“It’s a new form of storytelling, it’s a new form of passing on knowledge,” local Métis-Cree filmmaker Kamala Todd said by phone of how film and TV are helping Native cultures and languages survive. “It’s just so valuable because I’ve looked at work that’s being done in other communities, and video has helped them to record people speaking the words, so you don’t just hear it but you actually see the pronunciation.”

Todd wrote and codirected the children’s show Nehiyawetan (Let’s speak Cree), which wrapped its Vancouver shoot on October 5. The series, which airs on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and was created by her mother, filmmaker Loretta Todd, teaches Cree words and phrases to children aged five to seven. The program, she said, “helps to bring people closer to their culture while living in the city”.

Meanwhile, Todd’s short NFB documentary “Indigenous Plant Diva” is part of the Parenting film program at the Vancouver International Film Festival, which screens on Friday (October 10) at the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street). The film focuses on Squamish member Cease Wyss, who is also called T’Uy’Tanat (“Woman who travels by canoe to gather medicines for all people”), and her daughter Senaqwila. The two talk about the healing abilities of plants growing in downtown Vancouver.

“I really believe that if people knew more about the land, if they knew more about the teachings here and the ancient history here,” Todd said, “they could become more connected to the land.” Wyss told her that weeds like plantain and horsetail have medicinal properties. Todd added: “Every country has herbalist knowledge, knowledge of plants, and we all should have a basic understanding of what we can take if we’re sick.”