The Sacred Sundance: The Transfer of a Ceremony

Jul 1, 2008

1h 9m

★ 0.0

Overview

This feature-length documentary chronicles the Sundance ceremony brought to Eastern Canada by William Nevin of the Elsipogtog First Nation of the Mi'kmaq. Nevin learned from Elder Keith Chiefmoon of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Alberta. Under the July sky, participants in the Sundance ceremony go four days without food or water. Then they will pierce the flesh of their chests in an offering to the Creator. This event marks a transmission of culture and a link to the warrior traditions of the past.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

ONF | NFB

The Sacred Sundance: The Transfer of a Ceremony Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self

Kani Malsom

Self

William Nevin

Self

Bernard Jerome

Self

Keith Cheifmoon

Self

Pamela Red Cloud

Self

Nathan Lee Chasing Horse

On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley's rural property with his friends. The jury's subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada's legal system and propelling Colten's family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, "nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up" weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker's own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands.

6.5

Is the Crown at war with us?

Sep 13, 2003

In the summer of 2000, federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi'gmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? Alanis Obomsawin casts her nets into history to provide a context for the events on Miramichi Bay.

8.0

Pop & Passion

Aug 12, 2022

The two-part documentary Pop & Passion tells of power and magic, but also of the pressure and excess that prevails in the pop business.

No Image Available

0.0

Habilito: Debt for Life

Aug 25, 2010

Documents the conflicts and tensions that arise between highland migrants and Mosetenes, members of an indigenous community in the Bolivian Amazon. It focuses particularly on a system of debt peonage known locally as ‘habilito’. This system is used throughout the Bolivian lowlands, and much of the rest of the Amazon basin, to secure labor in remote areas.

0.0

Of Ravens and Children

Dec 1, 2015

No overview available.

7.0

Hudson Bay(bies)

Jun 17, 2025

A documentary film exploring an untold part of Canada’s past through the eyes of Inuk artist and filmmaker Elisapie Isaac. After facing a moral dilemma, Elisapie sets out to meet others who, like her, are “Hudson Baybies,” the children born of the mixed unions between Indigenous women and Hudson’s Bay Company employees working in trading posts and general stores across the North.

0.0

Cry Rock

Oct 3, 2010

In the Bella Coola Valley, a haunting legend endures through generations as a filmmaker reckons with whether the stories of her ancestors can survive being held or if they were never meant to be captured.

8.2

Baraka

Sep 15, 1992

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

No Image Available

0.0

The Medicine of Forgiveness

Jan 1, 2001

Benito Arévalo is an onaya: a traditional healer in a Shipibo-Konibo community in Peruvian Amazonia. He explains something of the onaya tradition, and how he came to drink the plant medicine ayahuasca under his father's tutelage. Arévalo leads an ayahuasca ceremony for Westerners, and shares with us something of his understanding of the plants and the onaya tradition.

0.0

Voices That Heal

Invalid Date

Herlinda Augustin is a Shipibo healer who lives with her family in Peruvian Amazonia. Will she and other healers be able to maintain their ancient tradition despite Western encroachment?

No Image Available

0.0

Ayahuasca Diary

Jan 1, 2009

Four Westerners with various ailments travel to Peruvian Amazonia to drink ayahuasca, a traditional medicine renowned for its healing powers.

0.0

Hopi: Songs of the Fourth World

Jan 1, 1983

A compelling study of the Hopi that captures their deep spirituality and reveals their integration of art and daily life. Amidst beautiful images of Hopi land and life, a variety of Hopi — a farmer, a religious elder, a grandmother, a painter, a potter, and a weaver — speak about the preservation of the Hopi way. Their philosophy of living in balance and harmony with nature is a model to the Western world of an environmental ethic in action.

No Image Available

0.0

Yellowtail

Invalid Date

Yellowtail is the story of a young Native American cowboy searching for meaning as his chaotic lifestyle begins to wear on him both physically and mentally. To find his purpose the young man has to reflect on his upbringing as a native to become the spiritually connect man he was meant to be.

0.0

Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier

Nov 1, 1991

An intimate exploration of the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of murder in 1977, with commentary from those involved, including Peltier himself.

5.0

First Daughter and the Black Snake

Apr 15, 2017

The “Prophecy of the 7th Fire” says a “black snake” will bring destruction to the earth. For Winona LaDuke, the “black snake” is oil trains and pipelines. When she learns that Canadian-owned Enbridge plans to route a new pipeline through her tribe’s 1855 Treaty land, she and her community spring into action to save the sacred wild rice lakes and preserve their traditional indigenous way of life. Launching an annual spiritual horse ride along the proposed pipeline route, speaking at community meetings and regulatory hearings. Winona testifies that the pipeline route follows one of historical and present-day trauma. The tribe participates in the pipeline permitting process, asserting their treaty rights to protect their natural resources. LaDuke joins with her tribe and others to demand that the pipelines’ impact on tribal people’s resources be considered in the permitting process.

7.9

Beijing 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony

Aug 8, 2008

The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 8:00 p.m. China Standard Time (UTC+8) on August 8, 2008, as 8 is considered to be a lucky number in Chinese culture. Featuring more than 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and cost over $100 million USD to produce.

0.0

Haida Carver

Jan 1, 1964

On Canada's Pacific coast this film finds a young Haida artist, Robert Davidson, shaping miniature totems from argillite, a jet-like stone. The film follows the artist to the island where he finds the stone, and then shows how he carves it in the manner of his grandfather, who taught him the craft.

0.0

Miwene

Oct 16, 2022

Steeped in the long oral tradition of Waorani storytelling, Gange Yeti shares her own coming-of-age story as a young Waorani woman living deep within the Amazon rainforest. Following Gange and her community for over 11 years, the film captures her transition from a quiet teenager into a confident young mother at a critical turning point for her culture and rainforest. As the granddaughter of one of the last Waorani elders that lived in complete isolation before outside contact, Gange is determined to capture her grandmother’s unique experience while she still can -- balancing school, motherhood, and tradition along the way.

6.0

An Indian Story

Mar 15, 1962

Still photographs and narration give an overview of the history of the American Indian.

0.0

Mabel

Jan 1, 2016

Feisty, fiercely independent and firmly rooted in place, 90 year-old Mabel Robinson broke barriers back in the 40s when she became the first woman in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, to launch her own business—a hairdressing salon where she still provides shampoo-n-sets over 70 years later. Weaving animation and archival imagery with intimate and laugh out loud moments in the salon, the film celebrates the power of friendship, doing what you love and staying active. With no desire to retire anytime soon, Mabel gives voice to a generation who are not front and center of cinema or the pop hairstyles of the day, and subtly shifts the lens on our perception of beauty and the elderly.

The Sacred Sundance: The Transfer of a Ceremony

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

The Sacred Sundance: The Transfer of a Ceremony Trailers