13 Jun 2013
A Common Experience
A poetic exploration of the multi-generational affects of Canada's Indian Residential School system, based on the personal trials of Aboriginal playwright Yvette Nolan.
We Were Children
For over 130 years till 1996, more than 100,000 of Canada's First Nations children were legally required to attend government-funded schools run by various Christian faiths. There were 80 of these 'residential schools' across the country. Most children were sent to faraway schools that separated them from their families and traditional land. These children endured brutality, physical hardship, mental degradation, and the complete erasure of their culture. The schools were part of a wider program of assimilation designed to integrate the native population into 'Canadian society.' These schools were established with the express purpose 'To kill the Indian in the child.' Told through their own voices, 'We Were Children' is the shocking true story of two such children: Glen Anaquod and Lyna Hart.
Top Billed Cast
Lyna Hart Self
Ross McMillan Father Y
Glen Anaquod Self
Alicia Hamelin Lyna (4 Yrs Old)
Jade Hamelin Lyna (10 Yrs Old)
Jennie Morin Lyna (18 Yrs Old)
Rebecca Gibson Sister Mary
Rene Batson Glen (6-7 Yrs Old)
Brun Montour Glen (12 Yrs Old)
Justin Courchene Glen (Adult)
Tyrone Brooks Glen's Cousin (6-7 Yrs Old)
Rachel Seenie Glen's Aunt
Glenn Cochrane Lyna's Grandfather
Fawnda Neckoway Lyna's Mother
Maggie Nagle Sister 1
Shawney Moar Girl at Sink
Kohl Bohemier Cree Speaking Altar Boy
Tasha Weight Supervisor
Robert Kostyra Black Robe Priest
John B. Lowe Deputy Minister
Similar movies
A Common Experience A Common Experience The Relationship The Relationship 15 Sep 1988
The Relationship
This film explores how Canada wavers between rejection and acceptance of closer ties with the United States, tracing the historical precedents of current issues between the two nations. Canada continues to question her identity despite the influence of a powerful neighbour.
Cree Hunters of Mistassini 
Cree Hunters of Mistassini 01 Jan 1974
Cree Hunters of Mistassini
An NFB crew filmed a group of three families, Cree hunters from Mistassini. Since times predating agriculture, this First Nations people have gone to the bush of the James Bay and Ungava Bay area to hunt. We see the building of the winter camp, the hunting and the rhythms of Cree family life.
Ville-Marie 
Ville-Marie 01 Jan 1965
Ville-Marie
Today it is the city of Montreal, but 3 centuries ago the tiny band of missionary founders called it Ville-Marie, the holy city of Mary. This film goes back to its beginning and those who felt called to plant an oasis of Christianity in the North American wilderness. In an imaginative, at times almost surrealistic, way the film recalls the highborn company from France, and shows what survives of Ville-Marie in the Montreal of today.
The Little Church That Could 
The Little Church That Could 23 Jun 2022
The Little Church That Could
Amidst a mostly Catholic community, a small tiny Anglican church offers more to the community of Placentia than people may think, and holds many connections and history to the rest of the world.
Stories Are in Our Bones 
Stories Are in Our Bones 08 Mar 2020
Stories Are in Our Bones
In this layered short film, filmmaker Janine Windolph takes her young sons fishing with their kokum (grandmother), a residential school survivor who retains a deep knowledge and memory of the land. The act of reconnecting with their homeland is a cultural and familial healing journey for the boys, who are growing up in the city. It’s also a powerful form of resistance for the women.
Shellmound 
Shellmound 19 Sep 2004
Shellmound
“Shellmound” is the story of how one location was transformed from a sacred center of pre-historic cultures to a commercial mecca for modern people. What began as a Native American burial ground three thousand years ago, was transformed first into an amusement park, and later an industrial age paint factory. Now, the tainted ancient soil sits beneath the glittering lights of Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret, and the AMC movie theaters. “Shellmound” examines the decisions made during the recent toxic cleanup, excavation, and construction of the Bay Street mall through the eyes of the city of Emeryville, the developer, the archaeologists, and the native Californians who worked on the site.
