1. For Love
In this searing documentary, Indigenous people share heartbreaking stories that reveal the injustices inflicted by the Canadian child welfare system.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
2. The Book of the Sea (Книга Моря)
In the frigid waters off of Russia’s Bering Strait, Inuit and Chukchi hunters today still seek out the giant sea mammals that have provided their people with food since time immemorial. It is known, that the whale hunting today is controversial and subject to international criticism and regulations. But the Inuit and Chukchi hunt is permitted by international law because of the whaling is the foundation of their culture and their life.</p><p> The contemporary story of elders Aleksandr and Aleksei blends seamlessly with that of “the woman who gave birth to a whale” and other ancient myths, told here in vivid animation, in this ongoing struggle for survival and preservation of a traditional lifestyle in one of the most remote places on earth.
3. Bancoco
A New Yorker journeys to the jungle in the Darien Gap of Panama to reconnect with an indigenous tribe he met and photographed 20 years ago. Their reunion highlights the profound power of photos and the human connection that transcends cultural barriers.
4. Two Spirits
Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits.
It has an average vote of 4.833 on TMDB.
5. Motherland Memories (Tano Na Uli, Hagodanganki)
Ompung Putra Boru, a sixties indigenous Batak woman from Humbang Hasundutan, North Sumatra, retraces her life stories through photographs that interweave her past and present as a wife, mother, healer and indigenous land defender in two neighboring villages. Her multi-layered stories are juxtaposed with visual records of everyday life in the two villages, where people’s living space is still increasingly threatened by a giant pulp expansion.
6. Old New Mexico
This Traveltalk series short takes viewers on a tour of old New Mexico. Starting in Santa Fe, the oldest state capitol in the USA, the city existed long before European migration. It's unique architecture is its most prominent feature. There are several archaeological sites trying to date when Indians first settled in the area. Seven percent of the population are of Indian origin. Near Taos is the onetime home of Kit Carson whose grave is one of the sacred shrines of New Mexico. The Navajo live on their 14 million acre reservation and continue their traditional way of life.
7. Racing the Rez
After a narrow win hands Tuba City High School their 19th state championship, second place finisher Chinle sets out to topple their rivals and finally claim victory for themselves.
8. Into the Grand Canyon
Two journalists traverse the Grand Canyon by foot, hoping this 750-mile walk will help them better</p><p> understand one of America's most revered landscapes and the threats poised to alter it forever.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
9. Shipibo Konibo: A Rite of Passage
In Peruvian Amazonia, for the first time in many years, a Shipibo–Konibo community prepare to perform the Aneshiati ceremony: a time of dance, song, festive clothing, and drink—including the sacred tea ayahuasca.
10. Hacking at Leaves
Hacking at Leaves documents artist and hazmat-suit aficionado Johannes Grenzfurthner as he attempts to come to terms with the United States' colonial past, Navajo tribal history, and the hacker movement. The story hones in on a small tinker space in Durango, Colorado, that made significant contributions to worldwide COVID relief efforts. But things go awry when Uncle Sam interferes with the film's production.
11. Helena of Sarayaku (Helena Sarayaku Manta)
Helena is 17 years old and studies in Finland. Her father, a Swede, and her mother, indigenous Kichwa of Sarayaku, live at the heart of the Amazon in Ecuador.
It has an average vote of 2 on TMDB.
12. Ozogoche (Ozogoche)
Cuviví is the Ecuadorean indigenous name for the upland sandpiper, a wading bird that has special significance for the communities living around the Ozogoche lakes in the middle of the Andes. Each year, these birds migrate south from North America. Around September they pass the Ozogoche lakes, where large numbers then “commit suicide,” plunging from great heights into the ice-cold water. A girl lives near the lake. Her uncle lives in the US, and she might be heading there herself. In the meantime, she awaits the arrival of the cuvivís, few of which have appeared in recent years. The lakes are drying up.
13. Still We Rise
50 years on, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is the oldest continuing protest occupation site in the world. Taking a fresh lens this is a bold dive into a year of protest and revolutionary change for First Nations people.
14. Ayahuasca, Expansão da Consciência (Ayahuasca, Expansão da Consciência)
(Ayahuasca, Expansão da Consciência)
15. No Other Choice (La badil)
An undercover documentary film produced and directed by British filmmaker Dominic Brown, about the struggle of the indigenous Sahrawi people of Western Sahara. The documentary covers the current human rights and political situation of the Sahrawi. There are several interviews recorded with human rights victims including an elderly lady who had been attacked in her home the previous day by Moroccan security forces. There is also a focus given to the alleged vested interests of countries in the region, particularly France. The film states that the French Government's close relationship with Morocco, their trade deals and their use of veto over the terms of the UN mission in Western Sahara are major factors.
16. Now Is the Time
When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.
17. Bontok, Rapeless (Walang Rape sa Bontok)
Two Filipina victims of sexual abuse search the truth behind the finding of a renowned anthropologist: that merely a few generations ago, the Bontok Igorot lived in what seems an unthinkable utopia—a rape-less society.
18. The Road Forward
In a unique and defiant blend, the film tells the story of six generations of Indigenous activism through song and story.
19. Xondaros - Guarani Resistance (Xondaros - Guarani Resistance)
The 6 Guarani villages of Jaraguá, in São Paulo, fight for land rights, for human rights and for the preservation of nature. They suffer from the proximity to the city, which brings lack of resources, pollution of rivers and springs, racism, police violence, fires, lack of infrastructure and sanitation, among others. Unable to live like their ancestors, their millenary culture is lost as it merges with the urban culture.
20. Q'eros: The Shape of Survival
Exploration of the way of life of the Q’eros Indians of Peru, who have lived in the Andes for more than 3,000 years.
It has an average vote of 2 on TMDB.
