TORONTO — Canada-based global distribution group Blue Ant International announced today it has acquired the international licensing rights to Spirit to Soar, a one-hour documentary inspired by Tanya Talaga’s award-winning book, Seven Fallen Fathers, which brought attention to the uninvestigated deaths of seven Indigenous high school students in northern Ontario between 2000 and 2011.
The documentary looks at how the book came to Talaga (above), an Anishinaabe storyteller and journalist, when she travelled to Thunder Bay on a federal election assignment and discovered the story of the seven Indigenous youth who had either died or gone missing.
“This documentary examines the hard truths around the deaths of the seven students, truths the northern city of Thunder Bay and the country of Canada have long ignored; racism kills, especially when it presents itself as indifference,” reads a Blue Ant International press release.
“Along with the raw, emotional look at the inequity that Indigenous people continue to experience, Spirit to Soar also gives a hopeful message about creating generational change and shares powerful first-hand interviews with Indigenous community leaders and youth whose resilience and hope provide a path forward,” the release says.
Produced by Makwa Creative in association with Antica Productions, Spirit to Soar premiered at Hot Docs International Documentary Festival this past spring and is scheduled to broadcast and stream on CBC and CBC Gem in the fall.
The documentary is now available for worldwide distribution, including French-speaking Canada, with Blue Ant International and will join the distributor’s fall slate at MIPCOM 2021.
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Photo supplied by Blue Ant International.
