

imagineNATIVE Originals TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 72

Mārama TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1 p. 74

Blood Lines TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 83

SPI TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3 p. 82

Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) Closing Night Screening TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1 p. 95

The Beat El Mocambo p. 121

Witching Hour TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 p. 75

TUESDAY 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Lightbox, Cinema 1

AKI

Director/Writer/Producer: Darlene Naponse (Anishnawbemowin)

Co-Producer: Jamie Manning

Canada | 2025 | 85 min

Anishnawbemowin | Documentary Feature

AKI is an exquisite meditation on the relationship between community and the earth. Following the activities of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek as they live the seasons, we are transported by laughter, awe, and love. The land is a tricky character and the water that is her lifeblood speaks to us of life’s rhythms and wisdom. In AKI, the only words spoken are in Anishnawbemowin in honour of our loss and our revival of the language of our ancestors. AKI stuns with unforgettable cinematography matched by an ingenious soundtrack by Juno Award–nominated cellist Cris Derksen and multi-instrumentalist Julian Cote.

Darlene Naponse is an Anishinaabe writer, director, and video artist from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. Her previous films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. AKI is her fifth feature film. Darlene’s work is placed within community and the Natural World.

Short Film Program: What’s to Come

WEDNESDAY 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: What’s to Come

Community-based dark comedies, powerful spoken words, a gentle story of siblings in the bush. Animated transformation, healing in a hide camp, carrying on traditional practices, and empowered myths. The future of Indigenous Cinema looks bright in this all youth-made shorts program, including the winning film from the 2025 imagineNATIVE Tour’s Indigenous Youth Short Film Contest.

WEDNESDAY 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

The Night Shift

Director/Writer: Emmitt Many Heads (Blackfoot)

Producers: Adam Solway (Blackfoot), Sinakson Trevor Solway (Blackfoot)

Canada | 2026 | 4 min

English | Dramatic Short World Premiere

Directed and written by Emmitt Many Heads (age 18) and filmed in Siksika Nation, Alberta, during an Indigenous Youth Filmmaking Workshop as part of the 2025 imagineNATIVE Tour.

Emmitt Many Heads is from Siksika Nation. He has worked on film productions with The Napi Collective.

Lethal Ethel

Director/Writer: Elayna Einish (Naskapi)

Producer: Wapikoni Mobile

Canada | 2025 | 9 min

English | Dramatic Short Toronto Premiere

Content Warning: Violence, Bloodletting

Blending horror and humour, Lethal Ethel is a mockumentary that follows the story of a Naskapi vampire who goes to murderous lengths to protect her land and culture.

Elayna Einish grew up in Kawawachikamach, where they have spent most of their life. Fascinated by breaking the confines of social norms, Elayna explores this through books, movies, and fashion, with a particular interest in the horror genre. Elayna’s first film, Lethal Ethel, marks the beginning of the artist’s cinematic exploration.

Short Film Program: What’s to Come

Little Orange Bandages

Director/Producer/Writer: Kile M. George (Anishinaabe)

Canada | 2025 | 4 min

English | Experimental Short Toronto Premiere

Content Warning: Flashing/Strobing Lights, Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

An experimental short featuring a young Anishinaabe artist’s spoken word expression of frustration over the emptiness of reconciliation.

Kile M. George (they/them) is a Two-Spirit Anishinaabe filmmaker from Nipissing First Nation.

Abinoojiikaasmin (We Act Like Children)

Director/Writer: Evelyn Pakinewatik (Nbisiing Anishinaabe)

Co-Writers: Rosalie Mianskum (Nbisiing Anishinaabe), Tayton Mianskum (Nbisiing Anishinaabe)

Producers: Tara Levesque, Dennis Landry

Canada | 2026 | 13 min

English, Nbisiing Anishinaabe | Dramatic Short World Premiere

Content Warning: Coarse Language, Flashing/ Strobing Lights, Mature Themes, Repatriation of Indigenous Remains, Scientific Racism, Triggering Historical Trauma

Beyond the end of time, two children hide in spiritual stasis from the terrors of their perceived future.

Evelyn Pakinewatik is a queer, disabled artist and filmmaker. Their work explores the societal distortions of interiority, relationality, and animacy.

Short Film Program: What’s to Come

WEDNESDAY 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Isunngannguaq

Director/Writer: Saima Romito-Kalluk (Inuit)

Producer: Celina Kalluk (Inuit)

Canada | 2025 | 5 min No dialogue | Dramatic Short Toronto Premiere

A young girl has the power to transform into a longtailed jaeger, an Arctic seabird. She soon realizes that she will need to make a difficult choice.

Saima Romito-Kalluk’s goal is to showcase life in the arctic in a way that young Inuit can relate to.

Eallu lea eallin

Director/Writer/Producer: Eila Marie Engkvist

Muotka (Sea Sámi/Northern Sámi)

Norway | 2025 | 19 min

Northern Sámi | Documentary Short North American Premiere

A young female Sámi reindeer herder must choose between pursuing further education or taking over her ancestors’ traditional way of life.

Eila Muotka is a Sea Sámi filmmaker from Unjárga and Álttá. She is passionate about visual storytelling and arctic Indigenous stories.

JUN 3

Deneege Leł Ghu

Kk’ots’eedeneeyh

Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e

Denots’edeneeyh

Director/Writer: Brittany Woods-Orrison (Koyukon Dené)

Producer: Sadetło Scott (Tłı̨chǫ Dene)

Canada/USA | 2026 | 5 min

English, Denaakk'e | Documentary Short North American Premiere

Enduring the chaos happening to their peoples and homelands, a group of Alaskan Dene women find strength and hope in reviving the ancestral practice of brain tanning hides.

Brittany Woods-Orrison is a queer Koyukon Dené filmmaker from Dleł Taneets (Rampart), a small village along the Yukon River.

Akababuru: Expression of astonishment

Director/Writer: Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí (Embera Chamí)

Producer: Laura Giraldo Mira

Colombia | 2025 | 13 min

Embera Chamí | Dramatic Short

Canadian Premiere

An Indigenous girl afraid to laugh finds empowerment through a liberating retelling of a myth about a woman punished for laughing and discovers joy as resistance against those who oppress her.

Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí is an Embera Chamí filmmaker, Berlinale Special Mention winner, San Sebastián and Annecy participant, and co-founder of the Luminti collective.

WEDNESDAY 1:30 PM - 3:45 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: On the Land

Short Film Program: On the Land

The land is a mother, a sibling, a resting place, a source of healing and connection. These stories weave the present with millennia of Indigenous existence on the land, reminding us that when we reclaim our relationships on the land, we find our voices.

Short Film Program: On the Land

WEDNESDAY 1:30 PM - 3:45 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Iikaiksimatsa’pao’p:

Grateful to Be on the Land

Director/Writer: Sinakson Trevor Solway (Blackfoot)

Producer: Guillaume Carlier

Canada | 2025 | 12 min

English, Blackfoot | Documentary Short

Ontario Premiere

This film highlights Cassie Ayoungman, founder of Soul of Miistaki, on her journey of self-discovery through climbing — integrating Indigenous teachings and land-based learning into climbing clinics with an aim to redefine relationships to the outdoors.

Sinakson Trevor Solway is a Blackfoot filmmaker from Siksika Nation and award-winning director of Tales from the Rez and Siksikakowan

Raised by the Canoe

Director/Writer/Producer: Cathrine Paul (Skwxwú7mesh/Nuxalk/Kwakwaka’wakw)

Co-Producer: Jeremy Dyson

Canada | 2026 | 16 min

English | Documentary Short

Canadian Premiere

The Terry Lee Canoe Club of Sts'ailes First Nation began as a family crew and now thrives in resurgence, guided by Cathrine and Devin Paul, uniting generations through carving, training, and cultural continuity.

Cathrine Paul (Kwamtalsa) — Squamish Nation filmmaker and lifelong paddler — co-manages the Terry Lee Canoe Club, bridging generations through canoe traditions.

Sukkaillutit Uqaruk (Say It Slowly)

Director/Writer: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard (Inuk)

Producer: Sara Beate Eira (Sámi)

Canada | 2026 | 5 min

English, Inuktitut | Documentary Short

Canadian Premiere

A moving parallel between language loss and climate change, highlighting personal and communal resilience.

Ashley Qilavaq-Savard is an Inuk writer, artist, and filmmaker from Iqaluit. Ashley explores decolonization and Indigenous narratives through her artistic practice.

Tamatta Ataqatigiippugut –We are all connected

Director/Writer/Producer: Arina Kleist (Greenlandic Inuk)

Co-Producer: Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Inuk/ Neets’aii Gwich’in)

Canada/Denmark/Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) | 2026 | 4 min

Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) | Documentary Short North American Premiere

A reflection on ancestral spirits and our broken bond with Nature, told through compelling imagery and an Inuit perspective.

Arina Kleist is an emerging Inuk filmmaker based in Qaqortoq, South Greenland, and a media freelancer focused on video storytelling. Her debut short, Ivikkisartoq Kingulleq, won Best Short Film at the 2024 Nuuk International Film Festival, marking her as a rising talent.

WEDNESDAY 1:30 PM - 3:45 PM

América

Director/Writer: Eduardo Valiente (Wankavilka)

Ecuador | 2025 | 11 min

Spanish | Documentary Short International Premiere

In El Morrillo, clay remembers her hands. Between fire and earth, a Wankavilca grandmother shapes vessels, guarding ancient secrets, keeping alive a millenary craft that refuses to die.

Eduardo Valiente is an Ecuadorian filmmaker experienced in film crews and documentary directing who is committed to community stories and amplifying Wankavilka voices and local memories.

He Moʻolelo Wahi Pana

(A Storied Landscape)

Directors: Kuʻulei Keakealani (Kanaka Maoli/Cree), Kapena Liu (Kanaka Maoli)

Producers: Alice Kaʻeuʻeu Shingle (Kanaka Maoli), Alison Week

USA | 2025 | 22 min

English, Ōlelo Hawaiʻi | Experimental Short North American Premiere

Content Warning: Domestic Abuse

Told through Hawaiian oral tradition, this story follows two sisters migrating across Hawaiʻi Island, where love, rivalry, and ancestral legacy intertwine with memory and landscape.

WAT WAS HIE?

Director/Writer/Producer: Luke De Kock (Khoekhoe/ San)

Co-Writer: Lucy Campbell

South Africa | 2025 | 31 min

English, Khoekhoegowab, Kaaps, Afrikaans, Xhosa | Documentary Short World Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Through historical sites and embodied storytelling, WAT WAS HIE? uncovers hidden histories of Cape slavery and colonialism in South Africa, amplifying Indigenous voices while asking, WHAT WAS HERE?

Luke De Kock is a South African filmmaker, director, choreographer, and performing artist exploring memory, heritage, and post-colonial narratives.

Kuʻulei Keakealani is an educator, cultural practitioner, poet, storyteller, and a lifelong advocate for Hawaiian culture and land.

Kapena Liu is a Sundance Indigenous Fellow based in Mililani, Oahu, who blends his passion for film with his dedication to documenting Hawaiian language and stories.

River of Spirits

WEDNESDAY 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

River of Spirits

Director/Writer: TAWNA Collective (Sápara/Kichwa/ Mestizo)

Co-Writer: Lucia Ferré

Producer: Boloh Miranda

Ecuador | 2025 | 61 min

Spanish, Achuar | Documentary Feature North American Premiere

From anti-colonial art collective TAWNA, River of Spirits follows Luciano as he moves across his territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon in a solarpowered canoe. In the region, Indigenous leaders are creating a solar revolution to save the land, the people, and their culture from a ghost road that threatens to fracture the rainforest. Along the way, Luciano meets with community members to imagine sustainable alternatives grounded in collective decision-making and resistance to extractivist logic. Moving between documentary and experimental modes, River of Spirits attends to the sacred relationships between Amazonian Indigenous Peoples and the land, weaving together spirituality, resistance, and the beauty of living presence.

TAWNA is an anti-colonial arts collective made up of activists, artists, filmmakers, and dissidents from the Sápara, Kichwa, and Mestizo nationalities united by a shared mission to document and resist the extractivist threats faced by Amazonian communities. Founded in 2017, the collective’s work is nourished by the jungle itself and centres on strengthening the cultural legacy of Ecuador’s Amazonian territories through visual narratives, films, and photography.

Preceded by Materia

Director/Writer/Producer: Alisi Telengut (Mongolian/Telengut)

Canada | 2025 | 6 min

English | Experimental Short Canadian Premiere

Materia transforms ordinary objects into vast terrains of texture and light. Through macro and microscopic imagery, the film explores the hidden kinship between the human body and the mineral world.

Alisi Telengut is a Mongolian Canadian animation artist creating award-winning, handcrafted, frameby-frame films.

WEDNESDAY 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising

Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising

Director/Co-Writer: Shane Belcourt (Métis)

Producer/Co-Writer: Tanya Talaga (Anishinaabe)

Canada | 2025 | 90 min

English, Anishinaabemowin | Documentary Feature

Content Warning: Coarse Language, Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop), MMIWG2S+

What they call a terrorist, we call a warrior. In the summer of 1974, a group of young Anishinaabe warriors led by Louis Cameron launched an armed occupation of Anicinabe Park. Their demands were for better housing, employment opportunities, the return of Anicinabe Park lands, and an end to the brutal systemic racism in Kenora, Ontario. The 39-day occupation became a moment that pushed Indigenous rights forward.

In Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising, director Shane Belcourt relies on first-person accounts, new interviews, archival footage, and Louis Cameron’s own words to paint a picture of this moment in history and its connection to the present. Louis’ son, Tyler Cameron, reflecting on his father as “one of the most wanted men in Canada,” brings heart to the complex and enigmatic Louis, offering us a portrait of Anishinaabe power in times of struggle.

Shane Belcourt is a Canadian Screen Award–nominated filmmaker known for feature films, like Tkaronto, Red Rover, and Warrior Strong, and award-winning docs, including Beautiful Scars and Indictment. He is the co-creator and co-showrunner of an upcoming CBC narrative miniseries set to film in 2025–2026.

Short Film Program:

Parenting Under Pressure

WEDNESDAY 4:30 PM - 6:45 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: Parenting Under Pressure

Under bombardment, under racism, under darkness, under systems, under uncertainty, under conflict. These are stories of the everlasting, unconditional, supportive, fierce, brave love of parents that nurture the hearts of their children through hard times.

WEDNESDAY 4:30 PM - 6:45 PM

Ya Hanouni

Directors/Writers/Producers: Lyna Tadount (Kabyle), Sofian Chouaib (Amazigh)

France | 2024 | 3 min

Arabic | Dramatic Short

While a mom and dad try to put their baby to sleep, a competition arises between them: Who will manage to get the baby to say their first word?

Lyna Tadount and Sofian Chouaib met in art school in Paris, France, co-directed Ya Hanouni, and continue to work as directors and photographers in Paris.

Braids

Director/Writer: Elise Beers Aachix̂ Qağaduug (Aleut/ Unanga)

Producers: Bryson Alejandro, Jekeva Phillips

USA | 2025 | 14 min

English, Lakota, Navajo | Dramatic Short Toronto Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Braids follows a young Native American boy, Raven, who grapples with identity, tradition, and societal pressures in a world that often misunderstands his heritage, forcing him to balance cultural integrity with conforming to societal expectations.

Elise Beers Aachix̂ Qağaduug is an enrolled member of the Unangax̂ (Unangan/Aleut) Native American Tribe and a dynamic dancer and choreographer with EarthWorks Dance Company.

I Duok om I Bohuntung –

The Owl and the Rainbow

Director: Jo Luping (Kadazan)

Writer: Lynda Chanwai-Earle (Ngāti Poon Yue)

Producer: Antony Gusscott

Aotearoa (New Zealand)/Malaysia | 2025 | 10 min

Kadazan | Dramatic Short

World Premiere

Content Warning: Mental Health Issues, Depression, Suicide

When depression pulls her daughter into darkness, a mother must transform to restore hope and bring colour back to their lives.

Jo Luping is a Malaysian New Zealander whose work blends Kadazan and Pākehā heritage with contemporary screen storytelling.

Womb

Director/Writer: Ira Hetaraka (Ngātiwai/Ngāpuhi)

Producer: Amanda Jane Robinson

United Kingdom | 2024 | 15 min

English, Māori | Dramatic Short Canadian Premiere

Content Warning: Adult Themes, Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

A young Māori girl in the care of a conservative English couple savours her mother’s weekly visitations, as a custody battle driven by racial bias will ultimately decide their fate.

Ira Hetaraka is an emerging Māori filmmaker based in London. Her award-winning short Womb premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.

Short Film Program: Parenting Under Pressure

WEDNESDAY 4:30 PM - 6:45 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Flowers

Director/Writer: José Cardoso (Mestizo Kañari)

Producer: Adrian Van Wyk (South African, Khoi descent)

Ecuador | 2024 | 30 min

English, Spanish, Tupí, Portuguese, Vietnamese |

Documentary Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Self-Immolation

An Amazon ethnocide is justified by war in Ukraine. The filmmaker leaves the screen and meets his 3-year-old son who marvels at the flowers growing in the garden.

José Cardoso is a filmmaker who creates fiction films, stop motion animation, and documentaries, constantly questioning what reality is and revolving around surrealism, consciousness, and anticolonialism.

A Bridge in the Mist

Director: Hsueh-Bin Chieh (Paiwan)

Producers: Maraos (Tao), Alang Galavangang (Bunun), Alui Djadjavac (Paiwan), Phil Tang

Writer: Yi-Fang Li

Taiwan | 2025 | 28 min

Atayal | Documentary Short Canadian Premiere

A Tayal daughter becomes a hostage to save her people, fracturing her family amid colonial war.

Hsueh-Bin Chieh is a Paiwan filmmaker, director, and screenwriter from Taimali, Taitung.

WEDNESDAY 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Nika & Madison

Director/Writer: Eva Thomas (Walpole Island First Nation)

Co-Writer: Michael McGowan

Producer: Tyler Levine

Canada | 2025 | 87 min

English | Dramatic Feature

Content Warning: Violence, Sexual Activity, Adult Themes, Coarse Language

Madison (Star Slade) is a university student living in Toronto. During a visit back home to the rez, she finds herself in the back of a cop car after getting into a bar fight. Her childhood friend Nika (Ellyn Jade) finds Madison being assaulted by the arresting police officer. Nika fights him off, putting him in a coma. Scared and knowing the (in)justice system often works against victims, especially Indigenous women, they go on the run — first finding protection under the jurisdiction of the rez, then running further into the bush. Running out of options, with police forces hot on their tail, the friends find out how much they rely on each other and the support of their community to face the music.

Eva Thomas is a writer, director, and producer. She co-directed and co-wrote her first feature, Aberdeen, which premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). She has directed episodes of CBC’s Still Standing, earning a 2024 Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction, Factual. Eva works on the TV series Acting Good (Bell Media/Crave) as a writer and director. Previously, she was an associate producer on Danis Goulet’s Night Raiders (TIFF 2021, Berlinale 2021) and an executive producer on Kaniehtiio Horn’s Seeds (TIFF 2024). Her directorial short film debut, Redlights, premiered at TIFF in 2023 and is the inspiration for Nika & Madison

Preceded by Windsong

Director/Producer: Loren Waters (Kiowa/Cherokee)

USA | 2026 | 4 min

English | Music Video World Premiere

“Windsong” is a lush, visually poetic music video from Kalyn Fay’s album Garden, filmed on location at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where nature, art, and sound intertwine in a dreamy meditation on growth and longing.

Loren Waters (Cherokee/Kiowa) is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of Waters Media, where her work spans directing, producing, and casting.

Nika & Madison

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/greatgrandparent/great-grandchild]

WEDNESDAY 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]

Directors: Adam Khalil (Ojibway), Zack Khalil (Ojibway)

Producers: Jacque Clark (Ojibway), Franny Alfano, Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington

Denmark/USA | 2026 | 80 min

English | Documentary Feature

Content Warning: Flashing/Strobing Lights

Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, exposing the pervasive worldviews that justified their collection. Aanikoobijigan documents the vital work of the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA), a group representing all Michigan tribes in the struggle to bring Ancestors and funerary objects back from settler-colonial institutions.

