To fulfill her mother’s dying wish, a filmmaker retraces her mother’s work as an activist and journalist during the Red Power Movement of the 1960’s and 70’s, bringing to light 500 years of Taino resistance and igniting her own journey of reclamation.
SYNOPSIS
INDÍGENA follows filmmaker Siku Allooloo’s journey as she unearths the legacy of her late mother, Marie-Hélène Laraque, who founded a groundbreaking Indigenous newspaper at the heart of the 1970s American Indian Movement. Siku was 14 when, on her mom’s deathbed, she vowed to one day share her life’s work with the world. This vow that has taken two decades to fulfill. Now carrying her first child, Siku is determined to claim her lost inheritance and share its vital legacy.
Founded in Berkeley, CA, Indígena: News from Indian America centered voices and struggles overlooked by mainstream media, catalyzing a global solidarity network. It amplified the voices of Indigenous women and affirmed the living presence of the Taíno – Indigenous people of the Caribbean who met Christopher Columbus and were later declared extinct. A myth that lived on until Marie-Hélène - a Taíno woman from Haiti - wrote them back into history, sparking the regeneration of her people.
Fifty years later, these hidden histories reawaken as Siku’s search leads her to the Dominican Republic, New York, San Francisco and Northern Canada to connect with her mother’s comrades and key sites of activism. What began as a deeply personal quest evolves into a profound collective journey as Siku unlocks the earliest and most expansive legacies of Indigenous resistance in the Americas – from Taíno resistance in 1492 to the Red Power Movement to today – revealing a vastly interconnected, and women-led, movement for Indigenous liberation.
Director Statement
I have been working towards this film my whole life. My mom’s passing, compounded by the legacy of Canada’s Residential Schools, shattered my family and cast me into the throes of racism, sexual violence and precarity as a young teen. For the past 24 years, every success and reclamation has been hard won and propelled me further towards this moment; in realizing that the root of my struggle and the Red Power Movement stem from the colonization that originated in my Taíno homelands. My mother’s legacy as a groundbreaking Indigenous journalist and activist is what inspired me to tell this story; my lived experience as an Indigenous woman and now mother affirms that I have to.
This film unearths untold histories of resistance led by Indigenous women and Taíno through the prism of my mother’s legacy and my own personal journey. It also continues our process of world-building.
Fifty years ago, my mom gained control of the narrative by starting her own newspaper – bringing international attention to genocide, oppression and resistance in a mainstream media landscape that failed to report on Indigenous issues. In a similar way, my film reclaims the documentary form to cinematically dismantle colonial narratives, dissolve borders, and create fertile ground for regeneration.
History must be corrected to reverse archaic narratives of domination and erasure. The time has finally come to share these stories so that future generations can inherit the power of those who make it possible for Indigenous worlds to survive.
Supporter Statement
"This film is going to change the landscape. I can’t think of a bigger contribution to Indigenous feminisms. I cannot wait to see it."
- Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Director Siku Allooloo
Siku (Inuk/Haitian/Taíno) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and filmmaker from northern Canada. A unique and innovative voice of her generation, Siku’s film and artwork have been featured at prominent international film festivals and art galleries alike, including BlackStar, DOXA, The Flaherty, Canada’s National Arts Centre, Anthology FIlm Archives, Qaumajuq-Winnipeg Art Gallery, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. the 2024 Whitney Biennial, and the 2024 Dakar Biennale. Siku’s debut short film, SPIRIT EMULSION (2022), won Best Canadian Short at Gimli International Film Festival, Prix de la Relève (Emerging Talent Award) at Festival International Présence Autochtone, two Filmmaker Awards at YKIFF 2022, and Honourable Mention, DOXA Documentary Short Award. Her independent journalism, poetry, and creative writing have also been widely published (in The Guardian, Canadian Art Magazine, Truthout, Chatelaine, and The Capilano Review).
Producer Jessica Hallenbeck
Jessica Hallenbeck is the owner of Lantern Films, founded in 2015 out of a desire to make critically important and visually stunning documentaries. Our films are driven by those who have lived the story. We prioritize community consent and knowledge ownership, centering careful research and transparency. Our filmmaking approach is grounded in our belief in centering the knowledge, experiences, and expertise that already exists in our communities. With an undergraduate degree in media and film from Queen’s University, a Master’s Degree in Community Planning, and PhD in Geography, Jessica has worked in documentary for close to 20 years. Her producing credits include the Knowledge Network series Behind the Facade, Spirit Emulsion (2021), directed and co-produced by Siku Allooloo, Nuxalk Radio (2020), directed by Banchi Hanuse and winner of the 2020 VIFF Sea to Sky Award, The Train Station (2020), directed by Lyana Patrick, and the feature documentary The Empress of Vancouver (2022), directed by Dave Rodden-Shortt (Telus and Level Films). She is currently in post-production on NECHAKO, a feature documentary co-produced with Experimental Forest Films and the National Film Board and directed by Lyana Patrick.
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Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
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