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Angelina McLeod’s Freedom Road premieres November 5 at Winnipeg’s Gimme Some Truth festival. Also available online at NFB.ca.

PRESS RELEASE
23/10/2019

October 23, 2019 – Vancouver – National Film Board of Canada

Angelina McLeod’s five-part series, Freedom Road, from the Shoal Lake 40 Anishinaabe First Nation, will have its world premiere November 5 at NFB.ca as well as at a free opening night special presentation to kick off the 11th Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival (November 5 to 10) in Winnipeg.

This series of short films from Shoal Lake 40, located on the border of Manitoba and Ontario, tells the inspiring story of the community’s battle to build a road after it was forcibly relocated and cut off from the mainland, over 100 years ago, so that water could be diverted to the city of Winnipeg.

Director and Shoal Lake 40 member Angelina McLeod uses an innovative, community-driven approach to storytelling that highlights the community’s dignity, strength and perseverance, as they take back control of their narrative and their future in the process of building Freedom Road.

Freedom Road was produced in Winnipeg by Alicia Smith and executive produced by David Christensen for the NFB’s North West Studio.

Opening night special presentation

The official world premiere of Freedom Road will take place Tuesday, November 5, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

A post-screening panel discussion will feature band members Daryl Redsky and Roxanne Green, Angelina McLeod and Winnipeg-based historian Adele Perry, and will highlight the complex, ongoing work of Shoal Lake 40 in resolving a brutal colonial legacy—one that is inseparable from the history of this place.

This free screening is being presented by the Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Decolonizing Lens, Gimme Some Truth, Friends of Shoal Lake 40 and the NFB.

About Angelina McLeod

Angelina McLeod is an activist, scholar, filmmaker and mother from Shoal Lake 40 Anishinaabeg First Nation, located on the border of Manitoba and Ontario. She was the Indigenous Scholar-in-Residence at the Manitoba Museum and is currently a University of Manitoba graduate student working on her thesis under the supervision of Dr. Niigaanwewidam Sinclair. Angelina is studying sacred Midewiwin birch-bark scrolls, which have been passed down through her family for generations.

She was also featured in Charlene Moore’s When the Children Left, a documentary about her life and the death of her sister, who went missing after leaving the community to attend high school. She is collaborating with Jessica Kornwall on a photo-archival project about Shoal Lake 40 First Nation and her family that’s scheduled to be completed by summer 2020.

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Related Products

Electronic Press Kit | Images, trailers, synopses: Freedom Road

Associated Links

Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival
Winnipeg Art Gallery

Media Relations

  • About the NFB

    Founded in 1939, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a one-of-a-kind producer, co-producer and distributor of distinctive, engaging, relevant and innovative documentary and animated films. As a talent incubator, it is one of the world’s leading creative centres. The NFB has enabled Canadians to tell and hear each other’s stories for over eight decades, and its films are a reliable and accessible educational resource. The NFB is also recognized around the world for its expertise in preservation and conservation, and for its rich and vibrant collection of works, which form a pillar of Canada’s cultural heritage. To date, the NFB has produced more than 14,000 works, 7,000 of which can be streamed free of charge at nfb.ca. The NFB and its productions and co-productions have earned over 7,000 awards, including 11 Oscars and an Honorary Academy Award for overall excellence in cinema.