Deep Roots 
Deep Roots 11 Dec 2020
Deep Roots
Lonnie Kauk’s personal journey to honor his indigenous Yosemite roots, and to connect with his legendary father by repeating his iconic climbs.
Our People Will Be Healed 
Our People Will Be Healed 07 Sep 2017
Our People Will Be Healed
Legendary documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin provides a glimpse of what action-driven decolonization looks like in Norway House, one of Manitoba's largest First Nation communities.
Our Indians 
Our Indians 16 Jan 1995
Our Indians
Yndio do Brasil is a collage of hundreds of Brazilian films and films from other countries - features, newsreels and documentaries - that show how the film industry has seen and heard Brazilian indigenous peoples since they were filmed in 1912 for the first time: idealised and prejudiced, religious and militaristic, cruel and magic.
Povo da Floresta 
Povo da Floresta 18 Jan 2024
Povo da Floresta
No overview found
Tawai: A Voice from the Forest 
Tawai: A Voice from the Forest 29 Sep 2017
Tawai: A Voice from the Forest
Explorer Bruce Parry visits nomadic tribes in Borneo and the Amazon in hope to better understand humanity's changing relationship with the world around us.
Bunk #7 
Bunk #7 12 Aug 2022
Bunk #7
Documentary about the production of Bunk #7.
Women in the Shadows 
Women in the Shadows 01 Jan 1991
Women in the Shadows
Filmed on location in Saskatchewan from the Qu'Appelle Valley to Hudson Bay, the documentary traces the filmmaker's quest for her Native foremothers in spite of the reluctance to speak about Native roots on the part of her relatives. The film articulates Métis women's experience with racism in both current and historical context, and examines the forces that pushed them into the shadows.
Nose and Tina 
Nose and Tina 01 Jan 1980
Nose and Tina
Nose and Tina are a couple in love. The film captures the domestic details of their life together and documents their hassles with work, money and the law. The unusual bit: He is employed as a brakeman, and she as a sex worker.
Ningwasum 
Ningwasum 11 Feb 2022
Ningwasum
Ningwasum follows two time travellers Miksam and Mingsoma, played by Subin Limbu and Shanta Nepali respectively, in the Himalayas weaving indigenous folk stories, culture, climate change and science fiction.
The Last Stop 
The Last Stop 29 Apr 2017
The Last Stop
The Élan School was a for-profit, residential behavior modification program and therapeutic boarding school located deep within the woods of Maine. Delinquent teenagers who failed to comply with other treatment programs were referred to the school as a last resort. Treatment entailed harsh discipline, surveillance, degradation, and downright abuse. Years later, the patients who were institutionalized in this facility still carry the trauma they endured, with mixed opinions on the impact of their experience.
Mother's Land 
Mother's Land 06 Aug 2021
Mother's Land
Waking up in a nightmare before the sunrise of December 30, 2020, the indigenous community of the Tumandok was suddenly surrounded by fear. Panambi features the stories of bright memories of the past and the despair of having now as a mere memory of the future without a trace of justice; how they lived and what they lived for. A decades-long struggle is shot, one in the lens of a mother paralyzed by fear; another from a mother raged and moved by fear—both looking forward to a better tomorrow.
These Are My People... These Are My People... 20 Oct 1969
These Are My People...
This documentary short is the first film made by an all-Aboriginal film crew, training under the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. It was shot at Akwesasne (St. Regis Reserve). Two spokesmen explain historical and other aspects of Longhouse religion, culture, and government and reflect on the impact of the white man's arrival on the Indian way of life.
Nowhere Land 
Nowhere Land 17 Oct 2015
Nowhere Land
Documentary about filmmaker Bonnie Ammaaq's memories of life on Baffin Island, where her family moved for eleven years during her childhood from the hamlet of Igloolik to return to the traditional Inuit way of life.