Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up

nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
Film poster
Directed byTasha Hubbard
Written byTasha Hubbard
Produced byTasha Hubbard
George Hupka
Jon Montes
Narrated byTasha Hubbard
CinematographyGeorge Hupka
Edited byHans Olson
Music byJason Burnstick
Production
companies
Downstream Documentary Productions
National Film Board of Canada
Distributed byNational Film Board of Canada
Release date
  • April 25, 2019 (2019-04-25) (Hot Docs)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguagesEnglish
Cree

nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Tasha Hubbard and released in 2019.[1] The film centres on the 2016 death of Colten Boushie, and depicts his family's struggle to attain justice after the controversial acquittal of Boushie's killer.[2] Narrated by Hubbard,[3] the film also includes a number of animated segments which contextualize the broader history of indigenous peoples of Canada.[4]

The film premiered in April 2019 as the opening film of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the first time the festival had ever selected an indigenous-themed film as its opening gala.[5] It subsequently had its commercial premiere at the Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on May 23, 2019,[6] before screening on a Canadian tour that included a week at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.[1]

The film received universally positive reviews from critics. As of October 2021, 100% of the seven reviews compiled on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 8.6/10.[7] The film won the award for Best Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs,[8] the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Documentary at the 2019 DOXA Documentary Film Festival,[1] and the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the 2019 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.[9] In January 2020, it was named the winner of the Vancouver Film Critics Circle award for Best Canadian Documentary.[10] The film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020.[11]

A shorter edit of the film was also broadcast by CBC Television in fall 2019 as an episode of CBC Docs POV.

References

  1. ^ a b c "‘Canadians should see this film’: Colten Boushie doc sets out on national tour". Global News, May 22, 2019.
  2. ^ "Nipawistamasowin: We Will Stand Up reveals stirring activism in wake of headline-making death". Toronto Star, May 30, 2019.
  3. ^ "Colten Boushie documentary makes history as Hot Docs opener". CBC News, April 25, 2019.
  4. ^ "Hot Docs review: Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up". Now, April 18, 2019.
  5. ^ "Documentary on Colten Boushie story to open Toronto's Hot Docs festival". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, March 19, 2019.
  6. ^ "A matter of race; Award-winning Boushie documentary begins national tour in Saskatoon". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, May 16, 2019.
  7. ^ "nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  8. ^ "‘We Will Stand Up,’ ‘Hope Frozen’ Take Top Prizes at Hot Docs". Variety, May 4, 2019.
  9. ^ Pat Mullen, "‘nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up’ Wins Audience Choice Award at imagineNATIVE". Point of View, October 29, 2019.
  10. ^ "Vancouver film critics award 'The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open'" Archived 2020-02-23 at the Wayback Machine. Tri-City News, January 7, 2020.
  11. ^ Brent Furdyk, "Canadian Screen Awards 2020: Non-Fiction Winners Revealed". ET Canada, May 25, 2020.