Nuxalk Nation
AFTER SXSW AUDIENCE AWARD WIN, NUXALK NATION’S CEREMONY HEADS TO HOT DOCS FILM FESTIVAL WITH A STORY CANADA CANNOT IGNORE
April 16, 2026
Bella Coola, B.C. – Nuxalk Nation is pleased to announce that Nuxalk documentary filmmaker Banchi Hanuse’s CEREMONY will have its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario in the Canadian Spectrum Competition Program. The film premieres with Hanuse and a Nuxalk delegation in attendance at the TIFF Lightbox Cinema at 5:30 PM April 30, 2026 with a second screening at 11:30 AM on May 1, 2026.
“This film reflects our enduring strength as Nuxalkmc; it is a meaningful moment for our Nation as our voices connect with new audiences,” said elected chief Samuel Schooner. “Sharing our stories from our perspective is paramount, and we are immensely proud to be a part of ensuring this story is shared with the world.”
Amid the vanished ooligan run in the remote village of Bella Coola, voices rise through the crackling airwaves of Nuxalk Radio as the search for a missing species unearths buried truths of generational erasure and colonial disruption. Collective testimony, watercolour-animated ancestral stories, and rare archival immerse us in a Nuxalk worldview, an ongoing act of reclamation of a people refusing to disappear.
CEREMONY, which began production in 2014, has had a long journey to the screen. Over a decade in the making, the film is a reflection of the time it takes to unravel competing narratives in search of a fuller truth.
“CEREMONYis a response toa call from the Nuxalk community by the Nuxalk community, but its message reaches far beyond our territory,” says Hanuse. “ It asks all of us to witness deeply uncomfortable truths, but also shares and uplifts strength. Nuxalk Radio amplifies this; it’s a space our community uses for healing and empowerment and the film reflects that.”
Banchi Hanuse is a filmmaker who works across film and radio as a co-founder of Nuxalk Radio, supporting Nuxalk language revitalization, upholding Nuxalk Nationhood and advocating for stewardship of Nuxalk homelands. Her acclaimed film Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun, premiered at Big Sky, winning the Big Sky Award in 2023.
Ceremony is directed and produced by Slts’lani Banchi Hanuse, written by Hanuse and Jessica Mayhew, cinematography by Luke Connor, Jean-Philippe Marquis, and edited by Erin Cumming and Sarah Taylor. The film’s animator is Jay White, animation artist Anuximana Jade Hanuse, composer Jesse Zubot and sound by Joe Watts. The documentary features Megan F. Moody, Qwaxw Siwallace, Snuxyaltwa "DJ Y" Deric Snow, Nuskmata Jacinda Mack, Q’umulha Schooner, Sunhwrna Schooner, Jason E. Moody, Snxakila Clyde Tallio, Kmalsuuncw Orden Mack, Peter Solhjell and Tom Swanky.
Ceremony was made possible through the support of Indigenous Screen Office, National Geographic Society, Hot Docs Crosscurrents Doc Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, National Film Board Of Canada – FAP, British Columbia Arts Council. With additional support from Gordon And Betty Moore Foundation,
Makeway Foundation, Nature United, Tula Foundation, and with appreciation to Cannes Docs Marché Du Film, Planet In Focus Film Festival and National Screen Institute.
More Information:
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Nicola Pender, Pender PR
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