Research Guides: Indigenous Films and Filmmakers: Books & Media

Featured Films at X̱wi7x̱wa

At X̱wi7x̱wa Library, we are constantly updating our film collection to reflect the ever-changing world of Indigenous cinema. Here are a few films from our collection:

Angry Inuk = Inuk en colère
Director: Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
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In this award-winning documentary, director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, this group is bringing its own voice into the conversation and presenting themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.
The Dark Horse
Director: James Napier Robertson.
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After years in and out of mental institutions, Genesis is released into the care of his older brother Ariki, a street gang leader. When he volunteers to train a group of disadvantaged Maori children for the upcoming National Chess Championships, it puts him at odds with his brother over Ariki's son Mana, whose interest in the game threatens the teen's imminent initiation into his father's violent gang. Despite all odds, Gen's positivity always leads him to search for light, even when the world seems at its darkest.
God's Acre
Director: Kelton Stepanowich
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Gods Acre is the story of a older Aboriginal man being forced to adapt to a constantly changing world. Climate change has altered the way people live, bringing droughts and floods to previously unaffected areas. And yet, a man continues to live alone in the wilderness like his family before him...
Navajo Math Circles
Director: George Paul Csicsery
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George Paul Csicsery's Navajo Math Circles follows Navajo students in a lively collaboration with mathematicians. Navajo students engage in a lively collaboration with mathematicians. The documentary follows an educational approach which uses concepts from Navajo culture alongside a unique student-centered approach, aiming to spark interest in math and science and create greater educational opportunities. The presence of math circles raises the hopes of parents, students, and teachers for a brighter future
Two Soft Things, Two Hard Things
Directors: Mark Kenneth Woods and Michael Yerxa.
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As a small group in Nunavut, Canada prepare for a seminal LGBTQ Pride celebration in the Arctic, the film explores how colonization and religion have shamed and erased traditional Inuit beliefs about sexuality and family structure and how, 60 years later, a new generation of Inuit are actively ‘unshaming’ their past.

Search the UBC Catalogue

TIP: If you limit your search to Location: X̱wi7x̱wa Library, you do not need to use keywords like "Indigenous" because our collection centres Indigenous scholarship and perspectives. You will retrieve fewer results, which means you may exclude some relevant materials, but it also means you will not have to sift through pages of results that have little to do with Indigeneity.

Finding Materials in the UBC Catalogue

Try these basic strategies to begin your research in the UBC Library Catalogue.

Keyword Searches

Combine keywords relating to the concept of Indigenous identity AND keywords about film. For example:

"First Nations"
Indigenous

Aboriginal
Indian

Native
Inuit

AND

Filmaker?
Aesthetic?

Cinema?
"Motion picture producer"

Director?
Film?

Helpful Hints for Keyword Searches

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase.
Example: "First Nations"
Use a question mark to truncate a term to search for words with the same stem.
Example: Cinema? retrieves Cinema, Cinemas, Cinematic, Cinematography, etc.

Try these basic strategies to begin your research in the UBC Library Catalogue.

Subject Headings

Subject headings are a tool designed to help researchers find similar materials. These are only some examples of the many subject headings that X̱wi7x̱wa Library uses. Spend a few minutes exploring them when you find a book in the catalogue that supports your research.

Browse Catalogue > Subject begins with:

Aboriginal Canadians--Videos
Indigenous films
Indigenous films--History and criticism
Indigenous films--Production and direction--Québec (Province)--Kitcisakik Indian Reserve
Indian aesthetics (This subject heading is used for books about "the portrayal of indigenous peoples in films")
Indigenous peoples in motion pictures

X̱wi7x̱wa Cataloguing Note: Some Aboriginal films at X̱wi7x̱wa Library can be found by searching for "First Nations author" and filtering for Videorecordings.

Try these basic strategies to begin your research in the UBC Library Catalogue.

Browse Call Numbers

X̱wi7x̱wa Library uses a unique Classification Scheme. See call numbers beginning with YM for materials on film, television, and radio. Come by X̱wi7x̱wa to browse the shelves or search YM on our online catalogue.

Try these basic strategies to begin your research in the UBC Library Catalogue.

Refer to Reference Sources

Subject of "Media Studies" in the Oxford Reference Online
"Indigenous Film" in A Dictionary of Film Studies