ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers

Festivals Reviews 

STELLAR (TIFF 2022) – Review by Leslie Combemale

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Darlene Naponse, a member of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation in Northern Ontario, Canada, uses Stellar to create a world outside of time wherein She and He can, from a safe distance, examine a world that centers on white people. They are also witness to an apocalypse, one that seems to be about the genocide, assimilation, and betrayal of First Nation Canadians, and at other times speaks to the global warming and environmental disasters created by the white world.

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Reviews 

NIGHT RAIDERS – Review by Karen Peterson

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Night Raiders fictionalizes the tragic history of Indigenous people and uses it as a condemnation, but also to show survival, hope, and a way forward. Looking deeper, the film uses the specific history of atrocities against Indigenous people from around the world to vanquish the concept that cultural homogeneity and that world of complete unity of language, ideology, religion, etc, destroys society rather than strengthens it. At a time where “groupthink” and echo chambers are valued, Danis Goulet shows us there are better ways to live and work together.

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Festivals Reviews 

NIGHT RAIDERS (TIFF2021) – Review by Leslie Combemale

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The first words uttered in voiceover in Canadian Cree and Metis writer/director Danis Goulet’s feature debut, Night Raiders, are “We knew they would come for us like they always have before.” Though rooted in dystopian storytelling that recalls some darker recent YA literature, the film is actually right out of the nightmares and collective memories of indigenous people around the world, particularly in the US, Australia, and Canada. Clearly, for Goulet, making a film is inherently a political act.

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Festivals 

Women Filmmakers Score at HOT DOCS 2021- Barbara Goslawski reports

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In its second pandemic digital edition, the 2021 Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival generated a lot of healthy, happy buzz, especially for women filmmakers. With a slate that presented 222 films from all over the world, 50 per cent of the directors in the festival program were female. But not only were women present in equal numbers; their films dominated the conversation, showing that women helmers are digging deep into the real struggles that affect us all. That is perhaps the most fascinating thing about gender parity at the Hot Docs Canadian International or any other festival.

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Movie of the Week Reviews 

MOVIE OF THE WEEK December 13, 2019: THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN

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A chance encounter brings two women together for a day that neither could have anticipated in Kathleen Hepburn and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ drama The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open. Authentic in every way, from the gritty cinematography to the convincing performances, it’s documentary-like in its frank honesty.

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Reviews 

THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN – Review by Loren King

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This deliberately paced, remarkable first feature from Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers who co-directed and co-wrote the film with Kathleen Hepburn, centers on two indigenous young women, Áila (played by Tailfeathers) and Rosie (Violet Nelson) who meet by chance on the street and, by the end of their journey, may likely never meet again. But their story is raw and real and, if one sticks with it, rewarding.

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Reviews 

THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN – Review by Sheila Roberts

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Filmmakers Kathleen Hepburn and Elle-Maija Tailfeathers’s Canadian indie, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, is part of Ava DuVernay’s impressive ARRAY initiative, a grassroots distribution, arts and advocacy collective focused on independent films by people of color and women filmmakers globally. The unpretentious film set in Vancouver examines how class and racism impact two young indigenous women from vastly different social and ethnic backgrounds.

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Festivals 

Vancouver International Film Festival 2019 Wrap – Marina Antunes reports

Marina Antunes 0 Comments , , , ,

The 38th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) may have wrapped its final screenings over a month ago, but the city is still basking in the post-festival glow thanks to the success of this year’s festival. VIFF has been expanding beyond film screenings for years and in 2019, organizers truly expanded the frame and in addition to over 320 films, the festival presented a number of live performances, master classes and industry-based conferences.

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