FilmWorks Summerside: Bones of Crows
Date: Monday, October 2, 7pm
All seats $10
Bones of Crows
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.
Content advisory: content relating to residential schools; child abuse, sexual and psychological abuse, racism
“An epic tale of indigenous resilience” – The Playlist
We are delighted to continue our partnership with FilmWorks Summerside, who present films that local communities might otherwise not have the chance to see on a big screen. We have recently upgraded our projector and screen, meaning you can enjoy this film in high quality, in the comfort of our auditorium.
Successfully launched in 2012 and operated by volunteers, Filmworks Summerside is affiliated with FILM CIRCUIT, the outreach division of TIFF. FILM CIRCUIT has been helping to bring the best of Canadian and international film to communities across Canada since 1989. More info can be found here and here.
Fall 2023 screening dates:
Mon 6 Nov 7pm
Mon 11 Dec 7pm
Winter/spring 2024 dates will be announced soon.
