1. The Annanacks
This short documentary depicts the formation in 1959 of the first successful co-operative in an Inuit community in Northern Québec. The film describes how, with other Inuit of the George River community, the Annanacks formed a joint venture that included a sawmill, a fish-freezing plant and a small boat-building industry.
2. The Song of the Butterflies (El canto de las mariposas)
Rember Yahuarcani is an indigenous artist from the Uitoto Nation who lives in Lima, Peru. From his clan, the White Heron, only two families remain in Peru. Rember's paintings are inspired by the stories his grandmother Martha told him before she died. However, he has never dived into the darkest part of his nation’s history: the indigenous massacre during the rubber boom. Martha is a survivor of the horror and she speaks to Rember in dreams guiding him in a spiritual journey back to the jungle. He first visits his parents, who are also artists, in the Peruvian jungle. And finally, he sails to La Chorrera, in Colombia, where he confronts the past and meets other members of his clan.
3. Black I Am (Negra soy)
The women of the first Garífuna community in Honduras work hard for the future of their daughters. Surrounded by a dazzling landscape, they celebrate their identity and the importance of maternal figures.
4. Anerca, Breath of Life (Anerca: Elämän Hengitys)
Markku Lehmuskallio has devoted a large part of his documentary work to the indigenous people of the Arctic Circle. In this latest film, co-directed with his son Johannes Lehmuskallio, he composes a fascinating poetic ethnography inspired by the singing, dancing, forms of contemporary existence and, above all, the vital breath of these nomad communities mistreated by History.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
5. La ravissante (La ravissante)
In the form of a poetic love letter to its nation, this short film reveals a strong community and the anchoring of the new generation in this rich culture.
6. No Place is Far Away (No hay lugar lejano)
The story of a town at the mercy of a landscape in transformation; standing on the brink of an encroaching reality, one in which the age-old fears of the inhabitants are being reproduced. A hamlet has survived, perched in a remote location where its children can grow up and the elderly can die and stay there.
It has an average vote of 5.9 on TMDB.
7. Taking Alcatraz
A documentary account by award-winning filmmaker John Ferry of the events that led up to the 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island as told by principal organizer, Adam Fortunate Eagle. The story unfolds through Fortunate Eagle's remembrances, archival newsreel footage and photographs.
8. The Wind Is Blowing Through My Heart (Váimmustan lea biegga)
A documentary about Áillohaš , a musician, painter, and poet of the Sámi people in Finland.
9. Arise
A film that captures the portraits and stories of extraordinary women around the world who are coming together to heal the injustices against the earth, weaves together poetry, music, art, and stunning scenery to create a hopeful and collective story that inspires us to work for the earth. The list of impassioned, indefatigable female environmental activists featured in this film includes Winona LaDuke, a Native American who has championed the use of solar and wind power on reservations; Theo Colborn, head of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, who fights against toxic chemicals in our water supplies; Beverly Grant, who’s created a vibrant farmer’s market in a black neighborhood of Denver, Colo.; Dana Miller, who spearheads an “urban agriculture movement” in the same city; and Vandana Shiva, who champions organic farming in India.
10. Inside the Bruderhof
In one picturesque village in Sussex, life is very different. There’s no crime, debt or homelessness, everyone has a job but no-one earns a wage, and none of the children watch television, use social media, play video games or have a mobile phone.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
11. Life of Ivanna (Жизнь Иванны Яптунэ)
A sensitive and intimate portrait of Ivanna, a nomadic reindeer herder in the Russian Arctic and mother of five small kids. Ivanna is forced to leave the traditional way of life and emigrate to the city, following her own dreams, due to the quickly deteriorating conditions of life in the tundra. We follow her life for several years.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
12. Baraka
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
It has an average vote of 8.2 on TMDB.
13. Outremont et les Hassidim
OUTREMONT AND THE HASIDIM reveals the challenges of accommodating the “Hasidim” – or ultra-Orthodox Jews – in the affluent Montréal borough of Outremont.Some 7,000 Hasidim live in or near this choice neighbourhood of Québec’s Francophone elite. After settling there more than 70 years ago, the Hasidim are a rapidly growing minority group which today represents about 23% of Outremont’s population.Thanks to unprecedented access to this self-isolated community, the film lifts the veil on its practices, traditions, music and life as they had never before been seen on Canadian television, without ignoring the community’s expectations, fears. and hopes.
14. Our Law
At Western Australia’s first Indigenous-run police station, two officers learn language and culture to help them police one of the most remote beats in the world.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
15. Our Land, Our Truth (Debout sur leur terre)
Made in collaboration with the Inuit Tungavingat Nunamini, this film focuses on those dissident members of the Inuit community who rejected the agreement signed on November 11, 1975, between the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, the Québec and federal governments, the James Bay Energy Corporation, the James Bay Development Corporation, Hydro-Québec and the Grand Council of the Crees, which took away Native rights to a territory of almost one million square kilometres. By their words and actions, the dissident Inuit of Povungnituk, Ivujivik and Sugluk express their strong desire to retain their land and their traditions. The filmmakers go into their homes, on the ice and the sea to record first-hand the lives of these northern people.
16. Shelter
At the Covenant House, located on the outskirts of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana, the doors never close, and there is always room for one more. On any given day, a constant stream of young people carrying everything they own in plastic garbage bags fills the courtyard. The prospective residents are just teenagers, but have already been labeled drug addicts, schizophrenics, criminals and outcasts. As one staff member puts it, “the most damaged population of youth that exists in society today”. Filming over the course of a full year, brothers Brent and Craig Renaud tell the raw and emotional stories of the incredible kids who seek shelter at the Covenant House, and the staff struggling to work miracles everyday on their behalf.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
17. This Is Roundnet
This is a documentary that follows a group of friends as they see what it takes to play at the first ever Roundnet World Championships. Showcasing Roundnet as a sport on the rise as well as the incredible community behind the weird and wonderful game.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
18. Nose and Tina
The unusual story of Nose and Tina, 2 people in love. He is employed as a brakeman, she as a sex worker.
19. Starblanket
At twenty-six, Noel Starblanket was one of the youngest Indigenous chiefs in North America--twice elected chief of the Starblanket Reserve, and also elected vice-president of all-Saskatchewan Indigenous organization. His great-grandfather's advice was to "learn the wit and cunning of the White man." That he did. Here he is seen in action, a chief with a briefcase, working with government officials for grants, running for public office, talking down his opposition, and solving the domestic problems of his reserve.
20. Milikᵘ tshishutshelimunuau (Milikᵘ tshishutshelimunuau)
The journey of a young candidate running in the Pessamit community band council elections.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
