On this page, you can watch films, lectures, and video interviews related to the Transnationally Indigenous project. These include works produced by the Transnationally Indigenous team as well as mirrors of independently-produced work.
Interview with Kayano Shirō
Kayano Shirō shares how a 1987 trip to visit the Kwakwaka’wakw people inspired him to save Ainu culture. After seeing how Indigenous people in Canada kept their traditions alive, he left his job to focus on teaching the Ainu language. He argues that language is the most important part of a culture and advocates for making Ainu an official language in Japan. He also believes that giving Ainu people special seats in parliament will help them gain the political power they need to thrive.
Interview with Narita Tokuhei
In these interviews, Ainu advocate Narita Tokuhei explains how a 1970s trip to China helped change the way Ainu leaders viewed their rights and identity. Seeing how other countries recognized minority groups inspired the delegation to wear traditional clothing and use their language more proudly in public. This experience shifted their focus from local issues to a global Indigenous movement, proving that Ainu culture is a living community. Narita also discusses the need for better funding and a strong political voice to ensure these international connections lead to real change.
Interview with Kaizawa Kōichi
Kaizawa Kōichi reflects on a 1970s trip to China that helped change how the Ainu people were viewed in Japan. During a time of heavy discrimination, being officially invited as a minority group by another country showed the world that Ainu culture was still alive. Kaizawa describes being inspired by seeing other groups who were encouraged to speak their own languages and wear traditional clothing. This experience highlighted the importance of multi-ethnic policies and motivated him to fight for Ainu rights at home.
Interview with Shimizu Yūji
Ainu elder and advocate Shimizu Yūji shares his long history of fighting for Indigenous rights and sovereignty. He explains how his family and the need to protect children from bullying inspired him to become a leader for his community. By looking at groups like the Sámi in Finland, he shows how Indigenous people can successfully run their own schools and organizations. Shimizu encourages Ainu groups to move beyond relying on government charity and instead build independent power. These interviews highlight the importance of standing up for your community’s rights to ensure a strong future.
Visiting Kamui Mintara: Playground of the Gods
Recasting Ainu Indigeneity in Museums through Performing Art with Dr. Kanako Uzawa
This short documentary produced by Transnationally Indigenous and shot by Morgaine Lee features Ainu scholar-advocate-artist Dr. Kanako Uzawa and SFU Indigenous studies lecturer Dr. Bryan Miles visiting Kamui Mintara, an Ainu sculpture park on Burnaby Mountain near Simon Fraser University (SFU). The two talk about how the sculpture park represents a meeting between Indigenous creative styles on two different continents: the Ainu of East Asia, and the Coast Salish Peoples of Western North America/Turtle Island.
In this video lecture from August 2022, Ainu scholar, advocate, and artist Dr. Kanako Uzawa discusses how she uses performing arts to change the way Ainu people are portrayed in museums. Historically, Ainu people have been depicted as primitive in exhibitions around the world based on the judgements of non-Ainu ‘experts’. Dr. Uzawa hopes that by instead basing Ainu representation on the creative works of Ainu people themselves, this can change.
The lecture was presented by SFU’s David Lam Centre and UBC’s Centre for Japanese Studies. It was recorded at the UBC Museum of Anthropology.
Let's Walk Together As One
This feature-length documentary by Dan Webb covers the first meeting of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) in 1974, which took place near Port Alberni, on the Tseshalt Reserve on Vancouver Island in Canada. The WCIP was the first globally Indigenous organization of its kind, and the film tracks the connections which blossomed between Indigenous activists in Canada, South America, and across the world.
Interview with NARP Member Gerry Ambers
In this interview, produced by Transnationally Indigenous and conducted by Dr. Glen Coulthard in 2023, ‘Namgis (Kwakwaka’wakw) Elder Gerry Ambers discusses the first-ever protest by the Native Alliance for Red Power (NARP). On March 12, 1968, Ambers and four other NARP members picketed a meeting by Residential School administrators in protest against the genocidal school system. The last Residential School closed in 1996. NARP protestors faced little sympathy from the general public, and were abused by the drivers of passing cars.