2026 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

Short Film Program: SURVIVANCE

Available in 15d 20h 49m 47s
Available June 8, 2026 2:00 PM UTC
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Survivance, coined by Anishinaabe writer Gerald Vizenor, is the combination of survival and resistance where culture, imagination and ancestral connection thrives. The heart of these films beats with the survivance derived from monumental storytelling.



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.


A young Māori girl in the care of a conservative English couple savours her mother’s weekly visitations, as a custody battle driven by racial bias will ultimately decide their fate.



Ira Hetaraka is an emerging Māori filmmaker based in London. Her award-winning short Womb premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.


  • Year
    2024
  • Runtime
    15 minutes
  • Language
    English, Māori
  • Country
    United Kingdom
  • Premiere
    Canadian Premiere
  • Genre
    Short, Fiction
  • Content Warning
    Adult Themes, Triggering Historical Trauma (Residential Schools, Indian Act, Sixties Scoop)
  • Director
    Ira Hetaraka (Ngātiwai/Ngāpuhi)
  • Screenwriter
    Ira Hetaraka (Ngātiwai/Ngāpuhi)
  • Producer
    Amanda Jane Robinson
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