''Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger'' is a 2019 Canadian

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by

Alanis Obomsawin Alanis Obomsawin, (born August 31, 1932) is an Abenaki people, Abenaki American Canadian, American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised prima ...

. The film profiles Jordan River Anderson, a young boy from the Norway House Cree Nation in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

whose permanent lifelong hospitalization with a rare genetic disorder caused a political fight between the provincial and federal governments over the cost of his medical care, resulting in the establishment of the new

Jordan's Principle Jordan's Principle is a child-first and needs-based principle used in public policy and administration in Canada to ensure that First Nations children living on and off reserve have equitable access to all government funded public services. It ...

around equity of access to health and social services for

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

children. The film premiered at the

2019 Toronto International Film Festival The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film '' Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band'', directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a ...

.Barry Hertz
"TIFF 2019: Toronto festival’s Canadian lineup a mix of familiar faces, exciting rookies and a starring role for David Cronenberg"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', July 31, 2019. At the

2019 Vancouver International Film Festival The 38th Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) took place from September 26 to October 11, 2019. The opening film was Atom Egoyan's ''Guest of Honour'', and the closing film was Nicolas Bedos's ''La Belle Époque''. Awards The festival awa ...

, the film won the award for Best Canadian Documentary. , of the critical reviews compiled on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

are positive, with an average rating of .

References

External links

* 2019 films English-language Canadian films 2019 documentary films Canadian documentary films Documentary films about children Documentary films about Indigenous rights in Canada Documentary films about Canadian politics Documentary films about health care Documentary films about special education Films set in Manitoba Films set in Ontario Films directed by Alanis Obomsawin 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films English-language documentary films {{2010s-Canada-documentary-film-stub