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Oka series

Alanis Obomsawin's series on the 1990 Oka crisis

4 movies 1993 – 2000 5h 13m total
Directed by Alanis Obomsawin

Movies in this collection

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, sets the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness.

My Name Is Kahentiiosta
My Name Is Kahentiiosta

Story of Kahentiiosta, a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman arrested after the Oka Crisis in 1990. She was detained 4 days longer than the other women because the prosecutor representing the Quebec government did not accept her Indigenous name.

Spudwrench
Spudwrench

Spudwrench

1998 58m Dir. Alanis Obomsawin

This documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin introduces us to Randy Horne, a high steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. As a defender of his people's culture and traditions, he was known as "Spudwrench" during the 1990 Oka crisis.

Rocks at Whiskey Trench
Rocks at Whiskey Trench

Rocks at Whiskey Trench

2000 1h 46m Dir. Alanis Obomsawin

This feature documentary profiles a key element of the 1990 Oka crisis in which the Mohawk communities of Kahnawake and Kanehsatake stood against the Canadian military and Canadian citizens in a stand-off that turned violent.