1. Lady Warrior
This documentary follows a Cree woman as she takes on the Indian Relay race season, as well as the Canadian authorities in her quest to give Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women a voice.
2. Dawnland
They were forced to assimilate into white society: children ripped away from their families, depriving them of their culture and erasing their identities. Can reconciliation help heal the scars from childhoods lost? "Dawnland" is the untold story of Indigenous child removal in the US through the nation's first-ever government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission, which investigated the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on the Wabanaki people.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
3. O Último Kuarup Branco (O Último Kuarup Branco)
The creation of the Xingu Indigenous Park is reassessed by indigenous peoples and anthropologists. Almost 50 years after the initiative, which had the decisive participation of the indigenist brothers Cláudio and Orlando Villas-Bôas, the older indigenous people still have not forgotten the original lands they left behind. Some want to go back to their old origins.
4. Ikátena (Ikátena)
(Ikátena)
5. Angry Inuk
With "sealfies" and social media, a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit is wading into the world of activism, using humour and reason to confront aggressive animal rights vitriol and defend their traditional hunting practices. Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins her fellow Inuit activists as they challenge outdated perceptions of Inuit and present themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.
It has an average vote of 7.4 on TMDB.
6. Acoustic Ocean
Acoustic Ocean is an artistic exploration of the sonic ecology of marine life in the North Atlantic. Located on the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway, the video centers on the performance of a marine-biologist diver who is using a life-size model of a submersible equipped with all sorts of hydrophones and recording devices. In this science-fictional quest, her task is to sense the submarine space for acoustic and bioluminescent forms of expression.
7. 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.
8. Flor Brilhante e as Cicatrizes da Pedra (Flor Brilhante e as Cicatrizes da Pedra)
(Flor Brilhante e as Cicatrizes da Pedra)
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Elementa
A black-and-white visual meditation of wilderness and the elements. Wildlife filmmaker Richard Sidey returns to the triptych format for a cinematic experience like no other.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
14. Os Arara (Os Arara)
Documentation of the preparations and expeditions of the Frente de Atração Arara da Funai, in the state of Pará, Brazil. With the construction of the Transamazônica, the Arara territory is cut in half, and the Indians react by attacking the workers. Aware that all contact is a creation of dependency, the sertanista Sydney Possuelo, who also reflexively narrates the documentary, leads the expeditions that aim to identify the groups, how many individuals there are, establishing territorial limits to protect the area against invaders and loggers in the region.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
15. Four Corners: Saving the Amazon
The Amazon plays a vital part in regulating the planet's temperature. Yet, last year, forest destruction in the Brazilian Amazon soared by 85 per cent. Illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture are decimating the land. With huge profits to be made, the Amazon is a dangerous place to ask questions. Despite the threat, the Amazonian tribes want the world to hear their message.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
16. Sticky: A (Self) Love Story
"Sticky" is everything your mother was too embarrassed to tell you about masturbation, in one stimulating documentary. Full of candid interviews from celebrated figures to everyday people, health care professionals, sex therapists, zoologists, anthropologists, and religious figures, this feature length doc answers age-old questions like: What is masturbation? Will it make me go blind? Is it "normal"? Is it wrong? And why are we so afraid to be caught in the act? In a world where confusion about sexuality remains at the root of so many societal problems - rape, sexual abuse, and the threat of sexually transmitted diseases - "Sticky" will help shatter misconceptions and myths surrounding this intimate aspect of human sexuality.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
17. El final del día (El final del día)
The film takes place on December 21, 2012, while the people of the town of Quillagua await the supposed "end of the world" that the Mayans predicted for that day.
18. No Māori Allowed
When an academic unearths a forgotten history, residents of the small township of Pukekohe, including kaumātua who have never told their personal stories before, confront its deep and dark racist past.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
19. No Address
This feature-length documentary by Alanis Obomsawin examines the plight of Native people who come to Montreal searching for jobs and a better life. Often arriving without money, friends or jobs, a number of them quickly become part of the homeless population. Both dislocated from their traditional values and alienated from the rest of the population, they are torn between staying and returning home.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
20. Totem Talk
Traditional Northwestern Indigenous spiritual images combined with cutting-edge computer animation in this surreal short film about the power of tradition. Three urban Indigenous teens are whisked away to an imaginary land by a magical raven, and there they encounter a totem pole. The totem pole's characters—a raven, a frog and a bear—come to life, becoming their teachers, guides and friends. Features a special interview with J. Bradley Hunt, the celebrated Heiltsuk artist on whose work the characters in Totem Talk are based.