Indigenous Films: Traditional Cultures

Explores the meaning of the drums, songs, and dances of the pow-wow. 10 episodes. Episode 1. The drum -- Episode 2. The songs -- Episode 3. The dances -- Episode 4. The grand entry -- Episode 5. Grass dance & men's traditional -- Episode 6. The fancy dance -- Episode 7. Pow-wow rock -- Episode 8. Women -- Episode 9. The grand exhibition -- Episode 10. The white man's indian -- Episode 11. Pow-wow fever -- CD-Rom - Teacher's guide.

Mark Thompson is a healer who received his knowledge of plant-based medicine from his grandmother and has chosen to teach Sebastien Aubin. The young man embodies today's accelerated world but is also caught between modernity and tradition.

The Algonquin once lived in harmony with the vast territory they occupied. This balance was upset when the Europeans arrived in the 16th century. Gradually, their Aboriginal traditions were undermined and their natural resources plundered. Today, barely 9,000 Algonquin are left. They live in about 10 communities, often enduring abject poverty and human rights abuses. Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie have decided to sound the alarm before it's too late. In French with English subtitles.

The Story of the Seven Fires features a one hour DVD and a workbook. Woven together in the story of the Seven Fires are the hopes and voices of many Aboriginal teachers and community members, some of the spiritual and cultural teachings being revived by First Nations peoples, and pieces of collective history that influence present circumstances.

The Sundance is new to the Mi'kmaq people of Eastern Canada, brought to them from the West by elder William Nevin of the Elsipogtog First Nation. This event marks a unique transmission of traditional culture from one First Nation to another. Nevin first dances for two of his children who were critically ill, and later to help heal his fractured community.