this river (2016)

Directed by

Erika MacPherson, Katherena Vermette

Genre

documentary film

Country

Canada

Runtime

19 min

How it feels

This documentary follows volunteers in Manitoba who search the Red River for the bodies of missing and murdered Indigenous women. It centers on one volunteer's work from a small fleet of donated boats. The film shows the emotional weight of this ongoing search.

somberintimatecontemplativegroundedearnestfocusedsoberingresolute

What happens

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. 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 in 2017, the film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary Film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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