We Were Children

Très jeunes, Lyna et Glen sont retirés de leur foyer et placés dans des pensionnats dirigés par le clergé. Au traumatisme de cette expérience s'ajoutent des années de violence dont les conséquences marquent encore leur vie d'adultes. Témoignant de l'incroyable résilience de l'esprit humain, ce long métrage de fiction lève le voile sur le douloureux héritage du système des pensionnats indiens, qu'évoquent avec courage deux enfants soumis bien avant l'heure aux vicissitudes de la vie.

This is a candid portrait of an Indigenous community struggling to come to terms with a searing legacy of sexual abuse, incest and family violence. The film follows the Ditidaht First Nation on BC's Nitinaht Lake Reserve over a seven-year period, after a respected elder is found guilty of sexually assaulting his granddaughter. Award-winning filmmaker Maurice Bulbulian was granted permission by members of the community to record their stories--and become a part of their healing process. These powerful and courageous interviews came to play a key role in enabling people in the community to share their experiences and overcome the cycle of abuse. Through their stories, they also reveal the continuing, devastating effects of the residential school system (which operated until the mid-1970s in BC). For decades, Indigenous youth were taken from their families and forced to attend these schools--where speaking their own languages and following their customs were forbidden, and where, all too often, physical, emotional and sexual abuse were routine. With hope and courage, the people in this film are overcoming their tragic past and healing themselves. The Nitinaht Chronicles contains strong language, including graphic sexual detail. Please preview before showing to an audience.

Second Stories follows on the heels of the enormously successful First Stories project, which produced three separate collections of short films from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. First Stories films have gone on to win many awards, both collectively and individually, in national and international festivals and competitions. Second Stories builds on that success by providing a continuum of training for three of the twelve Indigenous filmmakers who delivered such compelling documentary shorts. Through this unique mentoring and training process, Second Stories filmmakers have a chance to hone their storytelling craft (in a professional production experience), while working with a strong creative team to assist in the realization of their half-hour documentaries. Each of the filmmakers selected were assigned a story consultant/story editor and an NFB producer. As was the case with First Stories, the emphasis is on enabling Indigenous filmmakers to tell the stories that are important to them and their communities. The partners in this special initiative are CBC, APTN, SCN, SaskFilm and MANITOBA FILM & SOUND. The Settlement It Had To Be Done explores the legacy of residential schools through the eyes of two extraordinary women who not only lived it firsthand, but who, as adults, made the surprising choice to return to the school that had affected their lives so profoundly. This intimate and moving film affirms their strength and dignity in standing up and making a difference on their own terms.