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Inconvenient Indian
Inconvenient Indian is a 2020 Canadian documentary film, directed by Michelle Latimer. It is an adaptation of Thomas King's non-fiction book The Inconvenient Indian, focusing on narratives of indigenous peoples of Canada. King stars as the documentary's narrator, with Gail Maurice and other indigenous artists appearing.
It premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won multiple accolades. The film uses a non-linear narrative style to reflect its indigenous roots and deliver its story visually. It explores topics of indigenous people's history and present. The film was widely praised, particularly for Latimer's direction and its authentic indigenous style and voice, and won various documentary awards at Canadian festivals.
In December 2020, following the emergence of questions around Latimer's claimed indigenous identity, the film was withdrawn from distribution. Further, in 2025, King was determined not to have any Indigenous ancestry.
Inconvenient Indian blends scenes in which author and indigenous rights activist Thomas King, filmed in a taxi cab being driven by actress Gail Maurice in character as an indigenous trickster, narrates portions of his own book with video clips of historical representation of indigenous peoples as well as segments profiling modern figures, such as Kent Monkman, Christi Belcourt, A Tribe Called Red, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Nyla Innuksuk, who are reshaping the narrative with their contemporary work in art, music, literature and film. It does not follow a traditional documentary format, using evocative imagery instead of talking heads; King is never seen to speak, appearing on screen independent to his narration.
The film also uses dramatic juxtaposition to deliver its message, including scenes with King's narration overlaying an image of him eating popcorn while watching old film Westerns and following a scene of Dakota Access Pipeline protests with one of a man distributing seal meat to indigenous Canadian families, having previously clubbed it to ensure it was shot dead. Director Michelle Latimer said she did this to highlight the cruelty towards human protestors, as well as suggesting that mainstream society is more angered at cruelty towards animals (rather than people) because hunting allows indigenous peoples to be self-reliant and live their history outside of society in the present.
Maurice and Monkman appear as trickster figures in the film, both in a way Latimer described as gender bending and two-spirit; she incorporated Maurice's Coyote character and Monkman's alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle to reflect on "the colonization of sexuality in Western culture", saying that "it was only with the onset of Christianity that we started to have judgment based on sexuality."
Latimer told The Hollywood Reporter that she chose to make the documentary after having worked on her docu-series Rise, which also focused on indigenous issues, and wanting to make something that expounded on the topic rather than follow a real-time story. Latimer was inspired to use non-linear storytelling for this reason and from adapting King's book, which also has a circular storytelling style, saying: "In indigenous storytelling, we consider the storyteller and the listener to be one. And as you hear the story, the story becomes part of you and then you embellish that story and you tell it forward". She also said that taking a book to adapt is like being given instructions and "hones in [her] focus"; King's book is dense and Latimer chose to adapt its main themes through visual representation, rather than attempt to reproduce it all.
She told CBC News that a moment during filming of an art gallery scene "reminded [her] why she became a filmmaker"; they were recording Monkman's painting The Scream, which depicts a young indigenous child being taken from their parents by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in the gallery when an indigenous girl of a similar age came to see it, being pulled away from the image by her parents in a way that seemed to mimic the painting. Latimer was inspired by the moment where life imitates art and by the knowledge that a hundred years ago the girl in the museum would be the one depicted in the painting, saying it showed the idea of circular storytelling and how "the history is right now. The future and the past — it's all right now".
Inconvenient Indian
Inconvenient Indian is a 2020 Canadian documentary film, directed by Michelle Latimer. It is an adaptation of Thomas King's non-fiction book The Inconvenient Indian, focusing on narratives of indigenous peoples of Canada. King stars as the documentary's narrator, with Gail Maurice and other indigenous artists appearing.
It premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won multiple accolades. The film uses a non-linear narrative style to reflect its indigenous roots and deliver its story visually. It explores topics of indigenous people's history and present. The film was widely praised, particularly for Latimer's direction and its authentic indigenous style and voice, and won various documentary awards at Canadian festivals.
In December 2020, following the emergence of questions around Latimer's claimed indigenous identity, the film was withdrawn from distribution. Further, in 2025, King was determined not to have any Indigenous ancestry.
Inconvenient Indian blends scenes in which author and indigenous rights activist Thomas King, filmed in a taxi cab being driven by actress Gail Maurice in character as an indigenous trickster, narrates portions of his own book with video clips of historical representation of indigenous peoples as well as segments profiling modern figures, such as Kent Monkman, Christi Belcourt, A Tribe Called Red, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Nyla Innuksuk, who are reshaping the narrative with their contemporary work in art, music, literature and film. It does not follow a traditional documentary format, using evocative imagery instead of talking heads; King is never seen to speak, appearing on screen independent to his narration.
The film also uses dramatic juxtaposition to deliver its message, including scenes with King's narration overlaying an image of him eating popcorn while watching old film Westerns and following a scene of Dakota Access Pipeline protests with one of a man distributing seal meat to indigenous Canadian families, having previously clubbed it to ensure it was shot dead. Director Michelle Latimer said she did this to highlight the cruelty towards human protestors, as well as suggesting that mainstream society is more angered at cruelty towards animals (rather than people) because hunting allows indigenous peoples to be self-reliant and live their history outside of society in the present.
Maurice and Monkman appear as trickster figures in the film, both in a way Latimer described as gender bending and two-spirit; she incorporated Maurice's Coyote character and Monkman's alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle to reflect on "the colonization of sexuality in Western culture", saying that "it was only with the onset of Christianity that we started to have judgment based on sexuality."
Latimer told The Hollywood Reporter that she chose to make the documentary after having worked on her docu-series Rise, which also focused on indigenous issues, and wanting to make something that expounded on the topic rather than follow a real-time story. Latimer was inspired to use non-linear storytelling for this reason and from adapting King's book, which also has a circular storytelling style, saying: "In indigenous storytelling, we consider the storyteller and the listener to be one. And as you hear the story, the story becomes part of you and then you embellish that story and you tell it forward". She also said that taking a book to adapt is like being given instructions and "hones in [her] focus"; King's book is dense and Latimer chose to adapt its main themes through visual representation, rather than attempt to reproduce it all.
She told CBC News that a moment during filming of an art gallery scene "reminded [her] why she became a filmmaker"; they were recording Monkman's painting The Scream, which depicts a young indigenous child being taken from their parents by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in the gallery when an indigenous girl of a similar age came to see it, being pulled away from the image by her parents in a way that seemed to mimic the painting. Latimer was inspired by the moment where life imitates art and by the knowledge that a hundred years ago the girl in the museum would be the one depicted in the painting, saying it showed the idea of circular storytelling and how "the history is right now. The future and the past — it's all right now".