Where the Spirit Lives (1990)
June 6, 1990Release Date
Where the Spirit Lives (1990)
June 6, 1990Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
Michelle St. John
Komi / Amelia
Kim Bruisedhead Fox
Anataki
Marianne Jones
Komi's Mother
Clayton Julian
Pita / Abraham
Gus Chief Moon
Ka-moos-ee
Bruce Pittman
Director
Margaret Cozry
Grandmother
Marge Fox
Anataki's Mother
Keith Ross Leckie
Writer
Heather Haldane
Producer
Heather Haldane
Producer
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Kathleen
Eric Jordan
Producer
Sean Mulcahy
Priest
Eric Jordan
Producer
Mary Young Leckie
Producer
Sam Malkin
Mr. Crawford
Doris Petrie
Miss Weir
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Composer
Chapelle Jaffe
Miss Appleby
Tina Louise Bomberry
Asst. Supervisor #2
Barbara Wheeldon
Matron
John Friesen
Mr. Babcock
Heather Hess
Rachel
Cynthia Debassige
Esther
Franklin Doss
George
Darlene Shilling
Rose
Margaret Martina
Sarah
Sarah Williams
Ruth
Patricia Collins
Mrs. Barrington
Graham Greene
Komi's Father
Rudy Medicine Crane
Rachel's Mother
David Hemblen
Reverend Buckley
Ron White
Taggart
Rene O'Hashi
Director of Photography
Arlene Berman
Casting
Scott Shepherd
Producer
Paul Stephens
Executive Producer
Valanne Ridgeway
Production Design
Jane Manchee
Set Decoration
Tim Bider
Art Direction
Sylvie Krasker
Costume Design
Nicole Demers
Makeup Artist
Perry Kutsch
Hairstylist
Nancy Harvey
Production Manager
Michael Todd
Editor
Details.
Wiki.
Where the Spirit Lives is a 1989 television film about Aboriginal children in Canada being taken from their tribes to attend residential schools for assimilation into majority culture. Written by Keith Ross Leckie and directed by Bruce Pittman, it aired on CBC Television on October 29, 1989. It was also shown in the United States on PBS on June 6, 1990, as part of the American Playhouse series and was screened at multiple film festivals in Canada and the United States.
The film stars Michelle St. John as Amelia, a young Kainai girl captured and confined to the residential school system of the 1930s. The system was an attempt to have aboriginal youth to assimilate into the majority European-Canadian culture. Amelia resists assimilation and plans her escape. The film's cast includes Ann-Marie MacDonald and David Hemblen as teachers at the school.