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Movie Mixtape: nipawistamasowin: We Will Stand Up and Because We Are Girls - Hot Docs 2019

·22 min·2 clips

Discover how the first Indigenous film to open Hot Docs tackles Colton Bushy's controversial murder trial.

This episode reviews the documentary film "nipawistamasowin: We Will Stand Up," which opened the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Host Alyssa Matthews presents a review by Jess Goldson. The film is written and directed by Cree filmmaker and educator Tasha Hubbard. The documentary centers on the 2016 fatal shooting of 22-year-old Cree man Colton Boushie by white farmer Gerald Stanley on Stanley's farm in Saskatchewan. It follows the fraught murder trial and the response from Boushie's family and his Red Pheasant First Nation community. Director Hubbard contrasts contemporary prairie farmers' concerns for property with the historical signing of Treaty 6, which stripped First Nations of land claims. The review notes the trial became more focused on investigating Boushie's alleged theft than on the killing. A key injustice highlighted is the use of peremptory challenges to veto potential Indigenous jurors, resulting in an all-white jury. Gerald Stanley pleaded not guilty to the charges. The film's international premiere at Hot Docs marked it as the first Indigenous film to open the festival. The tone is analytical and socially conscious, examining systemic issues through the lens of a specific case. The style is review-based, summarizing the film's narrative and thematic approach. Listeners interested in Canadian documentary film, Indigenous rights, and social justice would find this episode compelling. Those seeking purely entertainment-focused film content might find the subject matter too heavy.

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