Directed by Fawnda Neckoway

Logline: An innocent question during parent pick-up leads to advice & resources from leaderswithin the community.

Synopsis: This short film grew from a conversation between mother and son and inspired by an article found on the CBC Parents website, written by David Robertson. The story focuses on parents and educators who may discuss a difficult part of history with the children in their lives.In a collaborative effort, community leaders joined Fawnda in conversation on how to answer some tough questions while sharing support, resources and advice.

Distribution Contact: WFG

More Details

RUNTIME: 20 Minutes
GENRE: Documentary
PRODUCTION FORMAT: HD
LANGUAGE: English
LOCATION: Manitoba
TECHNIQUES: Visual Effects
KEYWORDS: Women In Film, So They Will Know, Residential Schools, Community, David Robertson, Culturally Diverse Filmmaker, Female Filmmaker

Director's Statement: This film was created with love respect with the older and younger generation at heart. As a mother to a child who is in elementary school, he was just starting to learn about the truths of our history as indigenous people. He was a bit taken back to know, that once upon a time bad things were happening (the separation of family's, adults taking away sentimental belongings from children) I knew he was learning about respected survivor Phillis Webstads Orange Shirt and her story, whom he held empathy for. As a mother, who went through this conversation for the first time, it hurt me to know he was impacted too as a young indigenous man. He thought of our elders as children and as I was answering his questions, I too felt like I quite didn't know how to respond. This led me to want to do more, to help better educate myself so I can help him and if in anyway provide the same supports to others who may have the same conversation with the young ones in their lives. The idea to follow up with community came to mind. David Robertson's CBC Article 'How To Talk To Kids About The National Day For Truth and Reconciliation' so happened to appear in my feed around the same time. It was really informative and inspirational to me as a parent. I was fortunate to connect with Mr. Robertson whom appears in the film to discuss his work and offers his advice along with interviews of four other community leaders doing incredible work.

Special thanks to author, David Robertson for his guidance and support in sharing his literature with us, along with the four other interviewee's; Wab Kinew, Kimberly Giswein, Bobbi Jo LeClair and Dr. Ramona Neckoway.