AKI
Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe) • 1 hour 22 minutes • 2025 • Canada
AKI (Anishinaabemowin for "earth" or "land") is a meditative, visually immersive documentary set in Atikameksheng Anishnawbek in Northern Ontario, Canada. Filmed over seasonal years, this unscripted project unfolds entirely without narration or dialogue, instead relying on the aural textures of wind, water, animal and human life, and ceremony to tell the story of a people fully rooted in their land.
Director Darlene Naponse, a community member and artist from Atikameksheng, invites us into her homeland and shares an intimate glimpse into the layers of everyday life where storytelling emerges through gestures, places, and the non-verbal. AKI shares land-based practices such as fishing, maple syrup harvesting, and medicine gathering, while reflecting on histories of colonisation, environmental exploitation, and attempted cultural erasure against the realities of the ongoing strength of community. It is a film about memory without nostalgia, resistance without spectacle, and language beyond words, enhanced by a stunning score by Cris Derksen.
Director Biography - Darlene Naponse
Darlene Naponse is an Anishinaabe filmmaker, writer, and community leader from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek in Northern Ontario. Darlene has directed numerous short films, episodic TV, and five feature films. Her previous two features, FALLS AROUND HER (2018) starring Tantoo Cardinal, and STELLAR (2022) starring Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, both had their world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Darlene’s films have also screened at Sundance, imagineNATIVE, and numerous international festivals. She is the founder of Baswewe Films, an independent Indigenous production company based on-reserve, and was instrumental in drafting her community’s constitution (Gchi-Naaknigewin). Her work is grounded in Indigenous governance, land-based practices, and Anishinaabe storytelling.
She continues to live and work on Atikameksheng Anishnawbek.
