Announcing STORY TO ACTION 6 — Three impactful Indigenous documentaries
Story Money Impact is announcing that all three films in our 2026-2027 STORY TO ACTION program are powerful Indigenous-made documentary films. We commit to working with these three films for the next 6 months, bringing them to community in alignment with impact strategies to build partnerships, and organizing screenings that create measurable progress across the country in the issues featured in their films.
We commend these filmmaker teams, all Indigenous and settler partnerships, supporting three Indigenous female directors in creating and sharing stories that can help us all understand and be inspired by the work we need to participate in to move towards Truth and Reconciliation.
If you are interested in helping us organize a screening of one or more of these films for your community, please contact Impact Director Anthony Truong Swan at anthony@storymoneyimpact.com or sign up directly under the film you are interested in below.
təm kʷaθ nan (Namesake)
Directed by ƛɛsla Dr. Evan Adams & t̓agəm Eileen Francis, produced by Peg Campbell
In the coastal community known as Powell River, a request from their First Nations neighbours to change the city’s name sets off a deeply contentious conversation between Tla’amin Nation and their neighbouring city… whose name honours a man instrumental in the establishment of residential schools in BC and other ongoing colonial harms. The communities’ responses spotlights the divide in Indigenous and settler perspectives on Canadian history, and how far away we are from reconciliation. təm kʷaθ nan (Namesake) shows what change can happen over time - through disagreement, willingness to move forward together, deep listening, and creating a unified vision for shared dignity.
This campaign aims to warmly invite settler allies into community and relationship with each other and their First Nations neighbours to improve relations between First Nations and settler municipalities. We specifically wish to motivate people in positions of leadership to pursue opportunities for settler and First Nations neighbours to see each other more clearly, communicate more effectively, and act in greater harmony with each other.
Please contact us if you are involved with, or can introduce us to a potential screening partner who is:
A Canadian town or municipality with nearby Indigenous neighbours
A First Nations community with nearby settler neighbours
A settler organization that wishes to more strongly support local Indigenous issues
An Indigenous organization that wishes to have stronger ties to non-Indigenous community
Roots & Tides: The Reawakening
Directed by Tiffany Ayalik and Caroline Cox
As the Pauquachin First Nation works to restore a traditional sea garden on Vancouver Island, Elders, water guardians, families, and allies come together to reawaken Indigenous stewardship practices and rebuild relationships with the land and sea. It heals not just the land but their community through coming together to share in restoration work, cultural teachings, and community action. What will future generations inherit from us, and what is our responsibility and opportunity to cultivate that inheritance in the present?
Roots and Tides: The Reawakening shows what bounty is created when people come together to care for what sustains them, and hopes that all peoples along the coasts will roll up their sleeves to revive the magnificent generosity of sea gardens.
Please contact us if you are involved with, or can introduce us to a potential screening partner who is:
A town or municipality along the Georgia Strait
An organization that cares about shoreline restoration
A coastal community organization or group who would like to participate in a screening
The Good Canadian
Directed by Leena Minifie and David Paperny
“Canada the good” is the identity that most Canadians would recognize. But what if the face we put on is just a mask to hide our true nature from others, and maybe even ourselves? Using in-depth interviews with leading experts and whistleblowers, The Good Canadian examines the gap between Canada's identity as a compassionate, equitable nation, and the systemic inequities experienced by First Nations and Inuit peoples. The documentary traces the legacy of the Indian Act, land dispossession, Residential Schools, child welfare, and in healthcare, revealing how social workers continue to separate Indigenous babies from their mothers even today. The scale of these challenges, and the work to address them connects our history to our present. We empower audiences to redefine being a “Good Canadian”: someone who is willing to challenge the cruel realities faced by Indigenous peoples, and pursue systems that are fair and dignified for all.
Please contact us if you are involved with, or can introduce us to a potential screening partner who is:
A department of healthcare workers, social workers, government workers, educators or other public servants
A professional association that includes one or more of the above
A formal organization that includes one or more of the above
An informal organization that includes one or more of the above
All three of these films come from Indigenous-led, settler-supported teams, and this is the first time that Story Money Impact, a settler-led organization, is working with three Indigenous documentaries in one single STORY TO ACTION cohort. Our commitment to Truth & Reconciliation is woven into the work we will be doing for the next six months and beyond. We are excited about the potential for these films to provoke meaningful conversations and real change in the diverse subject areas they feature.
