On the Mohawk reserve where director Tracey Deer grew up, there were two very firm but unspoken rules: Don’t marry a white person, and don’t have a child with one. The consequences of ignoring these rules were equally simple: Lose all status as a Native person, and have your children forfeit their status as Native people. Not only did breaking either of these rules deplete “the Nation,” but was a de facto betrayal of one’s community and family.

In CLUB NATIVE, Deer uses her hometown of Kahnawake as a lens to probe into the history and contemporary reality of Aboriginal identity. Following the stories of four inspiring Mohawk women, she reveals the exclusionary attitudes that divide her community and many others like it across Canada. With warmth, thoughtfulness, and humor, stories unfold about the heartbreaking costs of "marrying out" of the Mohawk Nation, the challenges faced by kids of mixed backgrounds, and the clash between love and preserving the fabric of a close-knit community. Deer traces the root of the problem, from the advent of the highly discriminatory Indian Act up to the present day, where membership on the reserve is determined by a council of Mohawk elders, whose rulings often appear inconsistent. With her own home as a poignant case study, she raises difficult questions faced by people of many ethnicities across the world: What roles do bloodline and culture play in determining identity?

CLUB NATIVE is a candid and deeply moving look at the pain, confusion, and frustration suffered by many First Nations women as well as a powerful story of the triumph of love and the human spirit.

- Documentary Film and Video Festival (DOXA)