NFB pulls Inconvenient Indian from distribution, including Sundance Film Festival
Statement addresses the controversy, which erupted over challenges to director Michelle Latimer’s heritage
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD has released a statement today about pulling the documentary Inconvenient Indian from distribution, including from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
The decision comes after the filmmaker Michelle Latimer’s Indigenous identity was called into question last week.
The film, which looks at stereotypes of Indigenous people over the past century, opened locally at the Vancouver International Film Festival in the fall before the controversy erupted.
The NFB statement commits to working with the Indigenous community toward change.
Its full statement reads as follows:
“After engaging with the Indigenous participants who appear on screen, the NFB’s Indigenous Advisory Group, and industry partners, the NFB, 90th Parallel Productions and producer Jesse Wente have decided to withdraw Inconvenient Indian from active distribution.
“The film will be withdrawn from all upcoming festivals, including the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
“Over the coming weeks and months, we will continue to dialogue and engage with Indigenous communities to explore an accountable path forward for the film.
“The NFB is committed to the On-Screen Protocols & Pathways developed by imagineNATIVE and the guidelines of the Indigenous Screen Office, and remains dedicated to the principle that Indigenous stories must be told by Indigenous creators.”
Latimer has also resigned as director of Trickster, the CBC-TV series she cocreated.
The director had previously stated she was of Algonquin, Metis, and French descent, from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and Maniwaki area in Quebec. A CBC investigation last week challenged those claims.
Latimer has since said she "made a mistake" in naming Kitigan Zibi as her family's community before formally verifying those roots.
Inconvenient Indian was scheduled to screen at Sundance in January.
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