Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers has had great success of late in front of the camera (Blood Quantum, Night Raiders, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) and behind the camera (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open).
So taking a step to do a documentary on opioids and addiction might seem unusual. Somehow, this makes sense for someone such as Tailfeathers and her concern for her community.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is a personal documentary in that Tailfeathers' mother is a physician on the front lines of this battle. The documentary focuses on Tailfeathers' home in the Kainai Nation community in Alberta.
The film explores the quandary between abstinence, an approach that works well for alcoholism, versus harm reduction, which can be more helpful for dealing with the addiction of opioids. Convincing the community of the differences in approach is a significant challenge.
We see the Kainai Nation visiting Vancouver Downtown Eastside, where The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open was set. They learn how harm reduction is helping cut the fatality rate.
Tailfeathers talks with people who are suffering as well as those who are helping those in need. The story of George and Leah is so important: they want to get help but they have 4 steps to get into a treatment centre. Even then, some of those steps have wait lists.
Tailfeathers also shows the push back from nearby Lethbridge residents, including violence and death.
Tailfeathers does have an agenda in that harm reduction is a meaningful approach to a very serious problem. She takes great care to show examples of why harm reduction is a working option.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is also a personal documentary when she tells us that her cousin passed away from an overdose. Personal when her mother Esther forms a detox centre as a transition step to see if the patients want to go to a rehab centre.
There is a concern in taking such a personal interest in a story in a documentary. Tailfeathers helps us see the personification in what is mostly are faceless tragedies.
The film is surprisingly easy to follow and you feel the concerns of these people. This should be required viewing in Canada and the United States.
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Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy won the Canadian Screen Award earlier this year for Best Feature Length Documentary. The documentary also received 2 other Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Cinematography in a Documentary and Best Editing in a Documentary. The film was 1 of 5 winners of the Rogers Audience Award at the 2021 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is available via the National Film Board in Canada.
video credit: YouTube/NFB
photo credit: Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy
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