Wilfred Buck (2024)

DESCRIPTION

Seamlessly moving between earth and stars, past and present, Wilfred Buck is a hybrid feature documentary that looks to one man’s life to tell a story that spans generations. Our guide is the charismatic and irreverent Wilfred Buck, a Cree elder and ceremonial leader who came to his calling through a harrowing history of displacement, racism, and addiction in 1960s Canada. Adapted from his memoir, and blending verité, archive and stylized re-enactments, the film charts colonization’s attempts to extinguish Indigenous ways of knowing – and what it means to reconnect with and regain ancient teachings that are as relevant today as ever.

News & reviews

How Canadian Filmmaker Lisa Jackson Plans to Weave Wilfred Buck’s Wild Ride ‘From the Gutter to the Stars’ With Indigenous Astronomy Lore, Variety

‘Wilfred Buck,’ About Indigenous Star Lore Expert, Is a Feel-Good Story, Director Lisa Jackson Says, Variety, March 15 2024

“Wilfred Buck´s complex life is not just the story of a man who has overcome the most terrible and dark moments, but it also a story of how indigenous people have struggled to reclaim lost knowledge, ancient traditions and, crucially, self-respect after hundreds of years of colonialism.” Business Doc Europe, March 20 2024

DIRECTED BY
Lisa Jackson, Canada, 2024, 97´
Distribution
Canada: NFB
Festivals
CPH:DOX - DOX: Award, Hot Docs Toronto, DOXA, Cervino CineMountain FF, Camden IFF
Awards
DOXA Vancouver - Honourable Mention, Award "Mountains of the World" - Cervino Cine Mountain FF
TERRITORIES
World except of North America
DIRECTOR BIO

Lisa Jackson is a Canadian Screen Award and Genie Award-winning Canadian and Anishinaabe filmmaker. Her films have been broadcast on APTN and Knowledge Network, as well as CBC’s ZeDCanadian Reflections and Newsworld and have screened at festivals including HotDocs, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Melbourne, Worldwide Short Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. She’s made more than 20 films, including multi-awarded shorts Savage (2009, Berlinale, SXSW), Intemperance (2014, Toronto IFF), Suckerfish (Hot Docs, Edinburgh IFF, Melbourne IFF). Her most recent film is Wilfred Buck.