My Friend the Green Horse
2024 · 11m · Canada
Directed by Alanis Obomsawin
Genres: animation, biography, coming-of-age
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
As a child, Alanis Obomsawin finds refuge in nightly dreams of her Abenaki homelands, where a wise Green Horse and other animal spirits teach her compassion and a lasting connection to her culture.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Obomsawin takes the tired 'magical animal guide' trope and drains it of whimsy—what could've been saccharine instead becomes a serious act of cultural reclamation, which is either radical or just competent depending on your mood, and I'm still deciding.
A masterclass in animated autobiography that locates itself firmly in the lineage of Indigenous cinema and lyrical nonfiction; the formal restraint—how the Green Horse emerges from negative space, how dream logic structures the edit—shows a filmmaker in full command of her tradition.
The choice to animate childhood memory rather narrate it over live-action footage creates an intimacy that feels earned; Obomsawin lets the soft geometric shapes of the dreamscape do the emotional work, and it costs nothing but costs everything.