Adam and Zack Khalil’s formally daring film follows the pressing battle to rebury remains held in sterile storage, laying bare the history of stolen Indigenous collections and the fight to enforce repatriation laws. Through an essayistic approach and vérité portraits, the film celebrates the courageous individuals performing this emotionally draining labour of return, honouring those dedicated to restoring dignity and community to their Ancestors.

Adam Khalil (Ojibway) is a filmmaker and artist. His practice attempts to subvert traditional forms of ethnography through humour, relation, and transgression. Khalil is a UnionDocs Collaborative Fellow and Gates Millennium Scholar. In 2011 he graduated from the Film and Electronic Arts program at Bard College.

Zack Khalil, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a filmmaker and artist whose work centres Indigenous narratives through the use of innovative nonfiction forms. Khalil is a core contributor to New Red Order, a public secret society which enjoins potential non-Indigenous accomplices to participate in the co-examination and expansion of Indigenous agency.

Preceded by All My Love Thanks

Director/Writer/Producer: Blackhorse Lowe (Navajo)

Writer/Producer: Laura Ortman (Apache)

USA | 2026 | 3 min

English | Music Video

A Laura Ortman music video.

Blackhorse Lowe is a filmmaker from the Navajo Nation whose films focus on Native stories.

WEDNESDAY 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

APTN Presents: REZervations for Two

APTN Presents: REZervations for Two

Director/Writer: Vanessa Loewen (Manitoba Métis Federation)

Producers: Sharol Stewart (Métis), Crystal Dubois (Ojibway)

Canada | 2026 | 44 min

English | Reality TV World Premiere

Hosted by Scott Wabano and Kairyn Potts, REZervations for Two is where Indigenous blind dating comes with unexpected twists and turns. Each episode follows a new dater hoping to find a connection, but of course we have to make it interesting! From surprise moments to playful challenges set up by the hosts, nothing is ever as simple as dinner and drinks. Scott and Kai are there to stir the pot, share dating advice, and keep the chaos in check… or at least try to.

A proud Manitoba Métis with matrilineal roots in the Hallett and Pruden families of the Red River settlements, Vanessa Loewen has produced and directed over 100 hours of original and captivating programming that reflects Indigenous Peoples. Recently, Vanessa was thrilled to have been welcomed on as a producer for the Crave/CTV Comedy hit Acting Good, as well as writing and directing REZervations for Two

Short Film Program: Legendary Lineages

THURSDAY 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: Legendary Lineages

Aunties, uncles, leaders — these are people whose life’s work has contributed to the future fabric of the Indigenous world. By striving to maintain their families, their communities, and their Indigenous ways of life, these people have transformed the worlds around them. Be inspired by their stories.

THURSDAY 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Run as One

Director: Amber-Sky Ranville (Ojibwe)

Writer: Christian Picken (Swampy Cree)

Producer: Ella Cowan

Canada | 2025 | 6 min

English | Documentary Short

World Premiere

Like his song “Run as One,” Errol Ranville’s life is a call for Indigenous strength and solidarity. An anthem passed down through family, music, and memory.

Amber-Sky Ranville is a Winnipeg-born queer Indigenous actress and aspiring director currently studying film at Sheridan College.

Sally’s Bravery

Co-Directors/Co-Writers: Nathalie Rankin (Anicinape), Roxanne Lauzon (Anicinape)

Producer: Wapikoni Mobile

Canada | 2025 | 5 min

French | Dramatic Short

Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

In canoeing over 650 km with her children, Sally Diamond left a legacy of courage and strength that we honour in this documentary.

Nathalie Rankin is an Anicinape filmmaker from Pikogan and a teacher at the Migwan school in her community. Her creative practice is driven by a desire to preserve and share Indigenous history and memory.

Roxanne Lauzon is Algonquin (Anicinapekwe) who grew up in an urban setting far from her home community of Pikogan.

Short Film Program: Legendary Lineages

Erroll Kinistino: Inspiration and Activism in the Arts

Director/Writer/Producer: Jimi Leigh Kinistino (Cree)

Co-Producer: Patrick Cameron

Canada | 2025 | 17 min

English | Documentary Short

World Premiere

Content Warning: Slurs, Coarse Language

A short documentary covering the long and storied career of Erroll Kinistino as he recounts his roots in activism and an artistic upbringing that led him into the world of entertainment.

Jimi (James) Leigh Kinistino is an Indigenous Turtle Island–based cinematographer, director, Canadian Screen Award–winning editor, and filmmaker from the Treaty 4 Ochapowace Nation.

Moon Noonk Edouard

Director/Writer: Jessie Ray Short (Michif)

Producers: Marie-France Guerrette, Christine Aubé

Canada | 2026 | 35 min

English, French | Documentary Short

World Premiere

For the first time, Édouard Beaupré’s story is told by a member of his own family. Filmmaker Jessie Ray Short blends documentary with carefully crafted recreations to conjure an oneiric space shaped by memory, dreams, and truth.

Jessie Ray Short’s practice involves uncovering connections within the nuanced history of the Prairies’ Michif communities.

Short Film Program: Legendary Lineages

THURSDAY 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Homesteads: Whina Cooper

Director/Writer/Producer: Kimiora Kaire-Melbourne (Māori)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 26 min English, Māori | Documentary Short International Premiere

Through her daughter’s eyes, this film returns to Dame Whina Cooper’s homestead, a historic remnant of her legacy, revealing the whenua (land) that shaped the activist who would become Te Whaea o te Motu (Mother of a Nation).

Kimiora Kaire-Melbourne is an award-winning Māori director and producer of culturally grounded films that honour Māori stories, embody traditional values, and promote Te Reo Māori.

THURSDAY 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

What We Carry

What We Carry

Director/Writer: Jessie Anthony (Onondaga Nation)

Co-Writer: Katrinka Scott

Producers: Kat McDermott (Bigstone Cree Nation), Bracken Burns

Canada | 2025 | 88 min

English | Documentary Feature Toronto Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Selah Rayne is an award-winning Mountain Cree director and the Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) creative director advancing Indigenous storytelling and youth-driven cinema. JUN 4

What does reconciliation look like for the descendants of a residential school teacher? Katrinka and her daughter Bracken explore this and many other questions after they open a trunk full of memories belonging to Katrinka’s mother, Jennifer Notley, an English school teacher who travelled by boat, train, and plane to answer the call for a position at Desmarais (St. Martin’s) Residential School in Treaty 8 territory. The discovery of Jennifer’s history leads Katrinka and Bracken on a journey to meet with community members from the Bigstone Cree Nation, many of whom attended St. Martin’s, to get a full picture of the impacts of residential schools, and more specifically, Jennifer’s impact on the community. Jessie Anthony’s debut documentary feature provides a fresh perspective on reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, with many challenging but much needed discourses on privilege, accountability, and healing.

Haudenosaunee filmmaker Jessie Anthony, Onondaga Beaver Clan, is an award-winning Telefilm Talent to Watch director, producer, and creator of Brother, I Cry and Querencia. Jessie graduated from the Indigenous Independent Filmmaking Program with a Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts from Capilano University. Jessie is in development with a television slate supported by CMF, Amazon, ISO, Creative BC, and Bell Media.

Preceded by The Orange Flower

Director/Writer/Producer: Selah Rayne (Mountain Cree)

Canada | 2025 | 4 min English | Dramatic Short World Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

The Orange Flower is a poignant short film that explores the legacy of residential schools through the eyes of a child, offering a deeply emotional glimpse into a painful chapter of history.

Levers THURSDAY 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Levers

Director/Writer/Producer: Rhayne Vermette (Red River Métis)

Canada | 2025 | 92 min

English, French | Experimental Feature

Content Warning: Historical Trauma References, Apocalyptic Themes

Rhayne Veremette’s sophomore feature surrounds a pivotal event: the sun does not rise for one day. While the world watches a new sun rise, mysterious events weave together the lives of a sculptor, a civil servant, and a security guard. Vermette’s latest is a haunting and meditative cinematic journey. Known for her unique approach to blending documentary elements with abstract form, Vermette crafts a visual tapestry that challenges conventional narrative structure. The film explores profound themes of memory, landscape, and the emotional resonance of the everyday, utilizing unconventional techniques to draw the viewer into a deeply personal, yet universally felt, experience. Levers is a compelling and unique cinematic work that pushes the boundaries of the experimental form, delivering an uncompromising vision of interior and exterior worlds colliding on screen.

Primarily self-taught, Rhayne Vermette’s work emphasizes an interference of image through collage, photography, and analog filmmaking. Themes of place, time, and rhythm are expressed through opulent layers of fiction, animation, reenactments, and divine interruption. Deeply rooted in Manitoba, Rhayne frequently enlists the talent of her loved ones and community in the making of her films. Ste. Anne (2021), Rhayne’s first feature narrative, featuring some of her own family members from Ste. Anne, Manitoba, received critical acclaim and accrued a number of accolades including TIFF’s Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film. In 2024, Rhayne was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award, Canada’s preeminent prize for contemporary visual artists. She just released her second feature film, Levers

Boca Vieja

Director/Writer/Producer: Yovegami Ascona Mora (Mixe)

Co-Producer: Mónica Cruz Arcos

Mexico | 2025 | 85 min

Spanish | Documentary Feature

Canadian Premiere

Content Warning: Coarse Language

Yovegami Ascona Mora’s Boca Vieja offers a sensitive and complex portrait of the director’s ancestral home in southern Mexico. The film lingers with equal care on the beauty of the sea and the beauty of the people who live alongside it, shaped by deep relationships to land and water. At the same time, the film traces the resilience of a community navigating the ebb and flow of daily life while resisting the persistent threat of territorial dispossession. Poetic and attentive, the film invites viewers to witness a living landscape where memory, place, and environmental change are deeply intertwined.

The sea is huge, the sea is a woman, the sea is delightful. Beautiful things are kept inside. She is a woman named Maria.

Yovegami Ascona Mora is a filmmaker from San Juan Guichicovi, Oaxaca. He has directed several short films about his community. With Sones Mixes en la Ciudad (2013), he won the Mexican national documentary competition Miradas sin Tiempo. With Mëët Naax (2014), he received the Best Short Film award at the national contest Hazlo en Corto. Los que están por nacer (2018) won the Best Short Film at the Morelia Indigenous Film Festival. Boca Vieja, his feature-length documentary debut, premiered at the 40th Guadalajara International Film Festival.

Preceded by

Vuogáiduvvan

(Adaptation)

Director/Writer: Aslak Paltto (Sámi)

Producer: Sadetło Scott (Tłı̨chǫ)

Canada/Finland | 2026 | 5 min

Northern Sámi | Documentary Short North American Premiere

Content Warning: Hanging Animal Carcasses

Traditional Sámi reindeer herding is on the brink of change due to the rapidly warming climate. No matter what, reindeer herders must adapt, otherwise, the reindeer starve, and there will be no future left.

Sámi filmmaker Aslak Paltto has firsthand experience of the negative impacts of a changing climate as a reindeer herder.

Boca Vieja

Short Film Program: Revitalized Legends

THURSDAY 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Short Film Program: Revitalized Legends

Legends are a pathway to the knowledge of our ancestors. These are stories we grew up with, reimagined in innovative and creative ways to ensure we continue to understand the world around us.

THURSDAY 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Corn Husk Doll

Director: Yuma Dean Hester (Anishinaabe/Cree)

Writer: Kaniehtenhawi Deer (Mohawk of Six Nations)

Producer: Ashley Maracle (Mohawk of Tyendinaga)

Canada | 2025 | 14 min

Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) | Dramatic Short Toronto Premiere

A retelling of a traditional Hodinöhsö:ni’ story in the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ language.

A founding member and current creative director with Bawaadan Collective, Yuma Dean Hester continues to prioritize their roots in community development.

The Woman Who Married A Bear

Director/Writer/Producer: Kaa,Laa Mary Goddard (Tlingit)

Co-Director: Dave Fedorski

USA | 2025 | 12 min

Tlingit (Lingít) | Dramatic Short

International Premiere

Content Warning: Violence

While picking berries a woman insults the spirit of a bear who disguises himself as a handsome man and lures her to his den.

Kaa,Laa Mary Goddard grew up in Yakutat and left her hometown to study film before returning to Southeast Alaska.

Nivingajuliat

Directors/Writers/Producers: Shelby Lisk (Kanyen′kehá:ka), Tess Girard

Canada | 2026 | 12 min

English | Documentary Short Toronto Premiere

Content Warning: Violence

In her latest wallhanging, artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona reimagines the Inuit legend of Sedna, transforming a tale shaped by patriarchal violence into a vision of female sovereignty and selfdetermination.

Shelby Lisk is a Kanyen′kehá:ka photographer and filmmaker whose work centres cultural celebration and accurate representations of Indigenous women and communities.

A'Likou (River People)

Director/Writer: Peter Toyat (Melanau)

Producer: Tan Seok Yee

Malaysia | 2025 | 14 min

Melanau | Dramatic Short

North American Premiere

In the ancient Melanau kingdom, a humble fisherman’s life unravels when his sister is taken as a sacrifice. Defying rulers, spirits, and fate, his quest to save her forges him into a warrior king whose choices ignite a war among nations.

Peter Toyat is an Indigenous filmmaker whose blockbuster dramas explore suffering, death, and redemption across Malaysian history.

Short Film Program:

Revitalized Legends

THURSDAY 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawer of Rocks)

Director/Writer/Producer: Louise Flaherty (Inuit)

Canada | 2025 | 14 min

Inuktitut | Dramatic Short

Content Warning: Violence, Mutilation

Two women are led astray and become trapped in the lair of the Mangittatuarjuk, the Gnawer of Rocks. They must use the teachings of their Elders to defeat the monster.

Raised in Clyde River, Nunavut, Louise Flaherty cofounded Inhabit Media and Taqqut Productions to preserve Inuit culture, language, and storytelling.

THURSDAY 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Lightbox, Cinema 2

Ea

Director/Writer/Producer: Noah Keone Viernes (Kānaka ‘Ōiwi)

Co-Director/Co-Producer: Sancia Miala Shiba Nash

Co-Producer: Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick

Japan/USA | 2025 | 70 min

English, ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi | Documentary Feature North American Premiere

Directed by Noah Keone Viernes and Sancia Miala Shiba Nash, Ea (Sovereign) is a powerful feature documentary centring on Keʻeaumoku Kapu, a Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) leader and caretaker of the Nā ʻAikāne o Maui Cultural Center. The film chronicles the Kapu family’s multi-generational battle to reclaim ancestral land in Maui’s Kauaʻula Valley — a struggle against the enduring legacies of plantation agriculture, the US-backed overthrow, and modern militourism.

Guided by the philosophy “I ka wa ma mua, ka wa ma hope” (the future is in the past), the narrative weaves together archival footage, digital cartography, and sacred chants. It transforms Kapu’s twenty-year legal odyssey into a cinematic reflection on Indigenous resilience. Ea is more than a profile of one man; it is a testament to the survival of Native land and water management practices, offering a roadmap for future generations fighting for sovereignty across the Hawaiian archipelago.

Noah Keone Viernes, PhD, is a Kānaka ‘Ōiwi filmmaker, musician, and educator with ancestral ties to Punaluʻu, Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi.

Preceded

by Why Would I Leave

Director/Writer/Producer: Jade Baxter (Nlaka’pamux)

Canada | 2025 | 9 min English, Nlakapamuxcheen | Documentary Short World Premiere

The filmmaker’s firsthand account of the 2021 catastrophic wildfire season in the Nlaka’pamux Nation, weaving together historical and contemporary issues her community faces.

Jade Baxter’s work includes non-fiction and narrative film, creative short form writing, and Nlaka’pamux fibre arts.

THURSDAY 6:15 PM - 8:15 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Walls – Akinni Inuk

Directors/Writers: Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg (Kalaaleq Inuk/Greenlandic), Sofie Rørdam

Producer: Emile Hertling Péronard (Kalaaleq Inuk/ Greenlandic)

Denmark/Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) | 2025 | 75 min

Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) | Documentary Feature

Content Warning: Suicide, Domestic Abuse, Substance Abuse, Murder

In Walls – Akinni Inuk directors Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg and Sofie Rørdam present a powerful indictment of the Greenlandic carceral system. This documentary focuses on Ruth, an inmate at the Nuuk correctional facility serving an “indeterminate sentence” with no fixed end date. Ruth’s legal journey is marked by a tragic irony: She has spent significantly more time imprisoned for a battery charge than she did for her original manslaughter conviction.

The film thrives on the intimate bond between Ruth and co-director Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, who spent years conversing with Ruth across the prison fence. The directing team uses a cinéma vérité style to capture their evolving lives, documenting a period where Nina became a mother and Ruth became a grandmother. Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg’s and Rørdam’s emotional sincerity creates a rewarding exploration of human empathy amidst systemic failure.

Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg (she/her) is an Inuk Greenlandic film producer and director who has worked in the creative industry since 2010. She has primarily focused on creating projects that highlight Greenlandic stories and local talents. Her directorial debut, Walls – Akinni Inuk, marks an important step in her film career, where she delves into complex topics such as justice, punishment, and identity. Previously, she produced Alanngut Killinganni, which in 2023 was the first Greenlandic film to be nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize.

Preceded by Niimi

Director/Writer/Producer: Dana Solomon (Anishinaabe)

Co-Producer: Houston Bone

Canada | 2025 | 15 min

English | Dramatic Short

Content Warning: Adult Themes, Sexual References

An Indigenous ballerina attempts to reignite her passion for dancing following a traumatic incident with her previous coach.

Dana Solomon is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Mississauga, Ontario. Dana is Anishinaabe/ Guyanese and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation.

Walls – Akinni Inuk

THURSDAY 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Cinema 1

Meadowlarks

Director/Writer: Tasha Hubbard (Cree)

Co-Writer: Emil Sher

Producers: Tyler Hagan (Métis), Julia Rosenberg

Canada | 2025 | 91 min

English | Dramatic Feature

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Meadowlarks tells the story of four siblings, separated from each other during the Sixties Scoop, finding each other again 50 years later. Set against the picturesque backdrop of the tourist destination town of Banff, feeling as foreign in their own lands as they do with one another, the siblings sift through the trauma of separation, unpacking the spaces in their lives in which they needed one another, and working out how to become family again. This emotional journey is carried through strong performances from Michael Greyeyes, Michelle Thrush, Carmen Moore, and Alex Rice.

Tasha Hubbard is an award-winning filmmaker from Peepeekisis First Nation in Treaty 4 territory with paternal ties to Thunderchild First Nation. Her celebrated films include nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, Two Worlds Colliding, Birth of a Family, and Singing Back the Buffalo

Short Film Program: Crack-ups

THURSDAY 8:30 PM - 10:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: Crack-ups

A zombie boyfriend in 16mm, a well-travelled message in a bottle, scheming Mohawks in a corporate afterlife, Māori prepping for the rapture, a rez tour with a truck full of empties, and a Sápmi land-based standoff. Save your big auntie laughs for these comedy shorts that will have you cracking up.

THURSDAY 8:30 PM - 10:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Convenience Store NDN Zombie

Director/Writer: Cole Forrest (Anishinaabe)

Producer: Ashley Browning (Pojoaque Pueblo/Santa Clara Pueblo)

Canada/USA | 2025 | 7 min

English | Dramatic Short

Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Coarse Language

Zoe and Benny are in love. Benny dies the night before Halloween and is reanimated as a zombie. Claire, Zoe’s best friend, has nefarious intentions.

Cole Forrest is an Anishinaabe filmmaker and film curator from Nipissing First Nation.

The Prince and the Pauper

Director/Producer: Tai Leclaire (Mohawk/Mi’kmaq)

Producers: Alex Nystrom (Ojibwe), Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache)

Canada/USA | 2025 | 17 min

English | Dramatic Short

Canadian Premiere

A famous Mohawk ghost, determined to escape the corporate afterlife, is drawn into an unexpected encounter with an identical and partially deceased descendant.

Tai Leclaire is a director, writer, and actor from the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawà:ke.

Washed Up

Director/Writer/Producer: Sophie Hampson (Ngāti Huri/Raukawa)

Co-Producer: Acacia Wong

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 5 min

English | Dramatic Short

International Premiere

Content Warning: Sexual References

A widow’s message in a bottle washes up into the hands of an unexpected reader.

Sophie Hampson is a recently graduated Aotearoabased filmmaker whose work is grounded in Indigenous practice.

