ImagineNATIVE celebrates 25 years of Indigenous cinema in summer event

Candace Maracle · CBC News

· Posted: May 26, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival successful Toronto celebrates its 25th twelvemonth successful 2025 with a determination to summer.

Naomi Johnson, the festival's enforcement director, said she's hoping the festival's caller June dates volition acceptable them isolated from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In erstwhile years, imagineNATIVE was held successful October astir a period aft TIFF.

"We had to get distant from that autumn season," she said.

"It's conscionable precise packed successful the city, particularly due to the fact that we're the archetypal festival to travel TIFF, truthful it was getting precise unmanageable successful trying to get our events noticed.

She said this twelvemonth they've been capable to collaborate and cross-promote with different organizations and events crossed the city which she thinks is simply a effect of the festival's caller date. 

This twelvemonth determination are 20 diagnostic films, 79 abbreviated films, 14 integer and interactive works and 17 audio works. 

"We person 55 Indigenous nations from each astir the world. There's going to beryllium 27 Indigenous languages represented from 16 antithetic countries," Johnson said.

Recently confirmed, Johnson said, is the festival's Art Crawl lawsuit connected June 5 at the Royal Ontario Museum that volition feature Cree artist Kent Monkman's alter-ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle.

This twelvemonth volition besides see a retrospective of the festival's 25 years.

"A big portion of the taxable is looking back, acknowledging those that got america present and holding the abstraction present for those that are going to instrumentality it 1 day," Johnson said.

Johnson said her enactment has brought her to different parts of the satellite wherever Indigenous populations are not adjacent recognized by the government. 

"It's benignant of a brag, you know, that we person this festival successful Canada and it's a tribute to Canada's enactment of the arts," she said.

Festival launches careers

Trevor Solway, a Blackfoot filmmaker from Siksika Nation, said the festival helped motorboat his career. 

It's wherever helium met Jason Ryle, imagineNATIVE's longtime creator director, who went connected to produce a fewer of Solway's projects.

"My precise archetypal movie called Indian Giver was developed with their mentorship programme and it truly was similar the commencement of everything for maine successful filmmaking," Solway told CBC Indigenous. 

He has 3 works successful the festival this year: a feature-length documentary and 2 abbreviated films.

Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man is a cinéma vérité-style documentary, filmed implicit 4 years, that explores masculinity wrong his community.

"We've ever been this benignant of savage Indian oregon been similar this noble Indian. Rarely are we seen arsenic multidimensional people," helium said.

Settler is an 11-minute fearfulness movie astir an 1800s household that moves to Blackfoot Country and is visited by the Blackfoot trickster Napi. Pendleton Man is another abbreviated fearfulness movie astir 3 young Blackfoot cousins location unsocial who are haunted by the Pendleton Man.

Of the festival's caller date, Solway said it's important for festivals to alteration and evolve. 

"I'm looking guardant to seeing what that looks similar successful the summertime months and during National Indigenous Peoples Month," helium said.

Singer/songwriter Lacey Hill from Six Nations and two-time Juno award-winner Derek Miller volition beryllium performing astatine the imagineNATIVE awards presentation, wherever the August Schellenberg Award of Excellence volition beryllium presented to actor Graham Greene.

Hill said she's been a long-time festival attendee and performer.

"I've been watching imagineNATIVE signifier implicit the years and been a portion of it excessively with euphony videos," she said.

"It tin basal connected its ain due to the fact that it's got each this support."

The in-person festival runs June 3-8 with astir screenings astatine the TIFF Lightbox theatre successful Toronto. ImagineNATIVE's online festival runs June 9-15.