Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
On 22 August 1969, the Indigenous Haida community in the village of Masset in British Columbia gathered for its first totem pole-raising ceremony in nearly a century. There to shoot the historic occasion was the National Film Board of Canada’s all-Indigenous ‘Indian Film Crew’. The footage was then handed over to a non-Indigenous post-production team and edited into a short documentary. The resulting film, This Was the Time (1970), featured non-Indigenous narration and a decidedly Euro-Canadian perspective, framing the Haida as a disappearing people rather than one poised for rebirth following decades in which the Canadian government had essentially outlawed their culture.
A powerful and accomplished work of reclamation, Now Is the Time (2019) captures the 1969 ceremony from a Haida perspective – and with a stunning 4K restoration of the original footage. The short documentary includes new interviews with the celebrated Haida carver Robert Davidson – who was just 22 years old when he carved the totem – and the Haida educator and activist Barbara Wilson, who crafted the initial proposal for the original documentary, and was instrumental to bringing its follow-up to life 50 years later. Lending the archival footage a fresh sense of perspective and clarity, the Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter’s short documentary illuminates how the ceremony sparked a renewed sense of spiritual purpose in the community.
video
Technology and the self
A filmmaker finds a tactile beauty in the creation of her prosthetic leg
11 minutes
video
Knowledge
An Indigenous myth and a geological survey elicit two ways of knowing one place
4 minutes
video
Technology and the self
How the magic of photography brought Victorian England closer to the spirit realm
16 minutes
video
Neuroscience
Dog vision is a trendy topic, but what can we really know about how they see?
11 minutes
video
Home
An artist endeavours to bring the Moon down to Earth in a ritual of yearning
5 minutes
video
Information and communication
An animation built from road signs is a whirlwind study of flash communication
2 minutes
video
Art
Creating art that was aware of itself – and the viewer – made Manet the first modernist
15 minutes
video
War and peace
A century later, can poetry help us make sense of the First World War’s horrors?
9 minutes
video
Language and linguistics
The little Peruvian guide to public speaking that conjures up a grandiose world
7 minutes