''This River'' is a 2016 Canadian short documentary film directed by
Katherena Vermette and Erika MacPherson. The film centres on
Drag the Red, a volunteer group in
Manitoba who search the
Red River for the bodies of
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) is an epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, the United States, and Latin America; notably those in the FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) and Native American communities. Acros ...
.
Smith has stated that it was Vermette's ''North End Love Songs'' which helped draw her attention to the perspectives of indigenous youth from the North End and the experience of having missing family members.
Principal photography took place August 8 to 16, 2016, with an all-woman crew documenting the work of Drag the Red volunteer Kyle Kematch. The crew spent much of that time filming from a small fleet of donated boats. The director of photographer was Iris Ng, with Anita Lubosh recording sound.
The film received the 2016 Coup de coeur du jury award at Montreal's
Terres en vues/Land InSights First Peoples' Festival and had its public premiere in Vermette's hometown of
Winnipeg on October 5 at the
Winnipeg Art Gallery.
At the
5th Canadian Screen Awards
The 5th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 12, 2017, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2016. Nominations were announced on January 17, 2017.
Awards in many of the technical categor ...
in 2017, the film won the
Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary Film.
''What Brings Us Here''
Vermette and producer Alicia Smith also created a related
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
work, ''What Brings Us Here'', which offers portraits of volunteers behind the community-run Winnipeg search teams the Bear Clan and Drag the Red.
''What Brings Us Here'' features photos by Winnipeg photographers Janine Kropla, Mark Reimer and Karen Asher. The online work combines images of searchers with their statements about why they are continuing to look for loved ones—and answers.
References
External links
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''What Brings Us Here''
{{Discrimination against Indigenous peoples in Canada
2016 short documentary films
Canadian short documentary films
Documentary films about First Nations
National Film Board of Canada documentaries
National Film Board of Canada short films
Best Short Documentary Film Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Métis film
Films shot in Winnipeg
Violence against Indigenous women in Canada
Documentary films about violence against women
Red River of the North
Quebec films
2016 films
Women in Manitoba
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement
2010s English-language films
2010s Canadian films