Alanis Obomsawin on Why We Need to Listen More

Hear from one of our country’s most inspiring artists, who is still making documentaries about her Indigenous community at age 84 At age 84, Alanis Obomsawin is still crafting incisive documentaries about the Indigenous crisis in Canada with over 40 projects to her name in collaboration with the National Film Board. At the heart of her work is the act of listening to other people tell their stories as a way of survival. Her latest work, titled Our People Will Be Healed, is a portrait of the community in one of Manitoba’s largest First Nations populations and will premiere at TIFF ’17. The following audio is a conversation conducted by TIFF Digital Producer Malcolm Gilderdale when Obomsawin’s heartbreaking film We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice played the Festival last year. Hear the filmmaker detail how she first became drawn to telling the stories of her people, why she’s always fought for education, and how being an artist means believing in your own self-worth. You can attend a free screening of her breakthrough 1993 documentary Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance this Sunday, August 27 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, as part of Canada On Screen. Want to hear more inspiring conversations with your favourite filmmakers? Subscribe to TIFF UN/CUT over at iTunes, and please rate and review us!