First Stories - Two Spirited
2007 · 6m · Canada
Directed by Sharon A. Desjarlais
Genres: documentary, LGBTQ+
Tones: contemplative, tender
Rodney 'Geeyo' Poucette describes struggling against prejudice within the Indigenous community as a two-spirited person. His story asserts identity in the face of discrimination.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A straightforward testimony doc about two-spirit identity—competent and necessary, sure, but it's playing the game everyone expects Indigenous filmmakers to play: earnest, educational, consensus-safe. Where's the formal risk?
Desjarlais positions this modest six minutes within a vital documentary lineage of Indigenous self-representation and queer testimony; the tender restraint and Poucette's direct address create a formal clarity that honors both the subject and the tradition of First Stories as a series.
The entire film lives in Poucette's eyes and voice—Desjarlais strips away everything except his presence and lets him define two-spirit identity on his own terms, a single casting and compositional choice that turns documentary into something that feels like witnessing rather than being told.