National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
Shannen's Dream
Shannen's Dream is a Canadian youth-driven movement advocating for equitable education funding for First Nations children. Education on-reserve is funded by the Government of Canada, while off-reserve education is funded by provincial or territo ...
, an activist campaign first launched by Shannen Koostachin, a
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
teenager from Attawapiskat, to lobby for improved educational opportunities for First Nations youth.
The film premiered on 7 September 2013 at the
2013 Toronto International Film Festival
The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. '' The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and '' Life of Crime'' was the closing film. 75 films were ...
. It was subsequently named first runner-up for the festival's People's Choice Award in the documentary category, behind
Jehane Noujaim
Jehane Noujaim ( ar, جيهان نجيم, ) (born May 17, 1974) is an Academy Award nominated American documentary film director best known for her films ''Control Room'', '' Startup.com'', '' Pangea Day'' and '' The Square.'' In 2019, she co-di ...
's '' The Square''."TIFF 2013: 12 Years a Slave wins film fest’s top prize" ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', 15 September 2013.
The film's title is Cree for "I love you forever." Obomsawin has said she heard about Koostachin's story from children's rights activist
Cindy Blackstock
Cindy Blackstock is a Canadian Gitxsan activist for child welfare and executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. She is also a professor for the School of Social Work at McGill University.
Early life an ...
. Obomsawin had been in the community of Attawapiskat working on this film when the Attawapiskat housing and infrastructure crisis broke. So she put this project aside and completed her film ''
The People of the Kattawapiskak River
''The People of the Kattawapiskak River'' is a 2012 documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin exploring conditions inside the Attawapiskat First Nation, which in October 2011 declared a state of emergency due to health and safety concerns over a lack of ...
'', before completing ''Hi-Ho Mistahey!''
The film was a shortlisted nominee for the
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...