Showcase: Darlene Naponse – Witness Arctic Indigenous Voices

What does it mean to make films that tell stories not about but from within a country? Taking as its departure point indigenous Anishinaabe perspectives on land as a web of relationships – encompassing everything above, below and around us – this Forum event devotes itself to an exploration of Darlene Naponse's pioneering practice of land-based filmmaking. By taking a close look at early works like $4 INDIAN (2001), WAITING FOR THE ICE TO MELT (2003) and CYCLIC ROOTS (2007) and excerpts from AKI (2025), we will trace her more than two decades of indigenous filmmaking. How does the land shape the conception, production and presentation of filming, and what sort of perspectives can we gain from this practice in light of climate change and ecological imbalance?

Naponse's early films were realised at a time when very few indigenous filmmakers in Canada had access to cameras and even fewer could rely on sufficient production funding. These works are today considered to be among the most significant contributions to contemporary indigenous cinema. Naponse lives and works in the Anishinaabe community and is among the few indigenous filmmakers whose work has been consistently influenced, over the course of decades, by the place that they call home.