The Rapture

Director/Writer/Producer: Jaimee Poipoi (Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Kahungunu)

Director/Producer: Roo Reihana-Wilson (Ngāpuhi/ Ngāi Tūteauru/Ngāti Hine)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2026 | 11 min

English, Māori | Dramatic Short International Premiere

With the rapture just days away, two haututu (mischievous) cousins reunite to complete their koro’s (grandfather’s) last wish: to return home. But are they ready?

Roo Reihana-Wilson and Jaimee Poipoi are a multidisciplinary duo whose work is driven by their passion for Indigenous, comedic, and queer storytelling.

THURSDAY 8:30 PM - 10:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Taxi the Empties

Director/Writer/Producer: Gerald Little Light (Siksika)

Co-Director/Co-Writer: Madden Running Rabbit (Siksika)

Co-Producer: Laszlo Uhrik

Canada | 2026 | 30 min

English | Dramatic Short World Premiere

Content Warning: Coarse Language

When Indigenous teen Madden faces eviction unless he finds work by day’s end, his desperate attempt to cash in empties for survival money spirals into a perilous odyssey across the rez.

Gerald Little Light is a Siksika Nation filmmaker dedicated to authentic Indigenous storytelling inspired by family, resilience, and community.

Madden Running Rabbit is a Blackfoot filmmaker and experimental visual artist from Siksika Nation, crafting instinctive, emotionally driven Indigenous stories.

Borderline

Director/Writer/Producer: Johannes Vang (Northern Sámi)

Co-Writer: Wilhelmina Vang (Northern Sámi)

Norway | 2026 | 12 min

English, Northern Sámi, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish | Dramatic Short North American Premiere

A Norwegian customs officer, a Finnish poacher, and a mysterious Swedish woman meet at the border between their homelands, becoming entangled in a conflict over laws, language, and prejudice.

Johannes Vang is a Northern Sámi director and producer from Nordreisa in Norway. He creates films about Sámi and Indigenous topics like culture, identity, and society through both fact and fiction.

imagineNATIVE is pleased to welcome back TD Bank in support of TD Free Friday at the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival!

Thanks to the generosity of TD Bank, tickets to all screenings on Friday, June 5 will be FREE

TD Free Friday provides more opportunities for individuals to experience imagineNATIVE’s unique programming.

Maarsii, miigwetch, mahsi’choo, nia:wen, thank you, TD Bank.

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire

FRIDAY 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire

The love of grandmothers and their grandbabies, Mi′kmaq and Anishinaabe traditional tales, a young gunslinger Western, a Hawaiian volcano story, and a fortune teller with a warning. Come gather for this collection of family-friendly stories told in animation and collaboration across generations.

FRIDAY 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Niwahkohmahkanis

Director/Writer/Producer: Zoey Roy (Nehithaw Dené/Métis)

Co-Writers: Cindy Horner (Métis), Maleah Horner (Métis), Maxine Roy (Dene), Akira Horner (Métis), Maria Campbell (Cree Métis)

Canada | 2024 | 4 min

English, Cree | Music Video Ontario Premiere

“Niwahkohmahkanis” shines a light on the love children have for their grandmothers and the special relationship they share.

Zoey Roy, PhD, has a passion for bringing community-based knowledge to life through collective songwriting. She believes people in the grassroots not only have the answers but that they are the answer.

The Wild Sheriff

Director: Sarah Houle (Métis)

Writers: Shane Ghostkeeper (Cree Métis/Saulteaux), Vittal Ghostkeeper (Cree Métis/Saulteaux)

Producer: Kaytlyn Turner

Canada | 2025 | 12 min

English | Dramatic Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Violence, Fake Gun Shot

A violent storm is brewing as two powerful forces are about to collide. The orphaned Wild Sheriff seeks to bring order as he wrestles with his inner chaos.

Sarah Houle is an artist and performer from Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement in Northern Alberta.

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire

Wolverine and Little Thunder: An Eel Hunting Adventure

Director/Writer/Producer: Alan Syliboy (Mi'kmaq)

Co-Producer: Stephanie Joline (Inuk)

Canada | 2025 | 9 min

English | Dramatic Short

Rooted in Mi′kmaw storytelling, this animated short follows two young friends whose eel-fishing trip becomes a lesson in courage, problem-solving, and cultural connection.

Alan Syliboy is a Mi′kmaq artist from Millbrook whose petroglyph-inspired work has elevated Indigenous art.

Migizi Makes A Deal With Gzhemnidoo

Director/Writer/Producer: Esbikenh (Anishinaabe)

Canada | 2025 | 13 min

English, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) | Dramatic Short World Premiere

A visually striking 2D animated Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) short celebrating the importance of Indigenous language and tradition — an engaging Anishinaabe story that resonates with audiences of all ages.

Esbikenh is an Anishinaabe from Bkejwanong Territory of the Mzhiikenh Dodem (Turtle Clan). He’s been a teacher of the Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) language for nearly 13 years.

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire

Nenaboozhoo

Director/Producer: Isaac Murdoch (Anishnaabe)

Writer: Danielle Boissoneau (Anishnaabe)

Producers: Tyler Young, Danny Silver, Dong Chang, Christopher Johnson

Canada | 2025 | 15 min

Anishinaabemowin | Dramatic Short

A traditionally animated in-language Anishinaabe story of how the arrow got its feathers.

Isaac Murdoch is a renowned Indigenous artist and activist who shares the culture of First Nations through powerful storytelling.

Tankha

Directors: Alexander Moruo (Sakha), Markel Martynov (Sakha)

Writers: Tatyana Ushnitsky (Sakha), Nikolay Syromyatnikov (Sakha)

Producers: Anna Borisova (Sakha), Roman Okoneshnikov (Sakha)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 13 min

English, Sakha (English dub) | Dramatic Short Toronto Premiere

During the mystical period of Taŋkha, three friends receive a mysterious prediction from a fortune teller, unleashing strange events. As curiosity turns to fear, they must solve the riddle.

Alexander Moruo is a filmmaker dedicated to sharing Indigenous stories and culture through animation.

Markel Martynov is a professional animator with many years of experience in creating animation for the film, television, and game industries.

FRIDAY 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Molly of Denali | Episode 505: There is Pele

Director: Amanda Strong (Michif/Red River Métis)

Writer: Princess Daazharaii Johnson (Neets’aii Gwich’in)

Producer: Yatibaey Evans (Ahtna/Athabascan)

Canada | 2025 | 25 min

English, Ōlelo Hawai‘i | Dramatic Short North American Premiere

Molly and Grandpa Nat travel to Hawaiʻi and Molly wishes to see a volcanic eruption. She learns about Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani and the tradition of making offerings to the goddess Pele.

Amanda Strong (Manitoba Métis Federation) is a Canadian Screen Award- and Emmy-nominated director, and award-winning stop motion storyteller.

FRIDAY 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: Love Has No Gender

Short Film Program: Love Has No Gender

We all need spaces of protection, exploration, and friendship especially when we face a great crisis. Our society’s understanding of difference and precarity will lead to a holistic embrace of everyone. These stories are about finding this sense of safety and love in order to live Queer and Trans joy.

Short Film Program: Love Has No Gender

IXIM (el amor no tiene género)

Director/Writer/Producer: Alex PV (Maya Mam)

Guatemala | 2024 | 30 min

Spanish, Q'eqchi' | Documentary Short Canadian Premiere

This documentary portrays Ménica Chub, a Maya Q′eqchi′ trans woman, and her struggle for inclusion in society over the last five years.

Alex PV is a Maya Mam filmmaker known for his commitment to projects that focus on historical memory, human rights, and territorial rights.

FRIDAY 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Ata Pūao

Director/Writer: Allie Howell (Waitaha/Ngāti Rangiwewehi)

Co-Writer: Pūmanawa Rawiri (Marutūāhu/Waikato Tainui/Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki)

Producer: Angel Kameta (Ngāti Whakaue/Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 14 min

English, Te Reo Māori | Dramatic Short Canadian Premiere

Content Warning: Violence, Coarse Language, Slurs, Flashing/Strobing Lights

Amid the nightlife of a new city, a young Māori trans woman reckons with safety, isolation, and the fragile bonds of old friendships outgrown as the promise of belonging rises just beyond the horizon.

Allie Howell is a whakawahine filmmaker whose work is grounded in community and the weaving of past and present to inform contemporary cinema.

HOST

Director/Producer/Writer: Zachery Cameron Longboy (Sayisi Dene)

Canada | 2024 | 11 min

English | Experimental Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Adult Themes

The artist leads a procession of his infections (HIV, Parkinson’s, spinal stenosis, and bedbugs) to the water in this ritual of co-existence.

Zachery Cameron Longboy is a video maker and a performance and installation artist of Sayisi Dene lineage who was born in Churchill, Manitoba.

O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You)

Director/Writer/Producer: Giselle Ilaoa (Alafua - Sāmoa/Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Ngāti RaukawaAotearoa)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 9 min

English, Sāmoan | Dramatic Short International Premiere

Manaia, a young woman caught between expectation and self-acceptance, finds herself confronting her repressed sexuality when a chance reunion with her first love stirs old feelings.

Giselle Ilaoa is an emerging filmmaker with a deep passion for telling stories that positively represent her Pasifika and Māori communities.

FRIDAY 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Gâteau Girl (Pussy Pussy Pussy)

Director: Shanelle St. Hilaire (Red River Métis)

Canada | 2024 | 1 min

No dialogue | Experimental Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Sexual Activity, Adult Themes, Sexual References

Following raw desire and allowing instinct to lead, through joyful exploration and unmasking, she becomes both a carefree wanderer and the radiant spectacle.

Shanelle St. Hilaire is a multidisciplinary artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba (Treaty 1 territory), and a member of the Red River Métis community. She specializes in painting, craft, beadwork, and media arts.

Short Film Program: Love Has No Gender

FRIDAY 2:00 PM - 4:15 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Ceremony

Director/Writer/Producer: Banchi Hanuse (Nuxalk)

Co-Writer: Jessica Mayhew (Métis)

Canada | 2026 | 83 min

English, Nuxalk | Documentary Feature

North American Premiere

Content Warning: Violence, Bloodletting

In Nuxalkulmc (Nuxalk Territory), the disappearance of the sputc (ooligan) — a small fish that has nourished the people of the Nuxalk Nation for generations — becomes a lens through which history, memory, and resilience unfold. Beginning from a request from Nuxulk leadership, director Banchi Hanuse’s film is twelve years in the making. Told through Nuxalk voices, radio broadcasts, rare archival material, watercolour animation, and careful scientific observation, the film traces how colonial policies and industrial extraction have imperiled both the fish and the people. Guided by Elders and cultural leaders, the story weaves together Indigenous sovereignty, cultural resurgence, and the sacred bond between human beings, non-human beings, and the land. Ceremony is made with the community, for the community — honouring the knowledge of the ancestors and envisioning a future rooted in the enduring presence of Nuxalk lands and waters.

Banchi Hanuse works across film and radio as a co-founder of Nuxalk Radio, supporting Nuxalk language revitalization, upholding Nuxalk Nationhood, and advocating for stewardship of Nuxalk homelands. She is the director of Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun (2023).

Preceded by Yiyíistsʼą́ą́ʼ (Listen)

Director/Writer: Malakye Zaayin Tsosie (Navajo)

Producer: Kaitlyn Sanchez

USA | 2025 | 16 min

English, Navajo | Documentary Short Ontario Premiere

The Navajo language is spoken less frequently across generations. However, its resilience persists through a small Navajo radio station, the director’s family members, and the people of the Navajo Nation. Malakye Zaayin Tsosie is from the Navajo Nation, and all his short documentaries focus on Navajo people living on the reservation.

FRIDAY 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Short Film Program: Survivance

Short Film Program: Survivance

Survivance, coined by Anishinaabe writer Gerald Vizenor, is the combination of survival and resistance where culture, imagination, and ancestral connection thrives. The heart of these films beats with the survivance derived from monumental storytelling.

Short Film Program: Survivance

Pouākai (Raptor)

Director: Libby Hakaraia (Ngāti Kapu)

Writer: Ricardo Giraldo (Ngāti Porou)

Producers: Tainui Stephens (Te Rarawa), Desray Armstrong (Te-Aitanga-a-Hauiti/Ngāti Porou)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | Dramatic Short

Māori | 2026 | 15 min

Ontario Premiere

When his only child is snatched by a legendary giant raptor, a young Māori chief must confront his deepest fears and summon the strength of his ancestors to face the creature in its mountaintop eyrie.

A Sundance fellow and a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZN) for her contributions to media and film, Libby Hakaraia has a robust slate of film projects in development, including two features.

Guardian of Baikal

Director/Writer/Producer: Uladay N. Bayar (Bair Uladaev) (Buryadmongol Ekhirit Clan)

Co-Producer: Lodon Erdenedalai (Mongol - Oirad Clan)

Co-Writer: Irina Urbaeva (Buryadmongol - Ekhirit Clan)

Mongolia | 2025 | 13 min

Buryadmongolian | Dramatic Short North American Premiere

Content Warning: Violence, Bloodletting

Warrior turned cab driver, a living tree now a silent sculpture. Will the Guardian hear Baikal’s Spirit after many reincarnations? Did he fulfill his duty and preserve his people’s traditions?

Uladay N. Bayar (Bair Uladaev) is a Buryadmongolian filmmaker, director, and producer focused on Indigenous culture, identity, and environmental preservation.

FRIDAY 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

ACE

Director/Writer: Raymond Edwards (Māori)

Producer: Lindsay Gough

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2024 | 15 min

English, Māori | Dramatic Short

North American Premiere

On a quest to save his parents’ marriage, 10-yearold Jimmy takes a mythical journey through his imagination to the underworld, where he learns the ways of courage and sacrifice.

Raymond Edwards is a director and cinematographer who has been working in the film industry for 15 years. Those years were spent working his way up through the camera department, from clapper loader to DOP.

First Horse

Director: Awanui Simich-Pene (Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Hauā)

Writer: Heperi Mita (Ngāti Pikiao/Ngai-Te-Rangi/ Ngāti Whakahemo)

Producer: Mia Henry-Teirney (Ngāti Kahu/Te Rarawa/Ngāti Kuri)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2024 | 11 min

Te Reo Māori | Dramatic Short Canadian Premiere

Content Warning: Implied Suicide

In 1826 Aotearoa, a small girl in an isolated setting comes into first contact with two facets of colonization: a foreign infectious disease and the first horse she’s ever seen.

Awanui Simich-Pene (Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Hauā) is a New Zealand–based filmmaker of Māori and Croatian descent. Awanui has been a working director since 2006.

FRIDAY 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Shaaghan Neekwaii (Two Old Women)

Director/Writer/Producer: Princess Daazhraii

Johnson (Neets’aii Gwich’in)

Co-Producers: Taa’aii Peter (Gwich’in), Jason Ryle (Anishinaabe), Heather Rae (Chickamauga)

USA | 2025 | 13 min

Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa | Dramatic Short Ontario Premiere

During a forbidding Alaskan winter two abandoned elderly women decide whether they will try to survive or resign themselves to death. Adapted from Velma Wallis' book Two Old Women

Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neet’saii Gwich’in) is a Peabody Award-winning producer and Emmynominated writer and producer living on the traditional territory of lower Tanana Dene lands in Alaska.

Gaza Bride 17

Director/Writer/Producer: Waseem Khair (Palestinian)

Co-Producers: Mariam Basha, Sana Tanous, Israel

Bañuelos, Roger Waters

Palestine | 2025 | 20 min

Arabic | Dramatic Short Canadian Premiere

A fisherman from Gaza is trapped in his haunting memories.

Waseem Khair is a Palestinian director, actor, and producer. He is a theatre-trained, award-winning filmmaker transitioning into film with shorts and a debut feature in development.

FRIDAY 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 The Colleano Heart

The Colleano Heart

Director: Pauline Clague (Yaegl)

Producer: Kate Pappas

Australia | 2025 | 87 min

English | Documentary Feature

International Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

As “daring, glamorous shapeshifters who defied the colonial system,” the Colleano family rose to the highest levels of circus stardom. Once one of the world’s most prominent forms of mass entertainment, the circus carried the Colleanos across continents and to international acclaim. The Colleano Heart tells the story of a family who achieved global success while concealing their Aboriginal identity yet remained deeply committed to family, culture, and the future. Director Pauline Clague combines the Colleano family’s home movies, archival recordings, and the descendants’ reunion across continents to uncover family histories to present a rich portrait of the power of family, talent, commitment, and the enduring power of kinship.

Pauline Clague is a Yaegl woman from Australia’s New South Wales North Coast. She has worked as a storyteller and producer in film and TV for 25 years. Pauline is the founder and Artistic Director of Winda Film Festival in Sydney, was a programmer for the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, and is the co-creator of NATIVE Slam, a 72-hour Indigenous film challenge held at Māoriland Film Festival in Ōtaki. Her roles include series producer for ABC’s Messagestick (2000-2004), the Indigenous training officer at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (2009-2013), and Commissioning Editor and Head of Internal Productions for NITV (2013-2015).

FRIDAY 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Originals

imagineNATIVE Originals

imagineNATIVE Originals are imagineNATIVE’s year-round film commissions from emerging to mid-level filmmakers across Canada, sharing the world premiere of their works developed through the program during the Festival! Thank you to the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), Charles Street Video (CSV), the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF), and Capilano University for your continued partnership!

imagineNATIVE Originals

Itseetamapi

Director/Writer: Adam Solway (Blackfoot)

Producer: Austin Ladouceur

Canada | 2026 | 12 min

English, Blackfoot | Dramatic Short World Premiere

A young Blackfoot woman with an unexplained connection to the spirit world struggles to understand her gift as a dark presence begins drawing closer, threatening to overwhelm her life.

Adam Solway, Nitsitaipoyi, is a Blackfoot filmmaker from Siksika Nation. His storytelling is rooted in his upbringing and community.

A Girl Like That

Director/Writer: Shae-Lynn Pearson (Haida)

Producer: RaeAnne Boon

Canada | 2026 | 9 min

English | Dramatic Short World Premiere

After a breakdown on a remote road, a woman accepts help from a stranger — only to realize that the real danger may not be the empty highway.

Shae-Lynn Pearson is a Haida filmmaker and actor currently based in Vancouver.

FRIDAY 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Bimaadizi/Along in Space and Time

Director/Writer: Katia Ferderber (Anishinaabe)

Producer: Victoria Anderson-Gardner (Anishinaabe)

Canada | 2026 | 5 min

English | Dramatic Short World Premiere

A young woman comes to meet a guy at the right place and right time. Will she allow herself to be open to kind, gentle Native love?

Katia Ferderber is a Anishinaabekwe currently residing in Tkaronto. She is an actor, filmmaker, and visual artist.

Visitant

Director/Writer/Producer: Skylar Wesley (Ojibwe)

Canada | 2026 | 9 min

English | Dramatic Short World Premiere

Guided by a whispering trail through a frozen forest, Taylor discovers shimmering regalia. This ancestral dream leaves her fingertips tingling, sparking a soulful journey to bring her heritage into reality.

Skylar Wesley is a dynamic creative professional known for blending innovative digital strategy with impactful storytelling to drive meaningful brand engagement.

7:45 PM - 9:45 PM

Mārama

Director/Writer: Taratoa Stappard (Ngāti Toa/Ngāti Raukawa me Ngāti Tūwharetoa)

Producers: Sharlene George (Ngāti Paerangi o Ngāmaru/Ngāti Māoate e Ngāti Tamarua), RickyLee Waipuka-Russell (Ngāti Raukawa/Ngāti Kahungunu/ Ngāti Mutunga), Paraone Gloyne, Rouzie Hassanova

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 89 min English, Māori | Dramatic Feature

Content Warning: Violence, Bloodletting, Coarse Language, Slurs, Triggering Historical Trauma

Set in the Victorian era, horror film Mārama has been touted as venturing into “bold new cinematic territory: Māori Gothic.” A young Māori woman Mary (Ariāna Osborne) travels to a grand English manor in search of her missing parents at the invitation of its owner, Nathaniel (Toby Stevens). Within its dark halls, she is haunted by visions hinting at something sinister and violent beneath the surface. The debut feature of London-based Kiwi Taratoa Stappard, Mārama wrestles with themes of colonization, Māori oppression, and the spiritual realm.

