TIFF premieres The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America

Directed and screen-played by Latimer and adapted from Thomas King’s award-winning book and his 2012 study, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America explores the ongoing cultural colonization of indigenous people in North America. 

Through captivating assembling of techniques, including a voiceover by King, movie and archival footage, interviews, dance, visual arts, and traditional customs of plantation, tattooing, and hunting, Latimer brings to the fore Native Americans' history of early colonization, traditions, language, and religion that had been suppressed by state institutions, obstructing the current generation's pursuit of their history. 

Latimer chose well-known figures like visual artist Kent Monkman and filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril as her subjects, along with hunters, community workers, and emerging film artists such as Nyla Innuksuk and her collaborators, who adapt genre devices to tell their own stories.

Apart from rejuvenating the cultural memory and awareness of North America’s native people, the film also takes direct aim at North America’s damaging and harmful notions of history and truth.

King says, "We can no longer claim we were innocent or ignorant, making 'Inconvenient Indian' one of the most powerful and essential films at this year’s Festival."

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

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