This award winning (Best Documentary Short / Best Director) film shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley and her legendary campaign – of more than two decades – as she challenged sex discrimination against First Nations women embedded in Canada’s Indian Act and became an iconic figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement.

Speaking with Cree activist Nellie Carlson, Mary’s lifelong friend and co-founder of Indian Rights for Indian Women, and meeting with three generations in Mary’s kitchen in Kahnawà:ke. Mohawk filmmaker Courtney Montour’s film honours and engages in a deeply personal conversation with the late Mohawk woman who challenged sexist and genocidal government policies that stripped First Nations women and children of their Indian status when they married non-Indian men. 

“…The film draws upon a significant collection of audio interviews that legendary Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin conducted with Earley at the activist’s kitchen table in Kahnawà:ke. Montour lets Earley be the authority on her own experience, using the words that Obomsawin carefully preserved when many archives in Canada wouldn’t make room for her story.” Pat Mullen, POV Magazine

Awards and Nominations

American Indian Film Festival, 2021, USA, Best Documentary Short
imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, 2021, Toronto, Canada, Best Documentary Short
Weengushk International Film Festival, 2021, Canada, Best Director