Taratoa Stappard was born in Aotearoa (New Zealand). He is Māori and English. He lives between London and Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and speaks German and French. Mārama is Taratoa’s debut feature.

Preceded by KINKU

Director/Writer: Wayra Ana Velásquez (Kichwa Otavalo)

Director/Writer/Producer: Segundo Fuérez (Kichwa Otavalo)

Ecuador | 2025 | 6 min English, Spanish | Dramatic Short Canadian Premiere

Content Warning: Adult Themes

A stop-motion short film about different ways to meet the ones we love.

Wayra Ana Velásquez is a writer and photographer. She has a Master’s Degree in Literature with a mention in Creative Writing from the Simón Bolívar Andean University (2023) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Communication with a mention in Development from the Salesiana Polytechnic University (2020).

Short Film Program: Witching Hour

FRIDAY 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: Witching Hour

Stories that reach into spaces known, unknown, and, at times, unsettling.

FRIDAY 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM

W7éyle (moon’s wife)

Director/Writer: Amanda Wandler (Secwépemc)

Producers: Kira Doxtator (Anishinaabe/Oneida/ Dakota), Joshua Settee (Cree), Major Major, Anthony Poon, Kora Vanderlip

Canada | 2025 | 15 min

English, Secwépemctsín | Dramatic Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Adult Themes

In a near future where immortality is offered in a pill, a Secwépemc woman must choose between eternal life and walking the path of her ancestors.

Amanda Wandler is a Secwépemc filmmaker exploring identity, legacy, and speculative futures through grounded storytelling.

Love Is Trash

Director/Writer: Kenny Welsh (Whitesand First Nation)

Producer: PoChun Chen, Sylvia Liu

Canada | 2025 | 16 min

English | Dramatic Short World Premiere

Content Warning: Sexual Activity

A woman at a data collection agency creates ad recommendations based on people’s trash and finds herself drawn to a man through his garbage.

Kenny Welsh is an Ontario-born, Yukon-raised, and Vancouver-based Indigenous writer, director, and editor. His work explores themes of human connection, identity, and philosophy across the genres of horror, comedy, and satire.

I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden

Director: Vea Mafile’o (Tongan/Māori/Hawaiian)

Writer/Producer: Nora Aati (Samoan)

Co-Producer: Seuta′afili Dr. Patrick Thomsen (Samoan)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 16 min

English, Samoan | Dramatic Short International Premiere

Content Warning: Coarse Language, Sexual References

When a Samoan woman enters therapy, she must navigate a series of alter egos protecting her from painful memories.

Vea Mafile’o is an award-winning Pacific filmmaker whose internationally acclaimed shorts and documentaries champion Indigenous storytelling worldwide.

John’s First Tattoo

Director/Writer/Producer: Jett Kowalchuk (Métis Nation Saskatchewan)

Canada | 2024 | 10 min No dialogue | Dramatic Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Violence, Flashing/Strobing Lights

John adjourns from his mundane life in order to get his first tattoo. His walk-in takes a turn when the parlour he visits promises more than just ink on skin.

Jett Kowalchuk is a Métis, award-winning filmmaker, and interdisciplinary artist from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Short Film Program: Witching Hour

FRIDAY 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Klee

Director/Writer/Producer: Gavin Baird (Métis)

Producers: Kayla Peters (Sturgeon Lake First Nation), Jacob Farrell (Peepeekisis Cree Nation)

Canada | 2025 | 19 min

English | Dramatic Short

Content Warning: Violence, Nudity, Sexual Activity, Adult Themes, Sexual References, Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Klee follows an alien who is sent to earth and tasked with a mission to invade, seduce, and terminate a family of colonizers in 19th century Saskatchewan.

Gavin Baird is a Métis artist from Treaty 6 territory. His work has shown at festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (FNC).

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Journey Home, David Gulpilil

Journey Home, David Gulpilil

Directors/Producers: Trisha Morton-Thomas (Anmattyerr), Maggie Miles

Producers: Jida Gulpilil (Yolgnu), Lloyd Garrawurra (Yolgnu), Rachel Clements

Australia | 2025 | 88 min English, Yolngu | Documentary Feature North American Premiere

Content Warning: Grief, Images and Voices of People Who Have Passed Away

Directed by Trisha Morton-Thomas and Maggie Miles, Journey Home, David Gulpilil is a powerful documentary profile that serves as an intimate look into the life of the legendary Yolgnu actor. Assembling a survey from a storied career, the film is a testament to a living culture, utilizing archival footage to weave together a narrative defined by its soft, meditative tone.

The film moves beyond a standard biography, focusing deeply on the themes of grief and the essential nature of care. It specifically explores the cultural significance of the death ceremony and the sacred process of returning a deceased person to their ancestral home. Eschewing traditional didactic methods, the documentary does not seek to “educate” in a conventional sense; instead, it presents Gulpilil’s life and legacy strictly on his community’s own terms. The result is a poignant reflection on ancestral connection and the enduring strength of Indigenous cultural continuity.

Trisha Morton-Thomas is an Anmatyerr woman from Central Australia. She has a long list of credits as director, writer, producer, and actor. She is cofounder of Brindle Films. Trisha has long respected David Gulpilil as a trailblazer of First Nations creative communities. Like David Gulpilil, Trisha had to go far away from her family and her culture to learn her trade and work in the creative industries. She has felt firsthand the cost of leaving family and culture.

Preceded by HOLDING

S P A C E

Directors/Writers: Apryl Day (Yorta Yorta/Wemba Wemba/Barapa Barapa), Jirra Lulla Harvey (Yorta Yorta/Wiradjuri)

Writer/Producer: Kieran Mpetyane Satour (Malngin/ Pertame/Worimi)

Australia | 2025 | 13 min English, Yorta Yorta | Documentary Short International Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical References (Aboriginal Missions)

A love letter to Cummeragunja and the Barmah Forest. Land holds memories of grief and joy; it tells our stories of resilience and love.

Apryl Day is the founder of the Dhadjowa Foundation, a multi-hyphenate creative and advocate dedicated to justice, systemic reform, and storytelling.

Jirra Lulla Harvey is the Director of Kalinya Studios, a design and strategy consultancy weaving Indigenous knowledge into city shaping projects.

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire

Sensory Friendly Screening

SATURDAY 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Sensory Friendly Screenings are screenings where the environment is adjusted to accommodate people who would appreciate a positive, inclusive space, such as a relaxed attitude towards noise and movement, slightly lowered volume and lights, and a minimal introduction with no Q&A. Guests are also more than welcome to leave their seats and roam around.

Regular Screening

Friday, June 5 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire

The love of grandmothers and their grandbabies, Mi′kmaq and Anishinaabe traditional tales, a young gunslinger Western, a Hawaiian volcano story, and a fortune teller with a warning. Come gather for this collection of family-friendly stories told in animation and collaboration across generations.

SATURDAY 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Niwahkohmahkanis

Director/Writer/Producer: Zoey Roy (Nehithaw Dené/Métis)

Co-Writers: Cindy Horner (Métis), Maleah Horner (Métis), Maxine Roy (Dene), Akira Horner (Métis), Maria Campbell (Cree Métis)

Canada | 2024 | 4 min

English, Cree | Music Video Ontario Premiere

“Niwahkohmahkanis” shines a light on the love children have for their grandmothers and the special relationship they share.

Zoey Roy, PhD, has a passion for bringing community-based knowledge to life through collective songwriting. She believes people in the grassroots not only have the answers but that they are the answer.

The Wild Sheriff

Director: Sarah Houle (Métis)

Writers: Shane Ghostkeeper (Cree Métis/Saulteaux), Vittal Ghostkeeper (Cree Métis/Saulteaux)

Producer: Kaytlyn Turner

Canada | 2025 | 12 min

English | Dramatic Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Mild Violence, Fake Gun Shot

A violent storm is brewing as two powerful forces are about to collide. The orphaned Wild Sheriff seeks to bring order as he wrestles with his inner chaos.

Sarah Houle is an artist and performer from Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement in Northern Alberta.

Short Film Program: Families by the Fire

Wolverine and Little Thunder: An Eel Hunting Adventure

Director/Writer/Producer: Alan Syliboy (Mi'kmaq)

Co-Producer: Stephanie Joline (Inuk)

Canada | 2025 | 9 min

English | Dramatic Short

Rooted in Mi′kmaw storytelling, this animated short follows two young friends whose eel-fishing trip becomes a lesson in courage, problem-solving, and cultural connection.

Alan Syliboy is a Mi′kmaq artist from Millbrook whose petroglyph-inspired work has elevated Indigenous art.

Migizi Makes A Deal With Gzhemnidoo

Director/Writer/Producer: Esbikenh (Anishinaabe)

Canada | 2025 | 13 min

English, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) | Dramatic Short World Premiere

A visually striking 2D animated Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) short celebrating the importance of Indigenous language and tradition — an engaging Anishinaabe story that resonates with audiences of all ages.

Esbikenh is an Anishinaabe from Bkejwanong Territory of the Mzhiikenh Dodem (Turtle Clan). He’s been a teacher of the Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) language for nearly 13 years.

SATURDAY 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Nenaboozhoo

Director/Producer: Isaac Murdoch (Anishnaabe)

Writer: Danielle Boissoneau (Anishnaabe)

Producers: Tyler Young, Danny Silver, Dong Chang, Christopher Johnson

Canada | 2025 | 15 min

Anishinaabemowin | Dramatic Short

A traditionally animated in-language Anishinaabe story of how the arrow got its feathers.

Isaac Murdoch is a renowned Indigenous artist and activist who shares the culture of First Nations through powerful storytelling.

Tankha

Directors: Alexander Moruo (Sakha), Markel Martynov (Sakha)

Writers: Tatyana Ushnitsky (Sakha), Nikolay Syromyatnikov (Sakha)

Producers: Anna Borisova (Sakha), Roman Okoneshnikov (Sakha)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 13 min English, Sakha (English dub) | Dramatic Short Toronto Premiere

During the mystical period of Taŋkha, three friends receive a mysterious prediction from a fortune teller, unleashing strange events. As curiosity turns to fear, they must solve the riddle.

Alexander Moruo is a filmmaker dedicated to sharing Indigenous stories and culture through animation. Markel Martynov is a professional animator with many years of experience in creating animation for the film, television, and game industries.

SPI

Director/Writer: Sayun Simung (Tayal)

Producer: Hui-Chen Huang

Taiwan | 2025 | 98 min

Tayal | Documentary Feature

Ontario Premiere

In Tayal tradition, spi means to dream — a vital connection to one’s ancestors. Following her grandfather’s passing, filmmaker Sayun Simung’s family struggles with grief and a growing sense of cultural disorientation. When her teenage cousin becomes pregnant, the resulting family tensions expose deep generational gaps and the erosion of traditional values. Amidst this turmoil, their grandfather continues to appear in their dreams, serving as a spiritual anchor. By weaving together her family’s personal struggles and her own quest to reclaim her Tayal roots, Simung explores the delicate balance between modernity and Indigenous memory. SPI is a poignant exploration of how a family, shaped by decades of assimilation strives to honour and carry forward the Gaga — the ancestral ethical system — and the enduring spirit of their Elders in a rapidly changing world.

Sayun Simung is a filmmaker from the Tayal (Sqoyaw village) community in Taiwan. She graduated from the Department of Broadcasting and Television at the National Taiwan University of Arts. She began her career as a reporter at Indigenous TV, then transitioned to working as a documentary production coordinator at the International Department of Taiwan Public Television.

SATURDAY 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2 Blood Lines

Blood Lines

Director/Writer/Producer: Gail Maurice (Métis)

Co-Producers: Paula Devonshire (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte), Jamie Manning

Canada | 2025 | 89 min

English, Michif | Dramatic Feature

Content Warning: Coarse Language, Sexual References

Beatrice (Dana Solomon) is a store clerk with a passion for storytelling and a strained relationship with her recovering alcoholic mother Leonore (Gail Maurice). When Chani (Derica Lafrance) rolls into their small Métis community looking for her family roots, Beatrice’s interest is piqued, leading her to offer Chani a chance to get her story out in an effort to find the connection she’s been looking for. As the two become closer, family history bubbles to the surface and family secrets lead to a shocking discovery. Gail Maurice’s sophomore feature tells a story of reconciliation, reconnection, identity, kinship, and love beautifully immersed in her Métis language and culture.

Gail Maurice is an award-winning filmmaker and owner of Assini Productions Inc. She is a director, actor, writer, producer, and a proud fluent speaking member of her Métis community, Beauval, Saskatchewan. Her debut feature film, ROSIE, was one of TIFF’s Top Ten films of 2022. It won the Audience Choice Feature Award at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the Best Feature Narrative at the Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie, and was named the Best Feature Film at the Available Light Film Festival (Yukon Film Society), among other accolades.

SATURDAY 9:00 PM

Music Video Showcase at The Beat

Music Video Showcase at The Beat

This Music Video Showcase will be featured at our highly anticipated event, The Beat, a live concert celebrating Indigenous musicians and performers. This year, The Beat will take place at the El Mocambo on Saturday, June 6, from 8:00 PM until late.

Music Video Showcase at The Beat

Milpa | Cumbia del Obrero

Director/Writer: Polaris Castillo (Nahua Mexica)

Producer: Jose Ledezma (Huichol)

USA | 2025 | 3 min

English, Spanish | Music Video

International Premiere

This video celebrates the passing of family traditions through vibrant colours, dance, food, song, and inspiring youth with art.

Polaris Castillo’s work blends the complimentary energies between the soul of the cosmos and the human spirit.

I Hold On

Director/Writer: Marshall Leigh George (Ojibwe/ Potawatomi)

Producer: Christina Clark

Canada | 2024 | 5 min

English | Music Video

Toronto Premiere

Nolan Wilde walks into a surreal movie theatre that plays his memories of a lost love.

Marshall Leigh George is an Ojibwe/Potawatomi filmmaker from Kettle and Stony Point First Nations. His love for horror movies and music videos drives him.

SATURDAY 9:00 PM El Mocambo

More

Director: Colleen Thurston (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

Co-Director/Writer: David Wayne Reed

Producer: Miranda Due (Pawnee/Cherokee)

USA | 2026 | 4 min

English | Music Video

World Premiere

In Cherokee/Muscogee singer-songwriter Kalyn Fay’s single “More” she’s searching for meaning outside of the routine of life’s daily grind and finds new perspective in the Oklahoma prairie.

Colleen Thurston is a Choctaw filmmaker and curator from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Open the Door

Director/Writer/Producer: Frances Sinclair-Kaspick (Cree)

Canada | 2026 | 5 min

English | Music Video

World Premiere

The Indigenous disAbility music video is a culturally respectful advocacy tool designed to raise awareness, shift perceptions, and amplify Indigenous voices within the disAbility movement. It blends artistic expression with lived experience to reach Indigenous communities, families, service providers, and decision-makers.

Frances Sinclair-Kaspick is a proud Cree woman who embodies resilience, strength, and a positive outlook shaped by her experience as a congenital amputee.

SATURDAY 9:00 PM

TOITŪ TE TIRITI

Director/Writer/Producer: Te KuraHuia Arikirangi

Te Ao Ahoroa o Te Pō Faith Oriwia Henare-Stewart (Ngāi Tara ki te Muaūpoko o te Ika/Ngāti Raukawa Ki Te Tonga)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 5 min

Te Reo Rangatira (Māori) | Music Video International Premiere

Content Warning: MMIWG2S+, Triggering Audio (Sirens, Firearms, Protests)

The Digital Hīkoi, a vision from future mokopuna (descendants) back to past tīpuna (ancestors), a lens from the hearts of Indigenous Peoples across the world back to Aotearoa.

Te KuraHuia is a Two-Spirit neurodiverse Oceania academic and multidisciplinary artist raised by their Elders from birth. They are a natural-born educator and storyteller leading the next generation by example.

Short Film Program: In Defiance

SUNDAY 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Short Film Program: In Defiance

Your mother is a river guardian. You’re born fighting gold mining. You survive boarding school to fight for Sámi sovereignty. Kokum Penny tells you about burning the school down. And the kids say “I won’t do what you tell me.” In defiance of colonialism you thrive.

SUNDAY 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Lightbox, Cinema 2

The Neighborhood Kids | AND THE KIDS SAY

Director: Polaris Castillo (Nahua Mexica)

Writers/Producers: Verde (Kumeyaay), Amon the MC (Kumeyaay)

USA | 2025 | 4 min

English | Music Video

International Premiere

Content Warning: Violence

In a picture-perfect suburb where a secret society is abducting people off the streets while the world turns a blind eye, two neighborhood kids rebel to remove their blindfolds.

Polaris Castillo’s work blends the complimentary energies between the soul of the cosmos and the human spirit.

Vieljažagaid iežaska jáhkku (Brothers of Faith)

Director/Writer/Producer: Gákte Biera (Northern Sámi)

Norway | 2026 | 15 min

Northern Sámi | Dramatic Short

North American Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Two brothers try to hold on to themselves inside a colonial boarding school designed to erase who they are.

Per-Josef Idivuoma (Gákte Biera) was born and raised among what the Americans call Rudolf in the town of Idivuoma in Northern Sweden.

Endless Sunlight

Director/Writer/Producer: Tyson Houseman (Nêhiyaw)

Canada | 2026 | 8 min

English | Documentary Short Ontario Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Five generations of matriarchal lineage are weaved across time as Kokum Penny Roan describes how her uncle burned down a residential school when he was a child.

Tyson Houseman is a Nêhiyaw video artist, performer, and filmmaker from Paul First Nation.

Charip: Lightning in the River

Directors/Writers: GTANW, Mullu TV

Producers: Evaristo Pujupat Shirap (Wampís), Aquiles Mucushua Aujtukai (Wampís), Celso Petsain (Wampís), Ricardo Pérez, Lucía Galarza Suárez

Perú | 2025 | 20 min

Wampís | Documentary Short

Canadian Premiere

Content Warning: Triggering Historical Trauma, Illegal Mining in Indigenous Territory, Explosion

When gold mining threatens their ancestral territory in the Peruvian Amazon, the Wampís Nation rises to defend land, rivers, and sovereignty, confronting global extractivism with resistance and territorial control.

Mullu TV and the Wampís Autonomous Territorial Government (GTANW) collaborate to amplify Indigenous voices, defend Amazonian territory, and strengthen community-led storytelling and resistance.

Short Film Program: In Defiance

Ixquic

Director/Writer: Elvis Caj (Maya Poqomchi’)

Producers: Isha Sumner (Garífuna), Benjamín Sagüí (Keqchí)

Guatemala | 2025 | 25 min

Spanish, Poqomchi’, K’ekchi’ | Dramatic Short North American Premiere

Content Warning: MMIWG2S+

Ixquic, an Indigenous teenager, rejects her mother’s fight to protect a threatened river. When the river begins to bleed and ancestral forces awaken, she must reconcile her identity with the legacy she denied in order to defend her territory.

Elvis Caj, Mayan filmmaker, Open Doors and Talents alumnus, and founder of Ancestral Films, is currently developing his debut feature Hiñaru Duna

SUNDAY 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

SUNDAY 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Dream Touch Believe

Director/Writer/Producer: Jenna Naranjo Winters (Santa Clara Pueblo)

USA | 2025 | 85 min

English | Documentary Feature International Premiere

Content Warning: Violence, Flashing/Strobing Lights, Vietnam War Combat

As a young soldier in the Vietnam War, a blast from a grenade cost Michael Naranjo his eyesight. While the Tewa and Santa Clara Pueblo artist has no eyes and the use of just one of his hands, his sculptures are treasured worldwide and sit prominently in spaces as esteemed as the Vatican. Through interviews and archival footage, a portrait emerges of a deeply thoughtful and principled man, who defied expectations and had the strength to fight past critics and stereotypes to build the life he had always dreamed of. Lovingly directed by his daughter

Jenna Naranjo Winters, Dream Touch Believe is a documentary that stands as a testament to the power of creativity, perseverance, and family love.

Jenna Naranjo Winters is an award-winning journalist, television producer, and first-time filmmaker. Jenna has spent most of her career working on true crime television series, but it’s been her lifelong goal to complete a film about her father — sculptor Michael Naranjo — because she has witnessed the power of his inspiring story.

