What’s screening at the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ Film Festival?

This week, the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ Film Festival – LKFF – returns for its fifth annual showcase of Indigenous storytelling through short and feature films.

The event kicked off on Monday in collaboration with the Paddling Film Festival, and will continue throughout the week with films that include a selection of northern productions.

Screenings will start every evening at 7pm in the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation boardroom on the second floor of its building in Fort Simpson.

The festival will screen more than 10 films made by Indigenous artists throughout the week, including the short film Nihtâwikihew / ᓂᐦᑖᐃᐧᑭᐦᐁᐤ/ She Gives Birth, which will run on Wednesday alongside other shorts.

Northern filmmakers Sadetło Scott and Heather Heinrichs were awarded a grant to produce the film in 2021, which covers themes of pregnancy and racism in the North.

The film highlights some of the experiences and challenges that people living in isolated communities face while pregnant, according to Heinrichs.

“Sadetło and I made this film for ourselves and for northerners and for Indigenous people to really feel like our stories are out there being shared,” said Heinrichs.

“It’s really exciting to be kind-of building community and bringing people together in that way, even if we’re not all in the same place at the same time, to be able to share this common experience.”

Heinrichs says she and Scott have known Jonathan Antoine, a fellow filmmaker and organizer of the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ Film Festival, for a few years. When he approached them about screening their film at this year’s festival, Heinrichs says she was open to the collaboration.

According to Heinrichs, Antoine is “able to screen this film and also be involved in, like, women sharing traditional knowledge around birth.”

“We want to make sure that, especially in this early stage where it’s screening for the first time in lots of places, that we make conscious and meaningful decisions about that and give it to people that we trust,” she said.

The Cree language has a strong presence in the film, which incorporates messages around women’s knowledge and childbearing.

“We want the film to help make that connection between culture and language and to show the strength in speaking our Indigenous languages and to be inspiring for people to speak their Indigenous languages,” said Heinrichs.

“It feels good to be able to share this story in a way that resonates with other people.”

Their film will also screen at the Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse and make a stop in Fort Smith through a Yellowknife International Film Festival roadshow.

On Thursday, the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ festival will screen the feature film WaaPaKe: Tomorrow, a documentary by Dr Jules Koostachin that explores trauma through three generations of her family.

Koostachin is excited to screen WaaPaKe: Tomorrow in Indigenous communities, because they are her intended audience for the film. She says she would like to hear how it is received by residents in isolated communities.

“Going into these northern communities allows me to showcase my film for people that actually understand the impacts of residential school,” said Koostachin. “It really speaks to the next generation, how we’re going to heal from intergenerational trauma.”

After previous screenings of her film, Koostachin says Indigenous audience members would hug and thank her. This time, Koostachin can’t attend in person. However she says the film “speaks for itself.”

Through a personal approach, the film addresses a collective experience for Indigenous peoples, according to Koostachin, who is a member of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario.

“Off-reserve, on-reserve, remote communities, urban Native communities – I think we’ve all been impacted by the residential school system in some way,” said Koostachin.

“I feel like with the northern community, this is an opportunity for them to kind-of explore and find ways to heal.”