The Knowing, Seeds up for Screen Awards
Tanya Talaga, left, alongside co-director Courtney Montour, while at the premiere of The
Knowing. File photo
Two Kahnawa’kehró:non are feeling hopeful after finding out they were nominated for multiple Canadian Screen Awards last week.
“It’s very exciting. It’s incredible to be acknowledged by our film industry peers, especially for an Indigenous work of such importance,” said Courtney Montour, who is being nominated for the screen award for the first time in her directing career, for her and Tanya Talaga’s docuseries The Knowing, about the legacy of residential schools.
The four-episode series she co-directed alongside the Anishinaabe columnist was shortlisted in five categories in all - for the title of best history documentary series, and for best direction and best writing in the documentary category. The series airing on CBC Gem is also up for two Barbara Sears Awards, too, for best editorial research and best visual research.
Director Kaniehtiio Horn also saw her 2024 film Seeds, her directorial debut, nominated in four film categories. It follows the story of Ziggy, who works for a lucrative seed and fertilizer company, just to find out its out to steal seeds her family has passed on for generations.
The comedy series Letterkenny, which the Kahnawa’kehró:non also stars in, was also nominated in four television series categories.
“It’s really exciting to see filmmakers in our own community being recognized for their work at this level,” Montour said. “It’s a really great time for people to be able to experiment in this field.”
It’s encouraging to see The Knowing is getting the acknowledgement that it deserves, Montour said, saying she hopes it will attract more people to delve into the history of residential schools.
It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September and aired on CBC that fall. Based on Talaga’s book of the same name, it pieces together the story of Talaga’s great-great-grandmother. Her search to learn more about her brings her across Canada.
“It follows Tanya’s eight-decade long search for their family matriarch, Annie Carpenter. That leads her to Fort Albany and around the James Bay region in northern Ontario, as well as other places,” Montour said.
The series also follows her journey to Rome to witness Pope Francis’s apology on behalf of the Catholic Church for its role in the assimilation and abuse of children in residential schools.
“The Knowing is about residential school experiences in Canada and their ongoing legacy and impact, and how Canada needs to change and take notice and support our communities in finding our lost loved ones,” Montour said.
“It’s really presenting a new way of storytelling, and it’s incredibly community-based,” she added. “It was really important for us to show the resiliency that’s happening on the ground in our communities, as everyone is working through finding their lost loved ones.”
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The series has earned other accolades. Montour and Talaga were also recognized as being the best TV directors of the year by Playback, a Canadian television industry magazine, back in the fall too.
Montour said she’s looking forward to attending the screen award ceremony that’ll be held in Toronto in late May.
“It’s so important to be there in person to represent the Indigenous projects that are being nominated,” she said. “We have to also show up and claim that space and make ourselves seen and present as Indigenous creators, storytellers, and filmmakers.”