Preceded by Honor of the Paintbrush

Director/Writer: Louise Thomas (Maskago Cree)

Producer: Wapikoni Mobile

Canada | 2025 | 8 min

English | Documentary Short Ontario Premiere

Louise, an Anicinabe woman, found the strength to move on after the loss of her husband by devoting herself to the art gallery she opened in his honour. Through this process, she shows how healing can bring positivity and renewal.

Louise Thomas hails from Sucker Creek First Nation, a Cree Nation in northwestern Alberta.

Short Film Program: Land Meditations

SUNDAY 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM CineCycle

Short Film Program: Land Meditations

A sumptuous audio-visual journey through the Jarnami desert landscapes of Australia, Te Hākari wetlands of Kuku and the Ōtaki in Aotearoa, La Alta Guajira desert in Columbia, and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory in Canada. We are guided by Elders, knowledge keepers, ancestral law, and knowledge derived from the land.

SUNDAY 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Midnight Migrations:

Wëdzey Tąy (Caribou Trails)

Directors/Writers/Producers: Darcy Tara McDiarmid (Han/Northern Tutchone), Chantal Rousseau

Canada | 2026 | 17 min

English, Hän | Dramatic Short World Premiere

Out of the depth of time immemorial, caribou navigate under starlight across a mysterious landscape of pristine beauty. The caribou persevere through cataclysmic changes, outrunning all climactic forces from the impact of the people who have turned away from our traditional ways and our spiritual laws.

Starlight Sojourn Studios is composed of artists Darcy Tara McDiarmid and Chantal Rousseau, based in Dawson City, Yukon, on Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory.

Jülapüin Yonna (The Dream of Dance)

Director/Writer: Luzbeidy Monterrosa Atencio (Wayuu)

Producer: Sara Cardozo

Colombia | 2025 | 16 min Wayuunaiki | Dramatic Short North American Premiere

The dance announces the death of the Earth in order to heal her, for she has been violated by coal extractivism in Wayuu territory.

Luzbeidy Monterrosa Atencio is a young Wayuu filmmaker and activist committed to defending the rights of Indigenous girls, women, and communities, as well as preserving memory and territory.

cadèwašteya

Director/Writer/Producer: Nadine Arpin (Red River Michif)

Canada | 2025 | 3 min

Southern Michif, Northern Michif, Nakota, Gaelic | Experimental Short Toronto Premiere

cadèwašteya (Nakota: with a good heart) is meant as a form of prayer which draws its medicine from the teachings of the sacred circle. This experimental reel evokes meditative reflection on love and healing.

Nadine Arpin is a member of the Michif Two-Spirit Local. They are a filmmaker, multimedia digital creative, mentor, and curator living and producing work in Sioux Lookout, Ontario

HINA

Directors/Producers: Dolina Wehipeihana (Māori - Ngāti Tukorehe), Louise Pōtiki Bryant (Māori - Kāi Tahu/Kāti Mamoe/Waitaha)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 18 min English, Māori | Experimental Short Ontario Premiere

In the Te Hākari wetlands, a young woman reconnects with her ancestral land. Created by Dolina Wehipeihana and Louise Pōtiki Bryant and filmed with Dolina’s daughters, HINA honours the enduring bond between wāhine and whenua.

Dolina Wehipeihana's career spans dance, performance, choreography, producing, and arts leadership.

Louise Pōtiki Bryant is an award-winning artist who weaves dance, video, and animation to create immersive works.

Short Film Program: Land Meditations SUNDAY 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Crown and Country

Director/Writer: Wanta Jampijinpa PawuKurlpurlurnu (Warlpiri)

Director/Producer: Marc Peckham

Co-Writer: Jerry Jangala Patrick (Warlpiri)

Co-Producer: Kim Williamson

Australia | 2025 | 35 min

English, Warlpiri | Experimental Short International Premiere

Warlpiri Elder Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu and his father Jerry Jangala Patrick take you on a journey through desert landscapes and Indigenous spirituality from Lajamanu in the Central Australian desert.

Wantarri “Wanta” Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlupurlurnu is a fully initiated Warlpiri Elder holding exceptional knowledge of Warlpiri law and culture in the Tanami Desert of Central Australia.

3:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Powwow People

Powwow People

Director: Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk)

Producer: Adam Piron (Mohawk)

USA | 2026 | 88 min

English | Documentary Feature

From the booming voice of the powwow MC, the local vendors and volunteers setting up, children running and climbing in and out of bleachers and tents, in between drums and dance, Sky Hopinka’s Powwow People is a documentary vérité celebrating a community of many Nations across Turtle Island coming together in this specially curated event. Filmed over the course of a single day, Hopinka’s second feature captures the audience not just as observers, but as participants with the inside perspectives of an organizer, an MC, a dancer, and a drummer reflecting on how their roles within the powwow circle tie them to their identity, community, and the passing on of tradition.

Sky Hopinka is a filmmaker, artist, and educator.

Preceded by Are You Native?

Director: Victoria Cheyenne (Aymara)

Producers: Shauna White Bear (Arikara), Erin Brender

USA | 2026 | 18 min

English | Documentary Short World Premiere

Content Warning: Coarse Language, Grief

In a conversation through time, Indigenous moccasin maker Shauna White Bear responds to the VHS tape she recorded 30 years ago for her father as she reflects on her identity, artform, and grief.

Victoria Cheyenne (she/her/ella) is an Indigenous Bolivian American (Aymara) director and editor passionate about telling stories centred on matriarchal lineage and cultural heritage.

Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)

SUNDAY 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)

Director/Writer: Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

Co-Writer/Co-Producer: Samuel Cohn-Cousineau

Producers: Carol Kunnuk (Inuk), Jonathan Frantz

Canada | 2025 | 100 min

Inuktut | Dramatic Feature

Content Warning: Mild Violence

Sapa and Kaujuk, young sweethearts betrothed to one another, are pulled apart after Kaujuk’s father mysteriously dies, leaving her mother widowed and agreeing to take a new husband in another village. While settling into her new life, Kaujak is approached by a number of suitors fighting for her hand. Kaujuk remains steadfast in her faith that “future husband” Sapa will come back for her. From celebrated Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk comes a traditional Inuit tale about a betrothed love lost, the promise of a new life gone awry, and the hope of love returned, with a lingering troll and magical realism steeped throughout. With authentic performances by firsttime actors, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) brings Inuit culture and folklore to life in stunning cinematic fashion.

Zacharias Kunuk is the co-founder of the Isuma Film Collective. Kunuk has directed more than 30 documentaries and feature films including Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Maliglutit (Searchers), One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, and the Oscar-shortlisted animated film Angakusajaujuq (The Shaman’s Apprentice).

3-7

iNdigital Space + Arcade

iNdigital Space + Arcade

Supported by the Indigenous Screen Office and Ontario Creates

June 3-6 | 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM

June 7 | 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

TIFF Lightbox, Gallery

350 King St W, Main Floor

FREE, open to the public

Step into this year’s presentation of the iNdigital Space + Arcade, bigger and better than ever! We’re proud to present an amazing curated collection of digital and interactive and audio works at the TIFF Lightbox Gallery! Experience an immersive journey where you can see, listen, and engage with our diverse Official Selection, encompassing XR, video games, interactive web projects, projections, podcasts, experimental soundscapes, and more!

The iNdigital Space + Arcade is open to all to explore and enjoy for free. We have worked diligently to ensure it is accessible and inclusive, with trained volunteers and staff available to help you enjoy these unique creations.

Thank you to the Indigenous Screen Office and Ontario Creates for supporting the iNdigital Space + Arcade!

Be sure to also join us from June 8-14 at our online iNdigital Space at imagineNATIVE.org/iNdigitalSpace to experience a selection of digital and interactive and audio works, free from the comfort of your home.

Dancing Molecular Landscapes

Artist: SJ Okemow (Bigstone Cree)

Canada | 2025

No Dialogue | 360° Dome Video

Dancing Molecular Landscapes pulls the audience into the unseen world of viruses and bacteria. Four pathogens are shown on screen, each molecule placed like beadwork into the final animation.

SJ Okemow (Bigstone Cree Nation) is an interdisciplinary artist currently completing her PhD at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

RezPunk

Artist: Destiny Brennan-Chescappio (Naskapi Nation)

Canada | 2024

No Dialogue | Virtual Reality

RezPunk is a 3D animation piece that depicts Indigenous contemporary and traditional values coexisting in a sci-fi futuristic environment of nostalgia and resilience, discussing the themes of Indigenous Futurism.

Destiny Brennan-Chescappio is a digital artist from the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach with a BFA in Computational Arts. She merges the themes of Indigenous Futurism and cultural values with storytelling in her work.

Toroa: Skycall

Atawhai Interactive

Writer/Narrative Designer: Lisa Blakie (Kāi Tahu/ Waitaha)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 Te Reo Māori | Video Game

Soar, swoop, and glide across the ocean as Toroa. Fly as an albatross embarking on an epic journey back to land to reunite with their family.

For the full list of credits, visit imagineNATIVE.org.

Coherence Ceremony

Tooth & Nail Pictures

Artist: Eva Grant (St’at’imc)

Producer: Yasmeen Grant

Narrative Designer: Hunter Grant (St’at’imc)

Canada | 2026

No Dialogue | Video Game

Gameplay of non-local entanglement effects in anadromous navigation networks. Threads cast across impossible distances. Joystick becomes shuttle, turning warp and weft into salmon swimming home. Ceremony collapses quantum possibility, spawning certainty through collective witness.

Eva Grant is a St’at’imc Eurasian filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist exploring sovereignty, futurism, ecology, and Indigenous memory across mediums.

Sacred Tags

Noodin Studio

Artist: Quinn Hopkins (Ojibwe - Batchewana First Nation)

Canada | 2025

English, Anishinaabemowin | Interactive Projection

Sacred Tags is an interactive projection where the movement of the audience transforms the urban environment into a place where language and teachings surround us. When the garage door opens, the audience’s silhouettes are projected onto various landscapes, a reflection of our connection to the land.

Quinn Hopkins is a mixed Anishinaabe (non-status) and settler media artist from Toronto. Hopkins works with digital media to create playful and immersive exhibits that connect people to the land and Anishinaabe culture.

Skins in the Game

Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace

Artists: Skawennati (Kanien’kehá:ka), Jason Edward

Lewis (Hawaiian/Samoan)

Writer: Vanessa Racine (Anishinaabe)

Producer: Nancy Townsend

Canada | 2026 | 15 mins

English | Video

Skins in the Game is an introductory, educational short video looking at the earliest clunky misrepresentations of Indigenous people in video games to today.

Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) is an Indigenously determined research-creation studiolab whose goal is to ensure Indigenous presence in the web pages, online environments, video games, and virtual worlds that comprise cyberspace.

THORN

Oshki Games

Artist: Desmand King (Anishinaabe)

Canada | 2026

English | Video Game

THORN is an interactive digital art installation that uses abstract imagery and traditional video game elements to tell a psychological horror story.

Desmand King is a proud Anishinaabe with a lifelong passion for video games, which has driven him to create and share his own digital stories for the world to experience.

Gaskačázis

Artists: iDJa (Sámi), Eili Bråstad (Sámi)

Norway | 2026

Northern Sámi | Audio Visual Experience

Gaskačázis, a Sámi word describing the space beneath the surface, guides the audience through a meditative northern landscape where organic and technological expressions merge in sound and image.

Markus Johansen Thonhaugen (iDJa) is a musician, composer, and sound artist engaging Sámi culture, identity, and environmental themes.

Eili Bråstad works with film and visual art, exploring ecofeminism, time, and movement through a queer perspective.

Blood Quantum Physics

Miigwans Media

Artist: Feather Miigwans (Anishinaabe - Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians)

USA | 2026

English, Anishinaabemowin | 360° Dome Video

Blood Quantum Physics is a speculative fulldome artwork where Indigenous cosmology meets quantum science, exploring blood memory, mixed identity, and colonial fracture through immersive spatial cinema and relational digital ceremony.

Feather Miigwans is an Anishinaabe artist/ storyteller exploring identity, kinship, memory, and belonging through immersive, interactive, relational, ceremonial, and interdisciplinary practices.

Kinship Table, la taab di li vwaazayn

Bright Earth Studio

Artist: Robyn Adams (Red River Métis - Manitoba Métis Federation)

Canada | 2026

English, Michif | Video Game

Kinship Table is a Michif fantasy world built in Unreal Engine 5 using a virtual reality experience to immerse the viewer into the folklore and cultural landscape of the Métis.

Robyn Adams is a Red River Métis artist, filmmaker, and landscape designer living in Vancouver.

Land Invaders

BirdxBird

Artists: Cass Gardiner (Anishinaabe Algonquin), Juan Mateo Menendez

Canada | 2026

English | Video Game

Land Invaders is an experimental 8-bit video game that captures the nostalgic feel of classic arcade games while imagining an alternate history in which Columbus’ ships — the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria — never reached the shores of Turtle Island.

Cass Gardiner is an Anishinaabe Algonquin filmmaker, curator, and writer from Kebaowek First Nation. Her work has premiered at the Berlinale and Hot Docs and has been broadcast on PBS, CBC Gem, and Crave.

Now, Before, Always

Artist: Colton Smith (Ojibwe)

Canada | 2026

English | Virtual Reality

Focusing on the sparse constellations that exist within Indigenous cultures, though the skies are barren of the stories and knowledge we once held, they still endure.

Colton Smith is an emerging artist and a member of Keeseekoowenin First Nation (Treaty 2). His practice builds upon our interconnected lives and how they inform our existence.

Akiiwan: Survival

Little Buffalo Studios

Artist: Jeremy Daniel Nelson (Red River Métis)

Canada | 2026

English, French, Anishinaabemowin | Video Game

Akiiwan: Survival is a survival crafting game through an Indigenous lens where a talking campfire teaches you how to live on (and with) the land.

Jeremy Daniel Nelson is a founder of Little Buffalo Studios and Indigenous video game maker. He has previously worked for VICE, the NFB, and a range of other production companies.

Among the Ancestors

Artist: Pōhaikealoha Panoke (Kanaka Maoli)

USA | 2026

English | Video Game

This experiment into, and love letter to, storytelling veers closer to the storytelling practice of our ancestors in that there are no images — only sound and text. Take this journey of self-discovery among the stars — among the ancestors.

Pōhaikealoha Panoke is a filmmaker, media producer, and creative director from Waiʻanae, Hawaiʻi bringing Native Hawaiian narratives to life with a vision rooted in aloha ʻāina, cultural perpetuation, and empowerment of the lāhui.

Pulling Out (Soundtrack)

Ojistoh Publishing and Productions

Artist: January Rogers (Mohawk/Tuscarora Six Nations of the Grand River)

Canada | 2026 | 11 min

No dialogue | Soundscape

Pulling Out is a non-verbal, non-dialectical journey one takes through an assortment of senses including sensory memory. These sounds, effects, songs, beats, and sonic suggestions are an invitation for the listener to come aboard because this train is pulling out.

January Rogers is a Mohawk/Tuscarora writer and media producer. She lives on her home territory of Six Nations of the Grand River where she operates Ojistoh Publishing Productions.

Sage-Based Wisdom Podcast | Episodes 45 & 46: It’s Giving Adult Sheep Camp w/ Sierra Teller Ornelas

Artists: Jana Schmieding (Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux), Brian Bahe (Hopi/Tohono O’odham/Navajo)

USA | 2026 | 55 min

English | Podcast

Native comedians Jana Schmieding and Brian Bahe give listeners their smudgiest, sagiest solicited advice.

Jana Schmieding is a Lakota actor/writer/producer from Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs. Her co-host is Hopi/Tohono O’odham/Navajo comedian Brian Bahe.

Radiant Starlets (Original Soundtrack)

| DR3AM

ON

Artist: Alexander Jeffrey Walker (Cayuga)

Canada | 2025 | 4 min

English | Song

“DR3AM ON” is an in-game track written for Radiant Starlets, a Mega Man–style platformer with dating sim aspects. Originally released as a soundtrack teaser.

Alexander Jeffrey Walker is a video game composer and burgeoning solo artist from Ontario, Canada.

The Aunties Dandelion | Aunties Emergent: Alex Jacobs-Blum with Grandmother Renee Thomas-Hill

Artist: Kahstoserakwathe Paulette Moore (Kanyen′kehá:ka - Six Nations)

Co-Host: Alex Jacobs-Blum (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga))

Producer: Tamara Louks

Canada | 2025 | 75 min

English | Podcast

Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ artist Alex Jacobs-Blum meets Kanyen′kehá:ka Grandmother Renée Thomas-Hill of Six Nations. They share Onkwehón:we teachings on peace, power, natural medicine, and Indigenous futures rooted in youth and love.

Kahstoserakwathe Paulette Moore, Kanyen′kehá:ka filmmaker and scholar, co-founded The Aunties Dandelion, advancing Indigenous storytelling, matrilineal leadership, and language revitalization.

PlaceKnowing with Dr. Ted Jojola and Diné Scientist Brandon Francis

Artist: Kahstoserakwathe Paulette Moore (Kanyen′kehá:ka - Six Nations)

Co-Host: Dr. Ted Jojola (Isleta Pueblo)

Producer: Tamara Louks

Canada | 2025 | 60 min

English | Podcast

Dr. Ted Jojola and Diné scientist Brandon Francis discuss the Gold King Mine spill’s impact on Navajo farmers along the Animas and San Juan Rivers, highlighting soil restoration, water safety, and Navajo values in science.

Kahstoserakwathe Paulette Moore, Kanyen′kehá:ka filmmaker and scholar, co-founded The Aunties Dandelion, advancing Indigenous storytelling, matrilineal leadership, and language revitalization.

Enweying Our Sound Podcast

Artists: Emmaline Beauchamp (Anishinaabe), Monty McGahey II (Anishinaabe/Oneida)

Canada | 2026 | 90 min

English, Anishinaabemowin, Mohawk, Dakota | Podcast

Indigenous parents share their experiences and interview other parents who are raising their children speaking their Indigenous language.

Emmaline Beauchamp is an Anishinaabe-kwe from Long Plain First Nation and is a learner and teacher of Anishinaabemowin.

Monty McGahey II is an Anishinaabe Oneida from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and a learner and teacher of Anishinaabemowin.

Lynx River Revisited: A North of 60 Rewatch Podcast

Artists: Melaw Nakehk’o (Dene/Dënesųłiné), Brie O’Keefe

Canada | 2026 | 30 min

English, Dene Zhatie | Podcast

Dehcho Dene artist Melaw Nakehk’o and North West Territories settler/musician Brie O’Keefe grew up together in Liidlii Kue (Fort Simpson) in the 1990s. They rewatch the groundbreaking television show North of 60, commenting on what they got right and what remains relevant today.

Melaw Nakehk’o is a Dene/Dënesųłiné multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and traditional hide tanner from Denendeh.

Words and Culture | It Takes a Village

Executive Producer: Kim Wheeler (Anishinaabe/ Mohawk)

Audio Engineer/Editor: Kaylen Belair (Métis)

Host: Kristi Lane Sinclair (Haida/Cree)

Canada | 2025 | 27 min

English, Haida | Radio Play

Haida/Cree musician Kristi Lane Sinclair hosts the Haida episodes as we kick off season 2 of Words and Culture

Kristi visits carvers Jaalan and Gwaai Edenshaw as they finish creating a memorial pole for their father Guujaaw. Kristi also shares some of the history of the Haida.

Kim Wheeler is a Mohawk/Anishinaabe-kwe who has brought positive Indigenous stories to the mainstream and Indigenous media since 1993.

Words and Culture | Athabaskan Episode 6

Executive Producer: Kim Wheeler (Anishinaabe/ Mohawk)

Audio Engineer/Editor: Kaylen Belair (Métis)

Host: Christine Genier (Wolf Clan citizen of the Ta′an Kwäch’ä Council (Yukon))

Canada | 2024 | 30 min

English, Southern Tuchone | Radio Play

Words and Culture host Christine Genier introduces us to her auntie, Nakhela Hazel Bunbury. Auntie, as Christine calls her, is a language teacher, an Elder, and family matriarch. Auntie is well-known for her language work, advocacy, and teaching.

Kim Wheeler is a Mohawk/Anishinaabe-kwe who has brought positive Indigenous stories to the mainstream and Indigenous media since 1993.

Watch the World Heal

Artist: Ramon Kataquapit (Attawapiskat First Nation)

Canada | 2026 | 3 min

English | Song

This song is about internal reflection on the things we carry — our hopes, dreams, wants, and needs — and the weight of moving forward but also the strength in knowing that, through the Creator, we can make the impossible possible. That we can be a part of that change to watch the world heal.

Ramon Kataquapit is a youth from Attawapiskat First Nation. Through art, advocacy, and activism he seeks to bring positive change.

What’s in Your Kete?

Artist: Jayne King (Māori)

Writer: Taylor Tutawa Mclaren (Māori)

Aotearoa (New Zealand) | 2025 | 56 min English, Te Reo Māori | Podcast

What’s in Your Kete is a multiplatform podcast sharing stories from our Indigenous communities around Moana Nui a Kiwa. From Aotearoa to Niue, Hawai‘i to SoCal, and elsewhere, we talk identity, culture, and living in an ever changing world as Indigenous people.

Jayne King is a creative producer amplifying Indigenous perspectives and creative voices across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa.

Proudly Māori, Taylor Tutawa Mclaren is a writer, community advocate, and Indigenous storyteller from Aotearoa (New Zealand).

THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY

TIFF Lightbox, Gallery

iNdigital Days

Supported by the Indigenous Screen Office and Ontario Creates

FREE, open to the public

We welcome all developers, digital artists, and visionaries to iNdigital Days!

This extraordinary three-day event is here, offering a unique chance to expand your skills and forge connections with fellow digital creatives. Join us at the TIFF Lightbox Gallery and Learning Studios A+B for an immersive experience dedicated to artists who are passionate about pushing the boundaries of new media. Your iNdigital Days journey starts with the opportunity to meet other creatives and from there, we will dive into panels, workshops, and showcases! This event promises to captivate your imagination and showcase innovative concepts that make these experiences accessible to all.

This schedule is subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, please visit our website at imagineNATIVE.org/festival/schedule.

Thursday Schedule

11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Opening Remarks

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

11:15 AM - 12:30 PM

Special Screening: Skins in the Game

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM

iNdigital Showcase + Artist Q&A

TIFF Lightbox, Gallery

3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Skins Workshop: 7th Gen

Character Design

TIFF Lightbox, Learning Studios

A+B

Friday Schedule

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Showcase: Kinôsew Labs

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

Case Study: Sunalimat

TIFF Lightbox, Gallery

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Live Performace | Gaskačázis

TIFF Lightbox, Gallery

6:00PM - 7:30 PM

Part 1: Foundational AI + Indigenous Creative Practice

TIFF Lightbox, Learning Studios

A+B

Saturday Schedule

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Part 2: Sovereign Technology + Hands-On Computing

TIFF Lightbox, Learning Studios

A+B

Industry Days

Industry Days events are available to In-Person Festival Pass holders except where otherwise stated. Please visit imagineNATIVE.org for information on individual Industry Days event access.

The imagineNATIVE Institute welcomes you to the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and Industry Days! Industry Days will host events at The Well — Wellington Event Venue, the TIFF Lightbox, and the 401 Commons. Attendees can look forward to exciting offerings for Indigenous creatives in film and television.

Join the Institute for a full day of Micro Meetings networking sessions, providing a space for Indigenous onscreen creatives and industry decision-makers to build meaningful connections and work toward future collaborations. This year’s Micro Meetings are open to Industry Days attendees, programmed Festival artists, and industry decision-makers

Celebrate Institute alumni as the Institute presents the imagineNATIVE Originals Program, featuring world premieres of Indigenous-made short films and a live table read of works from the Screenwriting Shorts Lab. There will also be conversations with Screenwriting Features Lab participants, a masterclass, and more!

Industry Days will host a series of panels exploring industry trends and international movements, featuring special guests from around the world. The event concludes on Saturday with a closing ceremony and reception.

Visit imagineNATIVE.org for the most up-to-date Industry Days schedule and details.

Industry Days: Wednesday + Thursday

The Institute welcomes industry professionals at all stages of their careers to join us for our annual Industry Days conference, offering opportunities for professional development, networking, and engaging conversations that support artists and communities.

Industry Days kicks off on Wednesday, June 3 at the TIFF Lightbox, Learning Studios, with our Opening Ceremony, followed by our highly anticipated Micro Meetings event. Join us for a full day of networking, building meaningful connections and collaborations. We will wrap up the day with our annual Micro Meetings Networking Reception on the 401 Rooftop Patio with snacks and beverages.

On Thursday, June 4, we welcome Industry Days guests and leaders to join us for Table Read Club: Live Short Script Table Read, a live performance of scripts from the imagineNATIVE Screenwriting Shorts Lab, followed by case studies focusing on business affairs.

For the most up-to-date schedule information, please visit our website at imagineNATIVE.org.

Wednesday Schedule

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Industry Days Opening Ceremony

TIFF Lightbox, Learning Studios A+B

10:00 AM - 6:30 PM

Micro Meetings

TIFF Lightbox, Learning Studios A+B

Visit imagineNATIVE.org for detailed schedule

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Workshop: Empowering Youth + Emerging Artists for Tomorrow’s Productions

401 Commons

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Micro Meetings Networking Reception 401 Commons + Rooftop Patio

Thursday Schedule

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Table Read Club: Live Short Script Table Read CBC Studios Atrium

2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Case Study: Business Affairs Part 1 | Bridging Artistic Vision With Fiscal Reality The Well, Lower Level

4:15 PM - 5:45 PM

Case Study: Business Affairs Part 2 | The Legalities of Production and Keeping Your Production Secured The Well, Lower Level

Industry Days: Friday + Saturday

On Friday, June 5 join us as we highlight the Institute’s year-round accomplishments with a special panel from the Institute’s very own alumni! Celebrate original scripts developed by the Screenwriting Features Lab as we honour the special life of Aroha Awarau. Round out the day with the highly anticipated imagineNATIVE Originals screening in partnership with the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), Charles Street Video (CSV), the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF), and Capilano University.

Saturday, June 6 wraps up Industry Days with fun, liberating panel discussions on industry trends, global movements, and social justice. Industry Days will conclude with a closing ceremony led by Luana Harper-Shirt and the Industry Days Closing Reception at the 401 Rooftop Patio.

For the most up-to-date schedule information, please visit our website at imagineNATIVE.org.

Friday Schedule

10:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Panel: imagineNATIVE Institute | From Script to Production to Screening

The Well, Lower Level

11:30 AM - 12:45 PM

Panel: Sovereign Critique & the Indigenous Future

The Well, Lower Level

2:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Panel: Features Screenwriting Spotlight, Honouring

Our Writers

The Well, Lower Level

3:30 PM - 4:45 PM

Panel: Indigenous Creation + Computation | Building Sovereign AI

The Well, Lower Level

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

imagineNATIVE Originals Screening TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3

Saturday Schedule

9:30 AM - 10:45 AM

Panel: Pathways, Protocols, + Labour

The Well, Lower Level

11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Panel: A Crew Perspective | Production + Below the Line

The Well, Lower Level

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Panel: Indigenous Resistance in the Industry + Building Cross-Racial Solidarity

The Well, Lower Level

3:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Panel: Freedom of Expression + Navigating Media Censorship

The Well, Lower Level

4:45 PM - 5:15 PM

Industry Days Closing Ceremony

The Well, Lower Level

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Industry Days Closing Reception

401 Commons + Rooftop Patio

INSTITUTE I

F O R A P P L I C A T I O N S

designed for Indigenous creatives in the film and television industry.

Chi-miigwetch to Lead Institute Partner Netflix for their continued support! U P C O M I N G C A L L S

WELCOME GATHERING + OPENING NIGHT PARTY

Welcome Gathering

Tuesday, June 2 | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Spadina Museum

285 Spadina Rd

FREE, open to the public

We are so excited to welcome everyone to the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival! Come enjoy a performance by 6 Nations' Skye Dancers and welcoming remarks, as well as an Indigenous artisan market.

From 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM during the Welcome Gathering, a Guest Services team member will be available on-site for delegates to pick up their Festival Passes and to answer any questions.

Opening Night Party

Supported by the Indigenous Screen Office

Tuesday, June 2 | 9:00 PM

Malaparte TIFF Lightbox, 6th Floor

350 King St W

$20, ticketed*

Celebrate the Opening Night of the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival! Following the Opening Night Screening, head upstairs to Malaparte and enjoy stunning views of downtown Toronto, drinks and passed appetizers, and live music from James N. Wilson and a high-energy dance party with DJ Classic Roots.

*Opening Night Screening tickets and Opening Night Party tickets are sold separately. Admission to one event does not include access to the other.

Tickets can be booked at the on-site imagineNATIVE Box Office or online at imagineNATIVE.org.

ART CRAWL

Art Crawl

Thursday, June 4 | 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM

PWYC, ticketed*

Every year, imagineNATIVE collaborates with established and local artist-run galleries in downtown Toronto to present national and international exhibitions featuring Indigenous artists who push the boundaries and expectations of what Indigenous storytelling is. The Art Crawl began unofficially in the early 2000s and has been a staple of the Festival since 2012.

We are proud to partner with Gallery TPW, A Space Gallery, Gallery 44, Market Gallery, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, and Vtape for the 2026 Art Crawl.

Anchored in celebrating all art forms, the annual Art Crawl is a guided tour that brings Festival goers and local audiences together. At each gallery, you will have the opportunity to hear from the exhibition curators and attending artists. The talks are timed, and we keep a tight schedule, but you are welcome to return to the galleries after the talks are complete.

*Tickets can be booked with pay-what-youcan pricing (recommended price: $10) at the on-site imagineNATIVE Box Office or online at imagineNATIVE.org.

Schedule

5:00 PM - 5:40 PM

Gallery TPW

170 St Helens Ave

6:00 PM - 6:20 PM

A Space Gallery

401 Richmond St W, Suite 110

6:25 PM - 6:45 PM

Gallery 44

401 Richmond St W, Suite 120

6:50 PM - 7:10 PM

Market Gallery

401 Richmond St W, Suite 128

7:15 PM - 7:35 PM

YYZ Artists’ Outlet

401 Richmond St W, Suite 140

7:45 PM - 8:00 PM

Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space

401 Richmond St W, Suite 452

8:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Closing Reception

401 Commons

401 Richmond St W, 4th Floor

JUNE 3 - JULY 25

Gallery TPW

170 St Helens Ave

Coded Image/Coded Text

Artists: Vernon Ah Kee (Kuku Yalandji/Waanji, Yidinji/Gugu Yimithirr), Hoda Afshar (Iranian)

Curator: Liz Ikiriko

Coded Image/Coded Text at Gallery TPW centres on Code Black/Riot, a four-channel film by Vernon Ah Kee, Hoda Afshar, and Behrouz Boochani, originally commissioned for the Sydney Biennale. Created in collaboration with the advocacy organization Change the Record, the work confronts the crisis of mass incarceration of First Nations youth in Australia. Through collective storytelling, Code Black/Riot amplifies the voices and experiences of incarcerated Aboriginal young people while highlighting the power of cross-cultural collaboration. Its presentation on Turtle Island for the first time underscores shared colonial histories affecting Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (Aotearoa), encouraging a tri-nation dialogue about justice and sovereignty.

The exhibition also features Ah Kee’s striking textbased works and Afshar’s film Remain, which documents the lives of stateless men who stayed on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, after the closure of the immigration detention centre in 2017. Together, these works use photography, film, and language to explore image making, collaboration, and the enduring importance of narrative storytelling.

Vernon Ah Kee, a member of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji, and Gugu Yimithirr peoples, creates conceptual text pieces, videos, photographs, and drawings to form a critique of Australian culture from the perspective of the Aboriginal experience of contemporary life.

Hoda Afshar (born in Iran, 1983) is a visual artist whose practice explores the complex interplay between politics and aesthetics, knowledge and representation, and visibility and violence. Her work interrogates the ways in which image making can both reinforce and disrupt dominant narratives.

Liz Ikiriko is a Tkaronto/Toronto–based artist and curator whose practice is informed by her experiences as a mixed Nigerian Canadian, prairieraised daughter and mother. She is the curator at Gallery TPW and co-founder, with Toleen Touq, of wave~form~projects, a collective dedicated to intimate and relational curatorial practices.

APRIL 28 - JULY 11

aen nistwayr mayshkotoonikayhk: Story Exchange

Artist: Jason Baerg (Cree Métis)

In the spirit of honouring and celebrating family narratives, aen nistwayr mayshkotoonikayhk delves into the profound connections between memory, place, and continuity. This new project builds upon a media work created for an exhibition at the OCADU Graduate Gallery during Truth and Reconciliation Day, where Jason Baerg showcased his family’s archival images alongside their stories. The initial media loop transformed photographs of his Métis ancestors into animated stories using Artificial Intelligence, breathing life into these cherished memories. The impact of this work was palpable; during the exhibition’s opening, Baerg’s mother, Doris Lanigan, a Senator for the Métis Nation of Ontario, experienced a deeply emotional connection to the piece. Her response inspired a new, dynamic dialogue within their family, prompting visits and exchanges of additional images and stories, thus illustrating the healing potential of shared narratives.

Jason Baerg (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan) is a Cree Métis curator, educator, and visual artist. As a visual artist, he pushes boundaries in digital interventions in drawing, painting, and new media installations. Often through means of visual abstraction, Baerg’s projects work with various themes such as language, the Anthropocene, and Indigenous connections to land and the environment. Dedicated to community development, Baerg founded the Métis Artist Collective and has served as volunteer chair for organizations such as the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective and the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition.

JUNE 4 - JULY 4

Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography

401 Richmond St W, Suite 120

After They Leave

Artist: Manny Wood Lynes-Ford (Gitxaala)

When Manny Wood Lynes-Ford was younger, his grandmother told him a story: the Creator wanted us to have everything we needed, so they gave us a song to call the animals, who would offer themselves to us. This gift came with one condition — that we respect the animals and care for the land, taking only what was necessary and letting nothing go to waste. However, over time people grew careless and one day, the Creator came and took the song away.

This story is a reminder of our responsibility to protect what we have and ensure there is something left for future generations, just as our ancestors did for us.

Manny Wood Lynes-Ford is an Indigenous photographer from Gitxaala, British Columbia, based in Toronto. He specializes in analog photography with a range of mediums from cyanotypes to chromogenic prints in the darkroom. He holds a BFA from OCAD University in photography. Working with themes of decolonization and the Indigenous experience, he draws inspiration from artists such as Fred Herzog and Carl Beam.

APRIL 17 - JUNE 13

Market Gallery

401 Richmond St W, Suite 128

Smoke Signals x Reflections

Presented by TD Bank Group and Toronto History Museums

Artists: Kent Monkman (Cree), Alexis NanibushPamajewong (Anishinaabe), Jake Kimble (Dënesųłıné), Kay Nadjiwon (Anishinaabe), Kikki Guerard (Swampy Cree), Megan Feheley (Cree), Melissa Johns (Mohawk)

Curator: Jesse King (Ojibwe)

Smoke Signals x Reflections, presented by TD Bank Group and Toronto History Museums, is a Market Gallery off-site exhibition where photography, beadwork, sculpture, and digital media serve as a guiding signal, broadcasting stories of identity, memory, and reconnection. Curated by Jesse King, the exhibit shares pieces from Toronto’s Fine Art and Artifact Collection, including the photographic series The Emergence of Legend by Kent Monkman as well as contemporary art by Alexis NanibushPamajewong, Jake Kimble, Kay Nadjiwon, Kikki Guerard, Megan Feheley, and Melissa Johns. Expect bold visuals, self-discovery, and personal storytelling. Smoke Signals x Reflections aims to create a safe and affirming space for Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, and gender nonconforming artists.

MAY 30 - JUNE 8

YYZ Artists’ Outlet

401 Richmond St W, Suite 140

Reverence and Conviction

Artist: Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe)

Curator: Sage Paul (Denesuliné)

Indigenous Fashion Arts

The fashion video series Reverence and Conviction opens with the show My Tender Bundle, a demonstration of family justice and radical caregiving. In the face of colonial and systemic tactics that fracture Indigenous families, these collections personify the willpower to protect, nurture, and play. From the perspectives of both caregivers and children, each collection is a testament to transcendent love and care.

The resilience and ingenuity of Indigenous designers are showcased in the show Fierce + Fearless where collections confront colonization, loudly challenging social and systemic constructs, and promoting inclusion. Bold styling, excessive silhouettes, and audacious craft practices — these collections demand autonomy and promote safe spaces. The collections amplify a strong sense of self and belonging culturally and individually.

In From This Ground We Grow, the designers showcase their deep connections to place. Their functional and ornate designs recall land-based ancestral photos highlighting functional and thoughtfully adorned clothing and accessories. Drawing from traditional teachings and incorporating natural elements with modern materiality, physical and ancestral connections to place influence form and expression in these collections.

The finale, Materialize, dives into the fascinating realm of material culture. These diverse collections unite traditional and contemporary approaches in harvesting and processing fashion materials, instilling knowledge between past and future. With skill, experimentation, and innovation, these collections serve as acts of cultural sustenance.

Darlene Naponse is an Anishinaabe writer, director, and video artist from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. Her previous films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. AKI is her fifth feature film. Darlene’s work is placed within community and the Natural World.

EXHIBITIONS

JUNE 1 - JUNE 20

Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space

401 Richmond St W, Suite 452

Running

Co-presented by Vtape

Artist: Zachery Cameron Longboy (Sayisi Dene)

In Zachery Cameron Longboy’s quietly powerful recent work Running, his spoken “poem for my captor” accompanies Longboy’s exquisite, minimally animated line drawings. Seeming to emerge from a liminal state somewhere between dream and memory, Running draws us fully into the personal image-world that was introduced in the joyous video Guardian of Sleep (2022).

The dream is filled with dance and song lasting into the late She’s alive, he’s alive, there alive, I’m alive I’m alive she’s alive he’s alive, we’re alive

Running, running trees go by.

– Zachery Cameron Longboy

Zachery Cameron Longboy is a Sayisi Dene visual, video, and performance artist from Churchill, Manitoba. His works explore a fractured cultural experience. Longboy’s video work is held in collections including the Glenbow Museum (Calgary), Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), and Canadian Trade Office (Taiwan); screening venues include the Museum of Modern Art (New York), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), TIFF Cinematheque (Toronto), and Vancouver Art Gallery.

AUGUST SCHELLENBERG AWARD

Congratulations

to Gail Maurice! imagineNATIVE is honoured to present the 2026 August Schellenberg Award to Gail Maurice.

Gail Maurice is an award-winning filmmaker, actor, director, writer, producer, and a proud fluent speaking member of her Métis community in Northern Saskatchewan. She was named one of Variety’s Top Ten Canadians to watch in 2022.

Gail tells stories with strong female Indigenous leads. Her debut feature film, ROSIE, was a TIFF Top Ten Canadian film in 2022, won the Audience Choice Feature Award at imagineNATIVE, and many more.

Gail’s sophomore film, Blood Lines, premiered at TIFF 2025 and is currently winning many awards on the festival circuit.

Gail is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada and was nominated for the DGC’s prestigious Jean-Marc Vallée Award. She is a recipient of the Hnatyshyn Indigenous Award of Excellence and has been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for best supporting actor for her roles in Trickster and Night Raiders. Her recent acting credits include Nika & Madison, Aberdeen, Allegiance, Bones of Crows, Don’t Even, and Wind River: Rising, to name a few.

The August Schellenberg Award of Excellence was launched in partnership with Joan Karasevich Schellenberg to honour her late husband, legendary actor August (Augie) Schellenberg and the spirit of his work. This award is presented to gifted Indigenous actors from across Turtle Island based on the longevity and impact of their careers, as well as their professionalism and involvement in mentorship and community work.

This award is supported by ACTRA National and individual donations.

AWARDS PRESENTATION + LIST

Awards Presentation

Saturday, June 6 | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

350 King St W

Host: Vance Banzo

PWYC, ticketed*

Join us to honour Indigenous excellence in film and media arts, with generous support from our partners and individual donors. Each year, the Awards Presentation showcases a selection of exceptional works from our Festival. Each recipient is selected by filmmakers and industry professionals from the Festival’s independent programming team and juries.

*Tickets can be booked with pay-what-you-can pricing (recommended price: $10) at the on-site imagineNATIVE Box Office or online at imagineNATIVE.org.

