Canada / 2024 / 104 min / English / Documentary
Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge (Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World) team up again for the follow-up to their award-winning documentary Reel Injun. Diamond travels to the corners of Turtle Island and across the Atlantic to dig into the world’s historical fascination with Indigenous Peoples. From fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi drawing inspiration from Nanook of the North to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School’s impact on the NFL, Diamond assembles a compelling collage packed with pop-culture references. Examples of appropriation are revisited by Indigenous scholars, artists and community members, who are revitalizing their cultures and dispelling the myths and lack of understanding that have persisted for more than a century. Clothing, sports, systems of government and agricultural practices all have clear lines to Indigenous ways of knowing and being. As a new generation of Indigenous Peoples draws strength from their ancestors and reclaims their rights, there’s hope for a future where credit is given where it’s due.
DIRECTORS: Neil Diamond is a Cree-Canadian filmmaker based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, born and raised in Waskaganish, Quebec. Working with Rezolution Pictures, Diamond has directed the documentary films Reel Injun, The Last Explorer, One More River, Heavy Metal: A Mining Disaster in Northern Quebec and Cree Spoken Here, along with three seasons of DAB IYIYUU, a series for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network about Cree elders.
In the 2008 docudrama The Last Explorer, Diamond explored the story of his great-uncle George Elson, a Cree guide who helped to map Labrador as part of an ill-fated 1903 expedition with Leonidas Hubbard and Dillon Wallace, and a return voyage in 1905 with Hubbard’s widow Mina Hubbard.
As of April 2011, Diamond is developing a project with Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk about the 18th-century conflict between Cree and Inuit, which lasted almost a century.
Catherine Bainbridge is the co-founder, executive producer, and VP of business and creative development at Rezolution Pictures. She directed the Emmy-nominated, Sundance and CSA award-winning feature doc, RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World, and co-directed the Peabody and CSA award-winning feature doc, Reel Injun. Catherine is also an executive producer on the Crave Original series, Little Bird. Through her work at Rezolution, Catherine has been instrumental in changing the narrative when it comes to diversity and representation in the entertainment industry.
Contact: cvatrinet@f3m.ca
Special Guest: Neil Diamond
Sponsored by:
