SHE CRIED THAT DAY & AANIKOOBIJIGAN [ANCESTOR/GREAT-GRANDPARENT/GREAT-GRANDCHILD]

7:00 pm - AANIKOOBIJIGAN [ANCESTOR/GREAT-GRANDPARENT/GREAT-GRANDCHILD]

Directed by Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil | 2026 | 80 min | USA/Denmark

AANIKOOBIJIGAN [ANCESTOR/GREAT-GRANDPARENT/GREAT-GRANDCHILD] documents the emotional and vital work of MACPRA (Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance). This alliance, composed of repatriation specialists representing all Michigan tribes, fights to bring their Ancestors and funerary objects home from settler-colonial institutions such as museums, libraries, and archives.

Adam and Zack Khalil’s monumental and formally daring film follows the pressing struggle to re-bury Indigenous human remains that have been held in sterile storage, laying bare the history of Indigenous collections and the battle to recognize and enforce the laws intended to facilitate their repatriation to the communities from which they were originally taken. Using an essayistic approach alongside vérité portraits, the film celebrates the courageous individuals who undertake this hard, emotionally draining labour of return.

Festivals: Sundance Film Festival, True/False Film Fest
Awards: Sundance Audience Award: “Next”

MAKE IT A DOUBLE FEATURE WITH SHE CRIED THAT DAY

9:00 pm - SHE CRIED THAT DAY

Directed by Amanda Erickson | 2025 | 92 min | USA

SHE CRIED THAT DAY exposes a crisis hiding in plain sight through the eyes of those on the front lines. Christine Means and her family have spent years questioning the circumstances surrounding her sister's death. In 2019, a renewed sense of hope for justice placed Christine at the centre of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives movement in New Mexico.

As she becomes a voice for her sister, you’ll get an inside look into how this deadly crisis takes a toll on a family, a community, and a state. SHE CRIED THAT DAY is a story of love, spirit, and the unwavering power of Indigenous women who refuse to let their loved ones remain invisible in the eyes of the justice system.

Festivals: Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, deadCenter Film Festival, Bend Film Festival

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