WINNER OF 2021 telus audience choice award: canadian documentary

Filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN, CIFF 2019) turns her camera toward the Kainai First Nation in Alberta, crafting an intimate portrait of those who suffer the impacts of the opioid crisis and those who are working tirelessly to save them.

Thanks to intimate access to frontline workers (including the filmmaker's mother, Dr. Esther Tailfeathers), we witness the controversy surrounding new methods of harm reduction. We also meet individuals whose lives are in the throes of addiction and who are seeking a way out.

Both harrowing and inspirational, KIMMAPIIYIPITSSINI: THE MEANING OF EMPATHY is a compassionate look at a people who seek healing for the wounds caused by addiction and a long and protracted experience under colonialism.

Available online from Sunday, September 26 at 9 AM to Sunday, October 3 at 11:59 PM.