Community-based dark comedies, powerful spoken-words, a Métis western, a gentle story of siblings in the bush, healing in a hide camp, and carrying on traditional practices. The future of Indigenous Cinema looks bright in this all youth-made shorts program, including the winning film from the 2025 imagineNATIVE Film Tour. These shorts programs may differentiate from the shorts programs presented at our in-person festival screenings due to the various geoblocking restraints on each film. ﻿

Directed and written by Emmitt Many Heads (age 18) and filmed in Siksika Nation, Alberta, during an Indigenous Youth Filmmaking Workshop as part of the 2025 imagineNATIVE Tour. Emmitt Many Heads is from Siksika Nation. He has worked on film productions with The Napi Collective.

The Night Shift

A violent storm is brewing as two powerful forces are about to collide. The orphaned Wild Sheriff seeks to bring order as he wrestles with his inner chaos. Sarah Houle is an artist and performer from Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement in Northern Alberta.

The Wild Sheriff

An experimental short featuring a young Anishinaabe artist’s spoken word expression of frustration over the emptiness of reconciliation. Kile M. George (they/them) is a Two-Spirit Anishinaabe filmmaker from Nipissing First Nation.

Flashing/Strobing Lights, Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)

Little Orange Bandages

Blending horror and humour, Lethal Ethel is a mockumentary that follows the story of a Naskapi vampire who goes to murderous lengths to protect her land and culture. Elayna Einish grew up in Kawawachikamach, where they have spent most of their life. Fascinated by breaking the confines of social norms, Elayna explores this through books, movies, and fashion, with a particular interest in the horror genre. Elayna’s first film, Lethal Ethel, marks the beginning of the artist’s cinematic exploration. ﻿

Lethal Ethel

Beyond the end of time, two children hide in spiritual stasis from the terrors of their perceived future. Evelyn Pakinewatik is a queer, disabled artist and filmmaker. Their work explores the societal distortions of interiority, relationality, and animacy.

Coarse Language, Flashing/Strobing Lights, Mature Themes, Repatriation of Indigenous Remains, Scientific Racism, Triggering Historical Trauma

Abinoojiikaasmin (We Act Like Children)

Enduring the chaos happening to their peoples and homelands, a group of Alaskan Dene women find strength and hope in reviving the ancestral practice of brain tanning hides. Brittany Woods-Orrison is a queer Koyukon Dené filmmaker from Dleł Taneets (Rampart), a small village along the Yukon River. ﻿

Deneege Leł Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh

A young female Sámi reindeer herder must choose between pursuing further education or taking over her ancestors’ traditional way of life. Eila Muotka is a Sea Sámi filmmaker from Unjárga and Álttá. She is passionate about visual storytelling and arctic Indigenous stories.

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Short Film Program:  What's To Come

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Please note that not all films screened during the in-person Festival will be available online. Online Festival works are subject to location geoblocking and distribution rights. Access to online screenings starts on Monday, June 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET and ends Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET; this cutoff applies to all forms of access, including online single tickets purchased after June 11, 2026 (which is the last day to purchase for a guaranteed 72-hour access window).

Here's what's coming up soon. Can't make it? No sweat. Many live streams will be available for on-demand viewing as well.