One of the most exciting developments in the Canadian film industry has been the number and quality of films written and directed by Indigenous women in the past decade. While men continue to dominate overall, directing 85% of the films made in North America, the growing Indigenous Canadian film industry is dominated by women, accounting for 32 feature films and dozens of documentaries in the last ten years.
Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki First Nation in Quebec, has long been regarded as one of Canada’s best and most prolific documentary filmmakers, having made 65 films with the National Film Board (her best known film is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, about the 1990 Oka Crisis in Quebec). But in recent years, Indigenous women have also exploded onto the feature-film scene, making one great film after another.
I have had the opportunity to watch only 12 of the 32 feature films made since 2016, but half of those 12 films have been among my top ten films of the year in which they were made. These include Angelique’s Isle (Michelle Derosier, 2018), Beans (Tracey Deer, 2020), Rosie (Gail Maurice, 2022), Bones of Crows (Marie Clements, 2022), Nika & Madison (Eva Thomas, 2025), and Meadowlarks (Tasha Hubbard, 2025). The latter, one of my favourite films of the past year, will be showing at the Arena Theatre in Saint Andrews in September.
Meadowlarks tells the story of four Cree siblings separated by the Sixties Scoop who reunite for a weekend getaway fifty years later. Acclaimed Edmonton filmmaker Tasha Hubbard’s feature-film debut is based on her 2017 documentary, Birth of a Family, so the stories told in Meadowlarks are the real-life experiences of what happened to the four children in the years after they were “scooped up” and placed in white foster homes.
Gwen (played by Michelle Thrush) and Anthony (Michael Greyeyes) were bounced around the child welfare system, Connie (Carmen Moore) was adopted and Marianne (Alex Rice) grew up in Belgium. The stories are very different, creating no small amount of tension, but all four siblings are struggling with finding their identity and sense of belonging within the wider Indigenous community.
The all-Indigenous cast is terrific. Each of the four characters feels unique and the dialogue-heavy screenplay gives each of their stories time to unfold. Meadowlarks is intentionally quiet and slow-moving, allowing viewers to feel the tensions rising naturally and to experience the initial glimpses of healing along with the characters.
Meadowlarks faces the limitations of its low budget and it isn’t perfect, but this profound, humanizing film is deeply moving and endlessly thought-provoking. I believe every Canadian needs to hear these stories.
Gorgeously filmed in Banff National Park (Indigenous territory), Meadowlarks will look great on the big screen. Sunday, September 6, 7:00, W.C. O’Neill Arena Theatre.
Vic Thiessen has worked as a film critic and as a lecturer on film. He currently serves as the coordinator of the St. Andrews Film Society (a volunteer position).
