How to Lose Everything

Christa Couture lost her leg, her children, and her marriage. Here, she gives instructions on survival for the uninitiated and companionship for those who know the terrain of heartache and loss.

Archer Pechawis presents an allegory for religious interference, with an aching yet humorous look at estrangement and mourning for the loss of someone still living.

A love that precedes grief and inevitably foreshadows it, Heart Like a Pow Wow tells the creation story of a baby; the light before dark.

Smokii Sumac reflects on the wisdom and strength of bereaved mothers, as he is faced with the grief of waking up to a changed world following the election of Donald Trump.

Taqralik Partridge’s grandmother’s Scottish Gaelic and her father’s Inuktitut unfold in memories of her family, of pain, and of love in this engaging story about language and history.

The Cree version of “How to Lose Everything: A Field Guide.” Christa Couture lost her leg, her children, and her marriage. Here, she gives instructions on survival for the uninitiated and companionship for those who know the terrain of heartache and loss.

In the Cree version of “A Bear Named Jesus,” at Aunt Gladys’ funeral, Archer Pechawis heard a tap on the window... an allegory for religious interference, with an aching yet humorous look at estrangement and mourning for the loss of someone still living.

The Anishinaabemowin version of “Heart Like a Pow Wow,” which explores the depths of grief from an Anishinaabe perspective of love and family. Viewers are called to witness Spirit as they shift to physical form while embodying the love that precedes grief and inevitably foreshadows it.

In the Ktunaxa version of “There Are Hierarchies of Grief,” Smokii Sumac reflects on the wisdom and strength of bereaved mothers, as he is faced with the grief of waking up to a changed world–the day after Donald Trump was elected as President of the United States.

The Inuktitut version of “Grape Soda in the Parking Lot.” What if every language that had been lost to English — every word, every syllable — grew up out of the ground in flowers? Taqralik Partridge’s grandmother’s Scottish Gaelic and her father’s Inuktitut unfold in memories of her family, of pain, and of love.