Alanis Obomsawin Movies

The life and work of the documentary pioneer.

Alanis Obomsawin talks about how she got her start at the NFB and the overarching importance of sound/story in her work.

Amid a severe housing crisis that made international headlines in 2011, the federal government imposed third-party management on the Attawapiskat...

Six months following the events of her documentary The People of the Kattawapiskak River, Alanis Obomsawin returns to the Cree community of...

As the only First Nations student in an all-white 1940s school, eight-year old Wato is keenly aware of the hostility towards her. She deeply misses...

Alanis Obomsawin turns her lens to Le Patro Le Prévost, a recreational centre in the Villeray quarter of Montreal. On the eve of its 80th...

Alanis Obomsawin, a North American Indian who earns her living by singing and making films, is the mother of an adopted child. She talks about her...

Portrait of NFB filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin.

Elder Marie Leo recounts her experiences going through puberty. Growing up on the Líl̓wat Nation near Mount Currie, B.C., Marie details...

A portrait of Eugene "Gene Boy" Benedict from Odanak Indian Reserve near Montreal, Quebec. At 17, adrift and beginning to lose his way, he accepted a...

Obomsawin narrates as children learn of the traditions and life of Gabriel, a Cree boy from Fort George, James Bay. The Northern Cree "Walking Out...

The village of Old Crow and the people from the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation are located on the banks of the Porcupine River 80 miles inside the...

First Nations documentary

Walker is a young Aboriginal foster child whose only playmate is his dog. Jamie is a lonely young white boy who is afraid of dogs, and has some...

Close-up photographs of baskets, tools and utensils used in the past and still used today by the L'ilawat of Canada. Printed notes describe the use...

In a series of playful portraits, Líl̓wat children and youth go about their daily duties at the community’s summer camp outside...

The farming practices of residents of the Líl̓wat Nation near Mount Currie, B.C., are presented in a series of snapshots that illustrate...

An intimate portrait of Marie Leo, a Sto:lo woman who was adopted into a Líl̓wat family as a baby. Marie’s gentle narrative of her...

The remarkable construction of the venerable snowshoe is demonstrated from start to finish. Atikamekw Elders Mariane and Athanas Jacob take us into...

François Néwashish was the only one in his family from the Atikamekw community of Manawan not to go to residential school. He...