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Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]

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United States/Denmark202685 minEnglish, Anishinaabemowin
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]

Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place.

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Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place.

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] documents the emotional and vital work of MACPRA (Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance). This alliance, made up of repatriation specialists representing all Michigan tribes, fights to bring their Ancestors and funerary objects home from settler colonial institutions like museums, libraries, and archives.

Adam and Zack Khalil’s monumental and formally daring film follows the pressing struggle to rebury Indigenous human remains that have been held in sterile storage, laying bare the history of Indigenous collections and the battle to recognize and enforce the laws intended to facilitate their repatriation to the communities they were originally stolen from. Using an essayistic approach alongside vérité portraits, the film celebrates the courageous individuals who carry out this hard and emotionally draining labor of return. — AP

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1).

NEXTAll FeaturesBIPOC StoriesIndigenous StoriesScience & TechnologyExperimentalNonfictionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionPhotosensitivityU.S. Only- less

Screenings

in persononline
  • Jan 26, 11:45 AM MST
    Premiere

    The Yarrow Theatre

    Park City

  • Jan 27, 10:20 AM MST
    Screening

    Megaplex Redstone - 3

    Park City

    Open CaptionOpen Caption

  • Jan 29, 9:00 AM MST
    Screening

    Holiday Village Cinemas - 3

    Park City

    Open CaptionOpen Caption

  • Feb 1, 12:00 PM MST
    Screening

    Broadway Centre Cinemas - 6

    Salt Lake City

    Open CaptionOpen Caption

  • Jan 29, 3:00 PM GMT -
    Feb 2, 6:55 AM GMT
    Online Screening

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Adam Khalil

    Zack Khalil

  • Producer

    Steve Holmgren

    Adam Khalil

    Zack Khalil

    Grace Remington

    Jacque Clark

    Franny Alfano

  • Edited By

    Adam Khalil

    Zack Khalil

  • Cinematography

    Adam Khalil

    Zack Khalil

  • Additional Cinematography

    Jacque Clark

    Shaandiin Tome

    Sky Hopinka

    Bayley Sweitzer

    Samuli Haavisto

  • Sound Recordists

    Jacque Clark

    Zack Khalil

  • Original Score

    Leila Bordreuil

    Lucky Dragons

  • Sound Design

    Ernst Karel

    Eli Cohn

  • Performers

    Alicia Gervais

    Elizabeth Young

    Jim Fletcher

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Adam Khalil

  • Instagram

Adam Khalil (Ojibway) is a filmmaker and artist whose practice attempts to subvert traditional forms of image-making through humor, relation, and transgression. Khalil is a core contributor to New Red Order and co-founder of COUSINS Collective. His works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern, among other institutions.

Panelist Name

Zack Khalil

  • Instagram

Zack Khalil (Ojibway) is a filmmaker and artist whose work centers Indigenous narratives in the present (and looks toward the future) through the use of innovative nonfiction forms. Khalil is a core contributor to New Red Order (a public secret society) and works professionally as a video editor.

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