Elle–Máijá Tailfeathers’ film witnesses radical and profound change in her community. Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is an intimate portrait of survival, love and the collective work of healing in the Kainai First Nation in Southern Alberta, a Blackfoot community facing the impacts of substance use and a drug-poisoning epidemic.

Community members active in addiction and recovery, first responders and medical professionals implement harm reduction to save lives. This work is contextualized within the historical and contemporary impacts of settler colonialism; Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy draws a connecting line between the effects of colonial violence on Blackfoot land and people and the ongoing substance-use crisis.

Held in love and hope for the future, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy asks the audience to be a part of this remarkable change with the community.

2021, 125 min, English and Blackfoot with English subtitles. Provided by the National Film Board.

In a small Indian village, Ranjit wakes up to find that his 13-year-old daughter has not returned from a family wedding. A few hours later, she’s found stumbling home. After being abducted into the woods, she was sexually assaulted by three men. Ranjit goes to the police, and the men are arrested. But Ranjit’s relief is short-lived, as the villagers and their leaders launch a sustained campaign to force the family to drop the charges.

A cinematic documentary, To Kill a Tiger follows Ranjit’s uphill battle to find justice for his child. In India, where a rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 percent, Ranjit’s decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of. With tremendous access, we witness the emotional journey of an ordinary man facing extraordinary circumstances. A father whose love for his daughter forces a social reckoning that will reverberate for years to come.

2022. 127 min. Hindi and Nagpuri with English subtitles Provided by the National Film Board.

Seeking employment?  Attend our Resume Workshop where the following topics will be covered: 

•Resume & Cover Letter Writing

•Interview Preparation (Hard & Soft Skills)

•Job Fair Skills & Networking

*Structured workshop via zoom with in person support. 

Presented by CCI through the Community and Employment Connections Department.

For this National Indigenous History Month virtual concert with the Ottawa Public Library, Mali is joined by two steadfast collaborators, Magdalena Abrego (guitar) and Allison Burik (woodwinds), who will perform intimate arrangements from Sweet Tooth in addition to new explorations of this sonic landscape.

A suite for Indigenous resistance, the debut album from Wabanaki bassist, composer, and songwriter Mali Obomsawin flies in the face of Western tropes that insist Indigenous cultures are monolithic, trapped in time. Sweet Tooth blends Wabanaki stories and songs passed down in Obomsawin’s own family with original compositions for a performance that is at once intimately personal and globally pertinent. Highlighting centuries of clever adaptation and resistance in her own community, Obomsawin points toward abundant horizons for Indigenous peoples.

Zoom link to be sent out via email from Eventbrite. 

Program is live and not recorded.

About

Mali Obomsawin is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and a citizen of Odanak First Nation (W8banaki). She is a bassist, composer, and vocalist whose work spans from jazz and roots music to film scoring, teaching, and indie-shoegaze. Mali is an international touring artist with her own projects and as an accompanist.

Her current projects include the shoegaze duo Deerlady, now supporting their latest release “Greatest Hits” (2024); the free-jazz band she leads under her own name, and the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band. Mali’s film score on the highly anticipated documentary Sugarcane (Nat Geo) directed by Julian Brave Noisecat and Emily Kassie is also featuring at film festivals across the world throughout 2024.

Over the years Mali has been lucky to work with notable musicians including Esperanza Spalding, Taylor Ho Bynum, Peter Apfelbaum, Craig Harris, Bill Cole, Althea Sully-Cole, Susan Hagen, Tomas Fujiwara, Mike Formanek, among others…