Alanis Obomsawin — Playwright (10)
Professor Norman Cornett: 'Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer?' (2009) [Movie] TMDB
Professor Norman Cornett: 'Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer?'
director: Alanis Obomsawin
This feature documentary by Alanis Obomsawin is a thoughtful tribute to Norman Cornett, a McGill University professor celebrated by scores of students appreciative of his unconventional yet powerful teaching methods who was controversially dismissed from his teaching duties in 2007.
Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man (1998) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man
director: Alanis Obomsawin
other title: Spudwrench : l'homme de Kahnawake
This documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin introduces us to Randy Horne, a high steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. As a defender of his people's culture and traditions, he was known as "Spudwrench" during the 1990 Oka crisis. Offering a unique look behind the barricades at one man's impassioned defence of sacred territory, the film is both a portrait of Horne and the generations of daring Mohawk construction workers that have preceded him.
Our Nationhood (2003) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
Our Nationhood
director: Alanis Obomsawin
In this feature-length documentary, Indigenous filmmaker and artist Alanis Obomsawin chronicles the determination and tenacity of the Listuguj Mi'kmaq people to use and manage the natural resources of their traditional lands. The film provides a contemporary perspective on the Mi'kmaq people's ongoing struggle and ultimate success, culminating in the community receiving an award for Best Managed River from the same government that had denied their traditional rights.
Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises
director: Alanis Obomsawin
other title: Waban-Aki: People From Where the Sun Rises
Having dedicated nearly four decades to chronicling the lives of Canada's First Nations, Alanis Obomsawin returns to the village where she was raised to tell her own people's history of prosperity, displacement, endurance, and revitalization.
Is the Crown at war with us? (2003) [Movie] TMDB WikiData IMDb
Is the Crown at war with us?
other title: Is the Crown At War With Us?
In the summer of 2000, federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi'gmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? Alanis Obomsawin casts her nets into history to provide a context for the events on Miramichi Bay.
Mother of Many Children (1977) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
Mother of Many Children
This film is an album of Native womanhood, portraying a proud matriarchal society that for centuries has been pressured to adopt different standards and customs. All of the women featured share a belief in the importance of tradition as a source of strength in the face of change.
Rocks at Whiskey Trench (2000) [Movie] TMDB WikiData IMDb
Rocks at Whiskey Trench
other title: Pluie de pierre à Whiskey Trench
The fourth film in Alanis Obomsawin's landmark series on the Oka crisis uses a single, shameful incident as a lens through which to examine the region's long history of prejudice and injustice against the Mohawk population.
Hi-Ho Mistahey! (2013) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
Hi-Ho Mistahey!
director: Alanis Obomsawin
Alanis Obomsawin tells the story of Shannen’s Dream, a national campaign to provide equitable access to education for First Nations children, in safe and suitable schools. She brings together the voices of those who have successfully brought the Dream all the way to the United Nations in Geneva.
Trick or Treaty? (2014) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
Trick or Treaty?
other title: Ruse ou Traité
Legendary Canadian documentarian Alanis Obomsawin digs into the tangled history of Treaty 9 — the infamous 1905 agreement wherein First Nations communities relinquished sovereignty over their traditional territories — to reveal the deceptions and distortions which the document has been subjected to by successive governments seeking to deprive Canada’s First Peoples of their lands.
Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger (2019) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger
other title: Jordan River Anderson, le messager / Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger
The story of a young boy forced to spend all five years of his short life in hospital while the federal and provincial governments argued over which was responsible for his care, as well as the long struggle of Indigenous activists to force the Canadian government to enforce “Jordan’s Principle” — the promise that no First Nations children would experience inequitable access to government-funded services again.