Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes)

Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have harvested sap from trees to produce syrup, a practice that continues today. Two main characters — Biidaaban, a young Indigenous gender fluid person and Sabe, a Sasquatch shape shifter — set out to harvest sap from sugar maples in their urban environment and private neighbourhoods of the city. Biidaabaan can see traces of time, people, creatures and land. By harvesting syrup in this way, they are continuing the work of their ancestors. Ancestors and animals such as Ghost Caribou and Ghost Wolf are embedded within the landscape but only Biidaaban can see them. These visuals reverberate throughout the work to draw from the past — but what we see is steadfast in the present. Driven by the words of Anishinaabe writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Amanda Strong’s mesmerizing stop motion animation intricately weaves together multiple worlds through time and space, calling for a rebellion.