List of Awards

Innovation in Storytelling Award in honour of Kent Monkman

This category recognizes short films which push boundaries and deliver the unexpected with an inventive and unconventional approach to form, content, storytelling, or structure. This award is supported by, and named in honour of, Kent Monkman, a boundary-pushing artist and former imagineNATIVE board member.

Animated Short Award

This award recognizes short films which feature animation techniques such as claymation, kaleidoscopic effects, hand-drawn, computer, cutout, stop-motion, pixilation, pinscreen, camera multiple pass-imagery, and more.

Documentary Short Award

This category recognizes nonfiction short films that artistically engage with historical, cultural, social, economic, scientific, or other subjects based on fact.

Documentary Feature Award in honour of Alanis Obomsawin

Awarded to a nonfiction feature length film that engages artistically with historical, cultural, social, economic, scientific, or other subjects based on fact. This award is named in recognition of the legacy of renowned documentarian Alanis Obomsawin.

New Voice in Storytelling Award in honour of Jane Glassco and Ellen Monague

This award honours an emerging filmmaker who has less than three years of experience in their practice, regardless of their age or their work’s genre or length, and has completed or is finishing at least one independent film or video work. This award is named in honour of Jane Glassco and Ellen Monague, two artists devoted to Indigenous issues and youth.

Experimental Audio Award

This category recognizes excellence in works which push the boundaries of audio formats using experimental practices.

Tasha Hubbard, recipient of the Documentary Feature Award for Singing Back the Buffalo.

AWARDS PRESENTATION

Narrative Audio Award

Awarded in recognition of an exceptional audio work such as a podcast, audio drama, radio play, or other narrative audio format.

New Artist in Digital + Interactive Award

This award recognizes innovation and excellence in digital and interactive media developed by an early career artist.

Digital + Interactive Award

This award recognizes innovation and excellence in digital and interactive media developed by midcareer and established artists.

Live Action Short Award

A live action film that is 40 minutes or less, including all credits, and uses narrative storytelling and imagery created primarily through practical photographic techniques used to capture physical actors, props, sets, and locations. This does not include documentaries, animated works, music videos, or experimental works. The winner of this award is put forward to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be considered for an Academy Award.

Outstanding Performance in a Short

This award recognizes the outstanding performance of a lead actor in a dramatic short film.

Outstanding Performance in a Feature

This award recognizes the outstanding performance of a lead actor in a dramatic feature film.

After Dark Award in honour of Jeff Barnaby

Awarded to genre-bending films, this award honours the memory of Jeff Barnaby, a fearless auteur in genre filmmaking who often melded horror, sci-fi, and thrillers interchangeably and whose style defied the western gaze on Indigenous Peoples, hailing them as resilient and strong survivors and heroes.

Indigenous Language Production Award

This award is for a film of any genre or length whose sole or primary language is an Indigenous language.

Sun Jury Award

Awarded in recognition of an outstanding work, regardless of length or genre, determined by imagineNATIVE’s Sun Jury.

Moon Jury Award

Awarded in recognition of an outstanding work, regardless of length or genre, determined by imagineNATIVE’s Moon Jury.

Dramatic Feature Award

This award recognizes a feature length, live action film which uses narrative storytelling and imagery created primarily through practical photographic techniques used to capture physical actors, props, sets, and locations.

Special thanks to Tuscarora WoodWorks for making the award medallions and Two Hearts Beadwork for creating the award lanyards.

AWARDS JURIES

imagineNATIVE is proud to be able to provide annual cash awards to artists spanning 17 juried award categories. We have four juries to select the award winners across our Official Selection of Film + Video, Digital + Interactive, and Audio works.

Sun Jury

The Sun Jury is responsible for adjudicating the following awards: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, New Voice in Storytelling, Innovation in Storytelling, Animated Short, and the Sun Jury Award.

Water Jury

The Water Jury is responsible for adjudicating the following awards: New Artist in Digital + Interactive and the Digital + Interactive Award.

Moon Jury

The Moon Jury is responsible for adjudicating the following awards: Dramatic Feature, Live Action Short, Outstanding Performance in a Short, Outstanding Performance in a Feature, Indigenous Language Production, After Dark, and the Moon Jury Award.

Land Jury

The Land Jury is responsible for adjudicating the following awards: Experimental Audio and the Narrative Audio Award.

Suzanne Kite Oglála Lakȟóta

Kaniehtiio Horn Kanyen′kehà:ka (Mohawk)

Eli Hurtle Nêhiyaw (Cree)

Jesse King Ojibwe

Jana Te Nahu Owen Māori

Theo Jean Cuthand Plains Cree

Jesse Wente Ojibwe

Kelly Boutsalis Mohawk

Heather Haynes

James Monkman Cree

The Beat

Saturday, June 6

Doors Open 8:00 PM

El Mocambo 464 Spadina Ave

$20 advance $30 door

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the on-site imagineNATIVE box office or online at imagineNATIVE.org.

Tickets will be available for purchase at the door, subject to availability.

Featuring: GARY FARMER + THE DISH AND SPOON BAND

EVAN REDSKY + MR SAUGA

Music Video Showcase

PRINT SOURCE

AA Bridge in the Mist (p. 41)

Print Source: Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation a9229492@mail.ipcf.org.tw

A Girl Like That (p. 73)

Print Source: Shae-Lynn Pearson shaelynnpearson@gmail.com

A’Likou (River People) (p. 52)

Print Source: Peter Toyat peter.gtoyat@gmail.com

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/greatgrandparent/great-grandchild] (p. 43)

Print Source: Ozhitoon Films ozhitoonfilms@gmail.com

Abinoojiikaasmin (We Act Like Children) (p. 32)

Print Source: Evelyn Pakinewatik evelyn.pakinewatik@gmail.com

ACE (p. 69)

Print Source: Raymond Edwards ray.m.edwards@gmail.com

Akababuru: Expression of astonishment (p. 33)

Print Source: Laura Giraldo Mira laura.giraldom11@gmail.com

AKI (p. 30)

Print Source: Isuma Distribution International distribution@isuma.tv

Akiiwan: Survival (p. 100)

Print Source: Little Buffalo Studios akiiwansurvival@gmail.com

All My Love Thanks (p. 43)

Print Source: Laura Ortman lauraortman@gmail.com

América (p. 36)

Print Source: Mullu TV frida@mullu.tv

Among the Ancestors (p. 100)

Print Source: Pōhaikealoha Panoke tkpanoke@gmail.com

Are You Native? (p. 94)

Print Source: Erin Brender laminarflowfilms@mail.com

Ata Pūao (p. 65)

Print Source: Allie Howell ekarecollective@gmail.com

Bimaadizi/Along in Space and Time (p. 73)

Print Source: Katia Ferderber katerina.paypompee98@gmail.com

Blood Lines (p. 83)

Print Source: Elevation Pictures mfriesen@elevationpictures.com

Blood Quantum Physics (p. 99)

Print Source: Miigwans Media feathermiigwan@gmail.com

Boca Vieja (p. 50)

Print Source: Yovegami Ascona Mora bocavieja.docu@gmail.com

Borderline (p. 59)

Print Source: Johannes Vang johannes@aurinkofilm.com

Braids (p. 40)

Print Source: Elise Beers Aachix̂ Qağaduug ebeers1992@gmail.com

cadèwašteya (p. 92)

Print Source: Nadine Arpin arpinnadine@gmail.com

Ceremony (p. 67)

Print Source: Banchi Hanuse banchi@smayaykila.com

Charip: Lightning in the River (p. 88)

Print Source: Mullu TV frida@mullu.tv

Coherence Ceremony (p. 97)

Print Source: Tooth & Nail Pictures eva@toothandnailpictures.com

Convenience Store NDN Zombie (p. 58)

Print Source: Cole Forrest forrestcole98@gmail.com

Corn Husk Doll (p. 52)

Print Source: Yuma Dean Hester bawaadancollective@gmail.com

Crown and Country (p. 93)

Print Source: The Story Mill rowan@thestorymill.com.au

Dancing Molecular Landscapes (p. 97)

Print Source: SJ Okemow sj.okemow@gmail.com

Deneege Leł Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh (p. 33)

Print Source: Brittany Woods-Orrison woods.orrison@pm.me

Dream Touch Believe (p. 90)

Print Source: Jenna Naranjo Winters jennawinters26@gmail.com

Ea (p. 54)

Print Source: Noah Keone Viernes vnoah@aiu.ac.jp

Eallu lea eallin (p. 33)

Print Source: Eila Marie Engkvist Muotka ememuotka@gmail.com

Endless Sunlight (p. 88)

Print Source: Tyson Houseman tysonhouseman@gmail.com

Enweying Our Sound Podcast (p. 102)

Print Source: Monty McGahey II monty.mcgahey@gmail.com

Erroll Kinistino: Inspiration and Activism in the Arts (p. 46)

Print Source: Jimi Leigh Kinistino jkinistino@gmail.com

FFirst Horse (p. 69)

Print Source: Heperi Mita heperimita@gmail.com

Flowers (p. 41)

Print Source: Jiráfica hola@jirafica.com

GGaskačázis (p. 98)

Print Source: Eili Bråstad eilib@mac.com

Gâteau Girl (Pussy Pussy Pussy) (p. 66)

Print Source: Shanelle St. Hilaire shanellesthilairetheartist@gmail.com

Gaza Bride 17 (p. 70)

Print Source: Radiator IP Sales ben@radiatorsales.eu

Guardian of Baikal (p. 69)

Print Source: Irina Urbaeva bii.buryadmongol@gmail.com

He Moʻolelo Wahi Pana (A Storied Landscape) (p. 36)

Print Source: Alison Week week.alison@gmail.com

HINA (p. 93)

Print Source: Louise Pōtiki Bryant louisepotikibryant@gmail.com

HOLDING S P A C E (p. 78)

Print Source: Jirra Lulla Harvey jirra@kalinya.com.au

Homesteads: Whina Cooper (p. 47)

Print Source: Kimiora Kaire-Melbourne kimikairemelbourne@gmail.com

Honor of the Paintbrush (p. 90)

Print Source: Wapikoni Mobile festival@wapikoni.ca

HOST (p. 65)

Print Source: Video Pool Media Arts Centre madeline@videopool.org

II Am Not Your Dusky Maiden (p. 76)

Print Source: Lapita Productions nora.aati@gmail.com

I Duok om I Bohuntung – The Owl and the Rainbow (p. 40)

Print Source: Jo Luping jluping@siungfilms.com

I Hold On (p. 86)

Print Source: Marshall Leigh George m.leigh.george@gmail.com

Iikaiksimatsa’pao’p: Grateful to Be on the Land (p. 35)

Print Source: Sinakson Trevor Solway solwayentertainment@gmail.com

Isunngannguaq (p. 33)

Print Source: Claire Bullock festivals@taqqut.com

Itseetamapi (p. 73)

Print Source: Adam Solway asolway12@gmail.com

IXIM (el amor no tiene género) (p. 65)

Print Source: Nathalia Santos Ocasio nsantosocasio@interpares.ca

Ixquic (p. 89)

Print Source: Elvis Rigoberto Caj Cojoc haxielvis@gmail.com

JJohn’s First Tattoo (p. 76)

Print Source: Jett Kowalchuk jettkowalchuk@gmail.com

Journey Home, David Gulpilil (p. 78)

Print Source: Rachel Clements rachel@brindlefilms.com.au

Jülapüin Yonna (The Dream of Dance) (p.  92)

Print Source: Luzbeidy Monterrosa Atencio joutaifilms@gmail.com

KKINKU (p. 74)

Print Source: Segundo Fuérez mushuksisa@hotmail.com

Kinship Table, la taab di li vwaazayn (p. 99)

Print Source: Bright Earth Studio robynmichelleadams@gmail.com

Klee (p. 77)

Print Source: Gavin Baird gavinbairdfilms@gmail.com

L

Land Invaders (p. 99)

Print Source: BirdxBird casscgardiner@gmail.com

Lethal Ethel (p. 32)

Print Source: Wapikoni Mobile festival@wapikoni.ca

Levers (p. 49)

Print Source: Rhayne Vermette vermette.rh@gmail.com

Little Orange Bandages (p. 32)

Print Source: Kile M. George kilegeorge@outlook.com

Love Is Trash (p. 76)

Print Source: Kenny Welsh i.am.kenny.welsh@gmail.com

Lynx River Revisted: A North of 60 Rewatch Podcast (p. 102)

Print Source: Melaw Nakehk’o melaw.x@gmail.com

M

Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawer of Rocks) (p. 53)

Print Source: Claire Bullock festivals@taqqut.com

Mārama (p. 74)

Print Source: Franziska McCray fmccray@mpimedia.com

Materia (p. 37)

Print Source: Alisi Telengut alisi.telengut@gmail.com

Meadowlarks (p. 56)

Print Source: Mongrel Media tom@mongrelmedia.com

Midnight Migrations: Wëdzey Tąy (Caribou Trails) (p. 92)

Print Source: VideoPool madeline@videopool.org

Migizi Makes A Deal With Gzhemnidoo (p. 62, 80)

Print Source: Esbikenh esbikenh@gmail.com

Milpa | Cumbia del Obrero (p. 85)

Print Source: Polaris Castillo polariscastillo23@gmail.com

Molly of Denali | Episode 505: There is Pele (p. 63)

Print Source: PBS/PBS Kids pbskidspr@pbs.org

Moon Noonk Edouard (p. 46)

Print Source: National Film Board of Canada e.labbe@nfb.ca

More (p. 85)

Print Source: Colleen Thurston colleenthurston8@gmail.com

NNenaboozhoo (p. 63, 81)

Print Source: Christopher Johnson johnsonchristopher@live.ca

Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising (p. 38)

Print Source: Serial Maven Studios solange.attwood@serialmavenstudios.com

Niimi (p. 55)

Print Source: Dana Solomon danakhan.toronto@gmail.com

Nika & Madison (p. 42)

Print Source: Game Theory Films hilary@gametheoryfilms.com

Nivingajuliat (p. 52)

Print Source: Shelby Lisk s.lisk92@gmail.com

Niwahkohmahkanis (p. 62, 80)

Print Source: Zoey Roy zoey@zoeyroy.com

Now, Before, Always (p. 99)

Print Source: Colton Smith colton.smith.art@gmail.com

O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You) (p. 65)

Print Source: Carrisse Uta’i carrisse@kakaiaproductions.com

Open the Door (p. 86)

Print Source: Jesse Green jesse@strongfront.tv

PlaceKnowing with Dr. Ted Jojola and Diné Scientist Brandon Francis (p. 102)

Print Source: The Aunties Dandelion theauntiesdandelion@gmail.com

Pouākai (Raptor) (p. 69)

Print Source: Madeleine Hakaraia de Young maddy@maorilandfilm.co.nz

Powwow People (p. 94)

Print Source: Sky Hopinka skyhopinka@gmail.com

Pulling Out (Soundtrack) (p. 101)

Print Source: Ojistoh Publishing and Productions janetmarie@pacificcoast.net

Radiant Starlets (Original Soundtrack) | DR3AM ON (p. 101)

Print Source: Alexander Jeffrey Walker alexjwalkermusic@gmail.com

Raised by the Canoe (p. 35)

Print Source: Jeremy Dyson jsdyson@telus.net

REZervations for Two (p. 44)

Print Source: Crystal Dubois cdubois@aptn.ca

RezPunk (p. 97)

Print Source: Destiny Brennan-Chescappio chescappiodestiny@gmail.com

River of Spirits (p. 37)

Print Source: Elizabeth Aquino elizabethaquino89@gmail.com

Run as One (p. 46)

Print Source: Amber-Sky Ranville amberranville@gmail.com

Sacred Tags (p. 98)

Print Source: Noodin Studio quinnhopkinsart@gmail.com

Sage-Based Wisdom Podcast | Episodes 45 & 46: It’s Giving Adult Sheep Camp w/ Sierra Teller Ornelas (p. 101)

Print Source: City NDN, Inc. cityndninc@gmail.com

Sally’s Bravery (p. 46)

Print Source: Wapikoni Mobile festival@wapikoni.ca

Shaaghan Neekwaii (Two Old Women) (p. 70)

Print Source: Isuma Distribution International distribution@isuma.tv

Skins in the Game (p. 98)

Print Source: Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace abtec-info@concordia.ca

SPI (p. 82)

Print Source: SQ Film Studio sayun.simung@gmail.com

Sukkaillutit Uqaruk (Say It Slowly) (p. 35)

Print Source: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard qilavaq@gmail.com

Tamatta Ataqatigiippugut – We are all connected (p. 35)

Print Source: Snow Falcon Media snowfalconmedia@gmail.com

Tankha (p. 63, 81)

Print Source: Tundra tundraanimation@gmail.com

Taxi the Empties (p. 59)

Print Source: Laszlo Uhrik laszlo411@mac.com

The Aunties Dandelion | Aunties Emergent: Alex Jacobs-Blum with Grandmother Renee Thomas-Hill (p. 101)

Print Source: The Aunties Dandelion theauntiesdandelion@gmail.com

The Colleano Heart (p. 71)

Print Source: Kate Pappas kate.pappas@wildbear.tv

The Neighborhood Kids | AND THE KIDS SAY (p. 88)

Print Source: Polaris Castillo polariscastillo23@gmail.com

PRINT SOURCE

The Night Shift (p. 32)

Print Source: imagineNATIVE programming@imagineNATIVE.org

The Orange Flower (p. 48)

Print Source: Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) executivedirector@usay.ca

The Prince and the Pauper (p. 58)

Print Source: Warner Bros. Pictures kaitlyn.herring@wbd.com

The Rapture (p. 58)

Print Source: Jaimee Poipoi jaimeekpoipoi@gmail.com

The Wild Sheriff (p. 62, 80)

Print Source: Sarah Houle houlelowrysarah@gmail.com

The Woman Who Married A Bear (p. 52)

Print Source: Dave Fedorski dave.fedorski@gmail.com

THORN (p. 98)

Print Source: Oshki Games dking@oshkigames.com

TOITŪ TE TIRITI (p. 86)

Print Source: Te KuraHuia Arikirangi Te Ao Ahoroa o Te Pō Faith Oriwia Henare-Stewart tekurahuia@gmail.com

Toroa: Skycall (p. 97)

Print Source: Atawhai Interactive lisa@atawhaiinteractive.com

U

Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) (p. 95)

Print Source: Isuma Distribution International distribution@isuma.tv V

Vieljažagaid iežaska jáhkku (Brothers of Faith) (p. 88)

Print Source: Gákte Biera per-josef@forestpeople.no

Visitant (p. 73)

Print Source: Skylar Wesley skylarwesley@gmail.com

Vuogáiduvvan (Adaptation) (p. 50)

Print Source: Aslak Paltto reindeerherderseyes@gmail.com W

W7éyle (moon’s wife) (p. 76)

Print Source: Amanda Wandler aswandler@icloud.com

Walls – Akinni Inuk (p. 55)

Print Source: Ánorâk Film info@anorakfilm.gl

Washed Up (p. 58)

Print Source: Sophie Hampson sophiehampson10@gmail.com

WAT WAS HIE? (p. 36)

Print Source: Luke De Kock camissacreate@gmail.com

Watch the World Heal (p. 103)

Print Source: Ramon Kataquapit ramonkataquapit@gmail.com

What We Carry (p. 48)

Print Source: Cutting Class Studios bracken.burns@cuttingclassmedia.com

What’s in Your Kete? (p. 103)

Print Source: Taylor Tutawa Mclaren taylortutawamclaren@gmail.com

Why Would I Leave (p. 54)

Print Source: Jade Baxter jadethebaxter@gmail.com

Windsong (p. 42)

Print Source: Loren Waters lorenkwaters@gmail.com

Wolverine and Little Thunder: An Eel Hunting Adventure (p. 62, 80)

Print Source: Stephanie Joline stephjoline@gmail.com

Womb (p. 40)

Print Source: Amanda Jane Robinson amandajanerob@gmail.com

Words and Culture | Athabaskan Episode 6 (p. 103)

Print Source: Kim Wheeler kimage.wheeler@gmail.com

Words and Culture | It Takes a Village (p. 102)

Print Source: Kim Wheeler kimage.wheeler@gmail.com

YYa Hanouni (p. 40)

