From the Forests of Kitcisakik to the Forests of Xingu
2009 · 6m · Canada
Directed by Evelyne Papatie
Genres: documentary, essay film
Tones: contemplative, tender
Anishnabe filmmaker Evelyne Papatie travels to the Ikpeng people's forests in Brazil's Mato Grosso. Their rites and customs restore her pride in being Anishnabe.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's a spiritual travelogue that could've been self-indulgent navel-gazing, but Papatie resists the urge to center herself—the film knows the real story is the mirror between two peoples, not the filmmaker's epiphany, which is genuinely weird for a personal essay.
A formally precise essay film that inherits from the NFB's documentary lineage while situating indigenous perspectives at the center rather than margin—Papatie's editing choices create a dialogue between forests that feels both rigorously composed and genuinely intimate.
The choice to let Ikpeng voices and rhythms structure the pacing rather than impose external narration turns a modest runtime into something that breathes—it's a small formal decision that makes the entire emotional weight land.