Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, a documentary about the opioid crisis in the Kainai First Nation in Alberta, won the Rogers Audience Award and the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award at the Hot Docs International Film Festival. The film premiered at the festival on April 29th. Directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, the film profiles people living with addiction … Continued
The Inspirit-supported documentary is based on the aftermath of the mosque shooting at Ste. Foy, Québec. It focuses on how its Muslim community wrestles with the narrative of what it means to be Muslim, one year after the devastating attack that took the lives of six of its members. Stream the documentary here. You can also check … Continued
Published June 24, 2019 | By Inspirit Foundation Our CEO Sadia Zaman recently sat down with Karyn Pugliese, Executive Director of News and Current Affairs at Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), to discuss reconciliation, journalism and the power of narrative. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Published June 21, 2019 | By Inspirit Foundation Jason Ryle has been part of imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival for over fifteen years. In March, the organization released On Screen Protocols & Pathways —a resource for anyone who wants to create content related to Indigenous communities in Canada. Inspirit was a funder of the document, and also … Continued
Published June 11, 2019 | By Inspirit Foundation Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Sudanese-born Canadian citizen, fought for six years to return home to Canada after the US wrongly accused him of having ties to Al Qaeda. In the Long Way Home, filmmakers Ariel Nasr and Aisha Jamal chronicle Abdelrazik’s visit to Sudan in 2006, the subsequent … Continued
Published April 25, 2019 | By Inspirit Foundation | “I made a film I didn’t want to make,” Tasha Hubbard says of her latest work, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up. Premiering as the opening film at this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, the documentary follows Colten Boushie’s family’s quest for justice following his murder in … Continued
Published April 23, 2019 | By Inspirit Foundation | For decades, McGill University’s sports team name has been an antiquated and derogatory term referring to Indigenous peoples. On April 12, 2019, the university announced that it would no longer be using that name; a new one is expected to be announced by the beginning of the 2020 … Continued
Guest post by Chris Lee, Manager of Grants and Media Impact Funding When I watch documentaries like Michelle St. John’s Colonization Road at the imagineNative Festival I am transported back to high school and the Canadian history classes I sat in. I am reminded of the vast gaps in what were presented as the formative stories of this country: … Continued