Print Source: Watermelon Pictures noa@mpimedia.com

Yiyíistsʼą́ą́ʼ (Listen) (p. 67)

Print Source: Malakye Zaayin Tsosie rezkidfilm@gmail.com

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

ACE (p. 69)

Ata Pūao (p. 65)

First Horse (p. 69)

HINA (p. 93)

Homesteads: Whina Cooper (p. 47)

I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden (p. 76)

Mārama (p. 74)

O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You) (p. 65)

Pouākai (Raptor) (p. 69)

Tankha (p. 63, 81)

The Rapture (p. 58)

TOITŪ TE TIRITI (p. 86)

Toroa: Skycall (p. 97)

Washed Up (p. 58)

What’s in Your Kete? (p. 103)

Aotearoa (New Zealand)/Malaysia

I Duok om I Bohuntung – The Owl and the Rainbow (p. 40)

Australia

Crown and Country (p. 93)

HOLDING S P A C E (p. 78)

Journey Home, David Gulpilil (p. 78)

The Colleano Heart (p. 71)

Canada

A Girl Like That (p. 73)

Abinoojiikaasmin (We Act Like Children) (p. 32)

AKI (p. 30)

Akiiwan: Survival (p. 100)

Bimaadizi/Along in Space and Time (p. 73)

Blood Lines (p. 83)

cadèwašteya (p. 92)

Ceremony (p. 67)

Coherence Ceremony (p. 97)

Corn Husk Doll (p. 52)

Dancing Molecular Landscapes (p. 97)

Endless Sunlight (p. 88)

Enweying Our Sound Podcast (p. 102)

Erroll Kinistino: Inspiration and Activism in the Arts (p. 46)

Gâteau Girl (Pussy Pussy Pussy) (p. 66)

Honor of the Paintbrush (p. 90)

HOST (p. 65)

I Hold On (p. 86)

Iikaiksimatsa’pao’p: Grateful to Be on the Land (p. 35)

Isunngannguaq (p. 33)

Itseetamapi (p. 73)

John’s First Tattoo (p. 76)

Kinship Table, la taab di li vwaazayn (p. 99)

Klee (p. 77)

Land Invaders (p. 99)

Lethal Ethel (p. 32)

Levers (p. 49)

Little Orange Bandages (p. 32)

Love Is Trash (p. 76)

Lynx River Revisted: A North of 60 Rewatch Podcast (p. 102)

Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawer of Rocks) (p. 53)

Materia (p. 37)

Meadowlarks (p. 56)

Midnight Migrations: Wëdzey

Tąy (Caribou Trails) (p. 92)

Migizi Makes A Deal With Gzhemnidoo (p. 62, 80)

Molly of Denali | Episode 505: There is Pele (p. 63)

Moon Noonk Edouard (p. 46)

Nenaboozhoo (p. 63, 81)

Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising (p. 38)

Niimi (p. 55)

Nika & Madison (p. 42)

Nivingajuliat (p. 52)

Niwahkohmahkanis (p. 62, 80)

Now, Before, Always (p. 99)

Open the Door (p. 86)

PlaceKnowing with Dr. Ted Jojola and Diné Scientist Brandon Francis (p. 102)

Pulling Out (Soundtrack) (p. 101)

Radiant Starlets (Original Soundtrack) | DR3AM ON (p. 101)

Raised by the Canoe (p. 35)

RezPunk (p. 97)

Run as One (p. 46)

Sacred Tags (p. 98)

Sally’s Bravery (p. 46)

Skins in the Game (p. 98)

Sukkaillutit Uqaruk (Say It Slowly) (p. 35)

Taxi the Empties (p. 59)

The Aunties Dandelion | Aunties

Emergent: Alex Jacobs-Blum with Grandmother Renee Thomas-Hill (p. 101)

The Night Shift (p. 32)

The Orange Flower (p. 48)

The Wild Sheriff (p. 62, 80)

THORN (p. 98)

Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) (p. 95)

Visitant (p. 73)

W7éyle (moon’s wife) (p. 76)

Watch the World Heal (p. 103)

What We Carry (p. 48)

Why Would I Leave (p. 54)

Wolverine and Little Thunder: An Eel

Hunting Adventure (p. 62, 80)

Words and Culture | Athabaskan

Episode 6 (p. 103)

Words and Culture | It Takes a Village (p. 102)

REZervations for Two (p. 44)

Canada/Denmark/Kalaallit

Nunaat (Greenland)

Tamatta Ataqatigiippugut – We are all connected (p. 35)

Canada/Finland

Vuogáiduvvan (Adaptation) (p. 50)

Canada/USA

Convenience Store NDN Zombie (p. 58)

Deneege Leł Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh (p. 33)

The Prince and the Pauper (p. 58)

Colombia

Akababuru: Expression of astonishment (p. 33)

Jülapüin Yonna (The Dream of Dance) (p. 92)

Denmark/Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)

Walls – Akinni Inuk (p. 55)

Denmark/USA

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/greatgrandparent/great-grandchild] (p. 43)

Ecuador

América (p. 36)

Flowers (p. 41)

KINKU (p. 74)

River of Spirits (p. 37)

France

Ya Hanouni (p. 40)

Guatemala

IXIM (el amor no tiene género) (p. 65)

Ixquic (p. 89)

Japan/USA

Ea (p. 54)

Malaysia

A’Likou (River People) (p. 52)

Mexico

Boca Vieja (p. 50)

Mongolia

Guardian of Baikal (p. 69)

Norway

Borderline (p. 59)

Eallu lea eallin (p. 33)

Gaskačázis (p. 98)

Vieljažagaid iežaska jáhkku (Brothers of Faith) (p. 88)

Palestine

Gaza Bride 17 (p. 70)

Perú

Charip: Lightning in the River (p. 88)

South Africa

WAT WAS HIE? (p. 36)

Taiwan

A Bridge in the Mist (p. 41)

SPI (p. 82)

United Kingdom

Womb (p. 40)

USA

All My Love Thanks (p. 43)

Among the Ancestors (p. 100)

Are You Native? (p. 94)

Blood Quantum Physics (p. 99)

Braids (p. 40)

Dream Touch Believe (p. 90)

He Moʻolelo Wahi Pana (A Storied Landscape) (p. 36)

Milpa | Cumbia del Obrero (p. 85)

More (p. 85)

Powwow People (p. 94)

Sage-Based Wisdom Podcast | Episodes

45 & 46: It’s Giving Adult Sheep Camp w/ Sierra Teller Ornelas (p. 101)

Shaaghan Neekwaii (Two Old Women) (p. 70)

COUNTRY INDEX

The Neighborhood Kids | AND THE KIDS SAY (p. 88)

The Woman Who Married A Bear (p. 52) Windsong (p. 42)

Yiyíistsʼą́ą́ʼ (Listen) (p. 67)

AAdam Khalail, Zack Khalil Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/greatgrandparent/great-grandchild] (p. 43)

Adam Solway Itseetamapi (p. 73)

Alan Syliboy Wolverine and Little Thunder: An Eel Hunting Adventure (p. 62, 80)

Alex PV IXIM (el amor no tiene género) (p. 65)

Alexander Jeffrey Walker Radiant Starlets (Original Soundtrack) | DR3AM ON (p. 101)

Alexander Moruo, Markel Martynov Tankha (p. 63, 81)

Alisi Telengut Materia (p. 37)

Allie Howell Ata Pūao (p. 65)

Amanda Strong Molly of Denali | Episode 505: There is Pele (p. 63)

Amanda Wandler W7éyle (moon’s wife) (p. 76)

Amber-Sky Ranville Run as One (p. 46)

Apryl Day, Jirra Lulla Harvey HOLDING S P A C E (p. 78)

Arina Kleist

Tamatta Ataqatigiippugut – We are all connected (p. 35)

Ashley Qilavaq-Savard Sukkaillutit Uqaruk (Say It Slowly) (p. 35)

Aslak Paltto Vuogáiduvvan (Adaptation) (p. 50)

Awanui Simich-Pene First Horse (p. 69)

BBanchi Hanuse Ceremony (p. 67)

Blackhorse Lowe All My Love Thanks (p. 43)

Brittany Woods-Orrison

Deneege Leł Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh (p. 33)

CCass Gardiner, Juan Mateo Menendez Land Invaders (p. 99)

Cathrine Paul Raised by the Canoe (p. 35)

Cole Forrest Convenience Store NDN Zombie (p. 58)

Colleen Thurston, David Wayne Reed More (p. 85)

Colton Smith Now, Before, Always (p. 99)

Dana Solomon Niimi (p. 55)

Darcy Tara McDiarmid, Chantal Rousseau

Midnight Migrations: Wëdzey Tąy (Caribou Trails) (p. 92)

Darlene Naponse AKI (p. 30)

Desmand King THORN (p. 98)

Destiny Brennan-Chescappio RezPunk (p. 97)

Dolina Wehipeihana, Louise Pōtiki Bryant HINA (p. 93)

EEduardo Valiente América (p. 36)

Eila Marie Engkvist Muotka Eallu lea eallin (p. 33)

Elayna Einish Lethal Ethel (p. 32)

Elise Beers Aachix̂ Qağaduug Braids (p. 40)

Elvis Caj Ixquic (p. 89)

Emmaline Beauchamp, Monty McGahey II Enweying Our Sound Podcast (p. 102)

Emmitt Many Heads

The Night Shift (p. 32)

Esbikenh

Migizi Makes A Deal With Gzhemnidoo (p. 62, 80)

Eva Grant Coherence Ceremony (p. 97)

Eva Thomas Nika & Madison (p. 42)

Evelyn Pakinewatik

Abinoojiikaasmin (We Act Like Children) (p. 32)

FFeather Miigwans Blood Quantum Physics (p. 99)

Frances Sinclair-Kaspick Open the Door (p. 86)

GGail Maurice

Blood Lines (p. 83)

Gákte Biera

Vieljažagaid iežaska jáhkku (Brothers of Faith) (p. 88)

Gavin Baird Klee (p. 77)

Gerald Little Light, Madden Running Rabbit Taxi the Empties (p. 59)

Giselle Ilaoa

O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You) (p. 65)

GTANW, Mullu TV

Charip: Lightning in the River (p. 88)

Hsueh-Bin Chieh

A Bridge in the Mist (p. 41)

IiDJa, Eili Bråstad Gaskačázis (p. 98)

Ira Hetaraka Womb (p. 40)

Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí Akababuru: Expression of astonishment (p. 33)

Isaac Murdoch Nenaboozhoo (p. 63, 81)

Jade Baxter Why Would I Leave (p. 54)

Jaimee Poipoi, Roo Reihana-Wilson The Rapture (p. 58)

Jana Schmieding, Brian Bahe Sage-Based Wisdom Podcast | Episodes 45 & 46: It’s Giving Adult Sheep Camp w/ Sierra Teller Ornelas (p. 101)

January Rogers Pulling Out (Soundtrack) (p. 101)

Jayne King What’s in Your Kete? (p. 103)

Jenna Naranjo Winters Dream Touch Believe (p. 90)

Jeremy Daniel Nelson Akiiwan: Survival (p. 100)

Jessie Anthony What We Carry (p. 48)

Jessie Ray Short Moon Noonk Edouard (p. 46)

Jett Kowalchuk

John’s First Tattoo (p. 76)

Jimi Leigh Kinistino

Erroll Kinistino: Inspiration and Activism in the Arts (p. 46)

Jo Luping

I Duok om I Bohuntung – The Owl and the Rainbow (p. 40)

Johannes Vang Borderline (p. 59)

José Cardoso Flowers (p. 41)

Kaa,Laa Mary Goddard, Dave Fedorski The Woman Who Married A Bear (p. 52)

Kahstoserakwathe Paulette Moore

The Aunties Dandelion | Aunties

Emergent: Alex Jacobs-Blum with Grandmother Renee Thomas-Hill (p. 101)

PlaceKnowing with Dr. Ted Jojola and Diné Scientist Brandon Francis (p. 102)

Katia Ferderber

Bimaadizi/Along in Space and Time (p. 73)

Kenny Welsh

Love Is Trash (p. 76)

Kile M. George

Little Orange Bandages (p. 32)

ARTIST INDEX

Kim Wheeler

Words and Culture | Athabaskan Episode 6 (p. 103)

Words and Culture | It Takes a Village (p. 102)

Kimiora Kaire-Melbourne

Homesteads: Whina Cooper (p. 47)

Kuʻulei Keakealani, Kapena Liu

He Moʻolelo Wahi Pana (A Storied Landscape) (p. 36)

L

Libby Hakaraia

Pouākai (Raptor) (p. 69)

Lisa Blakie

Toroa: Skycall (p. 97)

Loren Waters Windsong (p. 42)

Louise Flaherty

Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawer of Rocks) (p. 53)

Louise Thomas Honor of the Paintbrush (p. 90)

Luke De Kock WAT WAS HIE? (p. 36)

Luzbeidy Monterrosa Atencio

Jülapüin Yonna (The Dream of Dance) (p. 92)

Lyna Tadount, Sofian Chouaib

Ya Hanouni (p. 40)

MMalakye Zaayin Tsosie

Yiyíistsʼą́ą́ʼ (Listen) (p. 67)

Marshall Leigh George I Hold On (p. 86)

Melaw Nakehk’o, Brie O’Keefe

Lynx River Revisted: A North of 60 Rewatch Podcast (p. 102)

Nadine Arpin

cadèwašteya (p. 92)

Nathalie Rankin, Roxanne Lauzon

Sally’s Bravery (p. 46)

Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, Sofie Rørdam Walls – Akinni Inuk (p. 55)

Noah Keone Viernes, Sancia Miala Shiba

Nash Ea (p. 54)

PPauline Clague

The Colleano Heart (p. 71)

Peter Toyat

A’Likou (River People) (p. 52)

Pōhaikealoha Panoke

Among the Ancestors (p. 100)

Polaris Castillo

Milpa | Cumbia del Obrero (p. 85)

The Neighborhood Kids | AND THE KIDS SAY (p. 88)

Princess Daazhraii Johnson

Shaaghan Neekwaii (Two Old Women) (p. 70)

QQuinn Hopkins

Sacred Tags (p. 98)

Ramon Kataquapit

Watch the World Heal (p. 103)

Raymond Edwards ACE (p. 69)

Rhayne Vermette Levers (p. 49)

Robyn Adams

Kinship Table, la taab di li vwaazayn (p. 99)

SSaima Romito-Kalluk

Isunngannguaq (p. 33)

Sarah Houle

The Wild Sheriff (p. 62, 80)

Sayun Simung SPI (p. 82)

Selah Rayne

The Orange Flower (p. 48)

Shae-Lynn Pearson

A Girl Like That (p. 73)

Shane Belcourt Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising (p. 38)

Shanelle St. Hilaire

Gâteau Girl (Pussy Pussy Pussy) (p. 66)

Shelby Lisk, Tess Girard

Nivingajuliat (p. 52)

Sinakson Trevor Solway

Iikaiksimatsa’pao’p: Grateful to Be on the Land (p. 35)

SJ Okemow

Dancing Molecular Landscapes (p. 97)

Skawennati, Jason Edward Lewis

Skins in the Game (p. 98)

Sky Hopinka

Powwow People (p. 94)

Skylar Wesley

Visitant (p. 73)

Sophie Hampson

Washed Up (p. 58)

T

Tai Leclaire

The Prince and the Pauper (p. 58)

Taratoa Stappard

Mārama (p. 74)

Tasha Hubbard

Meadowlarks (p. 56)

TAWNA Collective

River of Spirits (p. 37)

Te KuraHuia Arikirangi Te Ao Ahoroa o Te

Pō Faith Oriwia Henare-Stewart

TOITŪ TE TIRITI (p. 86)

Trisha Morton-Thomas, Maggie Miles Journey Home, David Gulpilil (p. 78)

Tyson Houseman

Endless Sunlight (p. 88)

UUladay N. Bayar

Guardian of Baikal (p. 69)

Vanessa Loewen

REZervations for Two (p. 44)

Vea Mafile’o I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden (p. 76)

Victoria Cheyenne Are You Native? (p. 94)

Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu, Marc Peckham

Crown and Country (p. 93)

Waseem Khair

Gaza Bride 17 (p. 70)

Wayra Ana Velásquez, Segundo Fuérez KINKU (p. 74)

Yovegami Ascona Mora Boca Vieja (p. 50)

Yuma Dean Hester Corn Husk Doll (p. 52)

Zacharias Kunuk Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) (p. 95)

Zachery Cameron Longboy HOST (p. 65)

Zoey Roy Niwahkohmahkanis (p. 62, 80)

Public funding, specifically operational funding, is crucial to the success of any arts organization. It is through the support of our public funders at all levels of government that the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival has grown and thrived these past 26 years.

Through operational and public funding, imagineNATIVE can employ arts workers at a living wage, provide artists compensation for their work beyond the recommended minimum fees, and nurture a workspace and community for Indigenous creatives at the Festival and yearround through programming initiatives.

Thank you to our Annual Operating Funders: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

Thank you to the public funders who provide specific funds for the delivery of the Festival: Canadian Heritage; Government of Ontario; Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training, and Ontario Creates.

FESTIVAL SUPPORTERS

Presenting Partner

Festival Funder

Institute Lead Partner

Opening Night Partner

ACTRA National

ACTRA Toronto

Behind the Scenes Services Inc.

Birnberg Hanet, LLP

Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF)

Canadian Media Producers

Association (CMPA)

Canadian Music Centre

Capilano University

Charles Street Video (CSV)

DOC Institute

Industry Days Lead Partner

Venue Partner

Major Partners

Foundations

Festival Partners

Encore

Enterprise CarShare

Hand Eye Society

Independent Production Fund

Indigenous Media Initiatives

Indspire

Liaison of Independent Filmmakers (LIFT)

Meriläinen Music

NABET 700-M Unifor

National Screen Institute

Nest Immersion

Nieuport Aviation

Roo & You

Sunbelt Rentals

The Storyboard Collective

The Well

Ubisoft Toronto

VIA Rail

Vtape

Women in Film and TelevisionToronto (WIFT)

York University

Please visit imagineNATIVE.org/support/partners for the most up-to-date partner listings.

INDIVIDUAL DONORS + MEMBERS

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the generous individual donors who help our organization thrive, bring artists to the city, and make our Festival a success year after year.

Major + Recurring Contributors

Monthly Donors

Cameron Bailey

Cecilia Evoy

Beth Duffus

Barbara Fingernote

Helen Paul

Anne Pick

Donors Contributing $100+

Association of Fundraising Professionals

Katherine Bischoping

Patrick Cameron

Theo Cuthand

Brenda Darling + Ian Gilmour

Davies Takacs Fund

Brooke Filsinger

Susan Friendenberg

Danis Goulet

Andrew Johnson

Naomi Johnson

Alexandra Lazarowich

Salma Monani

Jennifer Nadeau

R&M Lang Foundation

Alida Stevenson

Kim Tomczak + Mary Lisa Steel

Kayla Wemp

imagineNATIVE Members

Susan Friedenberg

Stacie Scherer

Shamina Adam

Garrett Oliver

Uta Saunders

Helen Paul

Steven Coraor

Sue Jean Guinard

Shivani Nathoo

Christine Shank

Salma Monani

Valerie St.Pierre Smith

Jackie Land

Sarah Fraser

Joanna Hearne

Aimee Chaulk

Monica Garza

Tasneem Nanji

Ric Amis

Moe Laverty

Janet Romero

Sarah Beamish

Mary Myers

Lesley Garlow

Joelle Peters

Jennifer LaFontaine

Your belief in our mission and commitment to celebrating Indigenous storytelling are deeply appreciated. We are truly grateful for your support.

To our valued Members, thank you for your year-round support of our team and the initiatives we work toward every day. Our success would not be possible without the support of our community.

The imagineNATIVE Membership Program was created to provide additional value to our organization’s continuing supporters. We look forward to celebrating exciting events together year-round, and we hope that your experiences with us become cherished memories.

If you wish to make a donation or become a Member, please visit imagineNATIVE.org/support/donate or imagineNATIVE.org/support/membership.

TOUR I

Experience the best of Indigenous cinema beyond the Festival!

The imagineNATIVE Tour brings a curated selection of Indigenous-made films to community groups, schools, workplaces, institutions, youth programs, and more across Turtle Island (Canada)!

Bookings open from August to November 2026.

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