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ImagineNative · 2026

ImagineNative 2026

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18 films · 4 reviews

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Aanikoobijigan

Review preview for Aanikoobijigan

This is not the first documentary to explore the issue of colonial looting, but its unique angle makes it stand out.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil)

Full review

Aki

A visual art documentary captures seasonal changes in Atikameksheng Anishnawbek (formerly Whitefish Lake) in Northern Ontario.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Darlene Naponse; Writer: Darlene Naponse)

Blood Lines

Beatrice is a store clerk with a passion for storytelling and a strained relationship with her recovering alcoholic mother Leonore. When Chani rolls into their small Métis community looking for her family roots, Beatrice’s interest is piqued, leading her to offer Chani a chance to get her story out in an effort to find the connection she’s been looking for. As the two become closer, family history bubbles to the surface and family secrets lead to a shocking discovery.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Gail Maurice; Writer: Gail Maurice; Stars: Dana Solomon, Derica Lafrance, Gail Maurice)

Boca Vieja

A portrait of a landscape in Southern mexico where memory, place, and environmental change are deeply intertwined.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2025; Director: Yovegami Ascona Mora; Writer: Yovegami Ascona Mora)

Ceremony

In Nuxalkulmc (Nuxalk Territory), the disappearance of the sputc (ooligan) — a small fish that has nourished the people of the Nuxalk Nation for generations — becomes a lens through which history, memory, and resilience unfold.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2026; Director: Banchi Hanuse; Writer: Banchi Hanuse, Jessica Mayhew)

The Colleano Heart

The story of a family of circus performers who achieved global success while concealing their Aboriginal identity yet remained deeply committed to family,

(Country: Australia; Year: 2025; Director: Pauline Clague)

Dream Touch Believe

A porteait of the filmmaker's father, Michael Naranjo, a Tewa and Santa Clara Pueblo artist who has no eyes and the use of just one of his hands, yet whose sculptures are treasured worldwide and sit prominently in spaces as esteemed as the Vatican.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Jenna Naranjo Winters; Writer: Jenna Naranjo Winters; Stars: Michael Naranjo)

Ea

A documentary about the Kapu family’s multi-generational battle to reclaim ancestral land in Maui’s Kauaʻula Valley — a struggle against the enduring legacies of plantation agriculture, the US-backed overthrow, and modern militourism.

(Country: Japan, US; Year: 2025; Director: Noah Keone Viernes, Sancia Miala Shiba Nash)

Journey Home, David Gulpilil

A documentary looking into the life of the legendary Yolngu actor. Assembling a survey from a storied career, the film is a testament to a living culture, utilising archival footage to weave together a narrative .

(Country: Australia; Year: 2025; Director: Trisha Morton-Thomas, Maggie Miles)

Marama

Review preview for Marama

One of the most impressive films of the year to date.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A young Māori woman travels to Victorian England after receiving a letter promising information about her birth parents. As she peels back the layers of colonial deceit, she is driven to avenge her shattered ancestry.

(Country: New Zealand/Aotearoa; Year: 2025; Director: Taratoa Stappard; Writer: Taratoa Stappard; Stars: Ariana Osborne, Toby Stephens, Umi Myers, Evelyn Towersey, Errol Shand)

Full review See: Interview with Taratoa Stappard about Marama, part 2 , Interview with Taratoa Stappard about Marama

Meadowlarks

Review preview for Meadowlarks

It is all very gently done.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Four siblings, torn apart by the Sixties Scoop, reunite for one week.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Tasha Hubbard; Writer: Tasha Hubbard, Emil Sher; Stars: Michael Greyeyes, Carmen Moore, Alex Rice, Michelle Thrush, Rachel Cantin, Jordan Jayde)

Full review See: Interview with Tasha Hubbard about Meadowlarks

Nika & Madison

Fearing they won't be believed, two young Indigenous women go on the run after one's defense of the other results in a violent attack against a police officer.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Eva Thomas; Writer: Michael McGowan, Eva Thomas; Stars: Ellyn Jade, Star Slade, Shawn Doyle, Amanda Brugel, Isaac Kragton, David Reale)

Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising

Only 8 mins of footage exist from a 90-day Indigenous youth occupation in Kenora, Ontario in 1974. This film documents this display of Indigenous strength.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Shane Belcourt; Writer: Shane Belcourt, Tanya Talaga; Stars: Tyler Cameron)

Powwow People

A cinematic invitation into the realm of Native American powwow culture.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Sky Hopinka; Stars: Jamie John, Ruben Littlehead, Freddie Cozad, Gina Bluebird, Shaandiin Tome, Jacque Clark)

River Of Spirits

Luciano as he moves across his territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon in a solar-powered canoe. In the region, Indigenous leaders are creating a solar revolution to save the land, the people, and their culture from a ghost road that threatens to fracture the rainforest. Along the way, Luciano meets with community members to imagine sustainable alternatives grounded in collective decision-making and resistance to extractivist logic.

(Country: Ecuador; Year: 2025; Director: TAWNA Collective; Writer: TAWNA Collective)

SPI

Following her grandfather’s passing, the filmmaker ’s family struggles with grief and a growing sense of cultural disorientation. When her teenage cousin becomes pregnant, the resulting family tensions expose deep generational gaps and the erosion of traditional values. Amidst this turmoil, their grandfather continues to appear in their dreams, serving as a spiritual anchor. By weaving together her family’s personal struggles and her own quest to reclaim her Tayal roots, Simung explores the delicate balance between modernity and Indigenous memory.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2025; Director: Sayun Simung; Writer: Sayun Simung)

Walls - Akinni Inuk

A documentary about Ruth, an inmate at the Nuuk correctional facility serving an 'indeterminate sentence' with no fixed end date. Ruth’s legal journey is marked by a tragic irony: she has spent significantly more time imprisoned for a battery charge than she did for her original manslaughter conviction

(Country: Denmark, Greenland; Year: 2025; Director: Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, Sofie Rørdam)

Wrong Husband (Uiksaringitara)

Review preview for Wrong Husband

An atmospheric, beguiling piece of work.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An Arctic fairy tale about a couple who, though promised to each other at birth, become separated.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Zacharias Kunuk; Writer: Samuel Cohn-Cousineau, Zacharias Kunuk; Stars: Theresia Kappianaq, Haiden Angutimarik, Mark Taqqaugaq, Emma Quassa, Leah Panimera)

Full review See: Interview with Zacharias Kunuk about Wrong Husband (Uiksaringitara)