BONES OF CROWS Q&A | TIFF 2022

The team behind BONES OF CROWS in conversation with TIFF in advance of its premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. An epic account of the life of Cree matriarch Aline Spears that spans generations, Marie Clements’ Bones of Crows is a powerful indictment of the abuse of Indigenous peoples as well as a stirring story of resilience and resistance.
The 47th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 8 to 18, 2022. For more, visit tiff.net.
Marie Clements’ Bones of Crows is a powerful indictment of the abuse of Indigenous peoples and a stirring story of extraordinary resilience and resistance. Born in the 1920s into a happy, large family, Aline Spears (played at different ages by Summer Testawich, Grace Dove, and Carla Rae) and her siblings are forcibly removed - through threat and essentially extortion by church and local authorities - from their home and sent to residential schools. There, they are victims of the cruelty of the priests and nuns who run the school. As the film clearly and dramatically points out, this psychological, physical, and cultural abuse was basically official government policy. During World War II, Aline enlists in the military, where, in a great but not widely known historical irony, her contribution is highly valued precisely because she is still fluent in Cree - one of the languages the residential schools strove to eradicate. After the war, Aline returns to Canada to raise her children. Still haunted by the crimes committed against her, she endures years of anguish before she finally has the chance to confront her abusers. The cast boasts talented newcomers and an all-star collection of established Indigenous actors, among them Graham Greene, Brandon Oakes, Glen Gould, Michelle Thrush, Lorne Cardinal, Gail Maurice (whose directorial debut feature, Rosie, is at TIFF this year), and, in one of the most welcome cameos this year, legendary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. Fearless in its denunciation of centuries of oppressive policies by Canadian governments and institutions, Bones of Crows is also a memorable paean to the resilience and determination of those who survived the residential schools - and especially those, like Aline, who sought to bring their oppressors’ crimes to light. Steve Gravestock
Marie Clements was born in Vancouver. A writer and showrunner, as well as a director, her works include the shorts Jesus Indian (10) and the Festival selection Pilgrims (13), the documentary shorts The Language of Love (12) and Looking at Edward Curtis (18), the documentary feature The Road Forward (17), and the fiction feature Red Snow (19). Bones of Crows (22) is her latest film.

[@kpena6043]

This is as close to a “based on true events” type movie you can get! This is REAL AND RAW. This really happened over and over to hundreds of family. There’s bones in Canada to prove it. FINALLY THEY HAVE A VOICE AND WE SHOULD
BE LISTENING!

[@reginelopezrivas3131]

I wish you great success. Will watch the film in Berlin, Germany.

[@ylimerivers]

Very much looking forward to watching this film with my teenager.

[@sharonzimmerman5558]

Can't wait until it's available in the U.S. Quite annoying only being able to view snippet teasers on RUclips.

[@carollido8742]

Can you tell us when we can watch this in the united states. I have been trying everything to do that and It's supposed to be on prime but it's not showing over here.

[@GoldVP...]

My brother Harold was a fill in, with the shots filmed around Sidney. Why have we not been able to watch this, outside of this tiny tiff/screening show? Pretty sad when all you want is money, and not allow the public to watch this already, almost 2 years later!!!
You should be ashamed!!!!

[@kowanut1]

Sounds like a wonderful drama, albeit a work of fiction.

[@adriannespring8598]

Except it's based 100% on historical fact cross North America.

[@aiylacarson]

I am thankful it’s a work of fiction. I couldn’t imagine the trauma of having to relive your abuse for all to see. There are times where fiction is appropriate. And this is one of them.

[@aiylacarson]

@@iworshipsatin As an Indigenous woman and a direct descendant of two residential school survivors. I appreciate works of fiction. It is very traumatic to relive the atrocities of the past. Believe me it triggering enough watching this film even thought I know it is just acting.