Where the Spirit Lives (1990)
In 1937, a young First Nations (Canadian native) girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. She is taken to a boarding school where she is forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment. Only one sympathetic white teacher who is more and more repelled by this bigotry offers her any help from among the staff. That, with her force of will, Ashtecome (forced to take the name Amelia) is determined to hold on to her identity and that of her siblings, who were also abducted.
Director: Bruce Pittman
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Michelle St. John as Komi / Amelia |
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Kim Bruisedhead Fox as Anataki |
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Marianne Jones as Komi's Mother |
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Gus Chief Moon as Ka - moos - ee |
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Clayton Julian as Pita / Abraham |
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Margaret Cozry as Grandmother |
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Marge Fox as Anataki's Mother |
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Ann-Marie MacDonald as Kathleen |
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Sean Mulcahy as Priest |
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Sam Malkin as Mr. Crawford |
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Doris Petrie as Miss Weir |
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Chapelle Jaffe as Miss Appleby |
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Tina Louise Bomberry as Asst. Supervisor #2 |
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Barbara Wheeldon as Matron |
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John Friesen as Mr. Babcock |
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Heather Hess as Rachel |
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Cynthia Debassige as Esther |
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Franklin Doss as George |
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Darlene Shilling as Rose |
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Margaret Martina as Sarah |
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Sarah Williams as Ruth |
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Patricia Collins as Mrs. Barrington |
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Graham Greene as Komi's Father |
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Rudy Medicine Crane as Rachel's Mother |
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David Hemblen as Reverend Buckley |
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Ron White as Taggart |
| Art | Jane Manchee | Set Decoration |
| Sound | Buffy Sainte-Marie | Music |
| Costume & Make-Up | Nicole Demers | Makeup Artist |
| Production | Arlene Berman | Casting |
| Costume & Make-Up | Perry Kutsch | Hairstylist |
| Art | Valanne Ridgeway | Production Design |
| Writing | Keith Ross Leckie | Writer |
| Production | Paul Stephens | Executive Producer |
| Production | Mary Young Leckie | Producer |
| Directing | Bruce Pittman | Director |
| Costume & Make-Up | Sylvie Krasker | Costume Design |
| Production | Nancy Harvey | Production Manager |
| Art | Tim Bider | Art Direction |
| Production | Scott Shepherd | Producer |
| Production | Heather Haldane | Producer |
| Production | Eric Jordan | Producer |
| Camera | Rene Ohashi | Director of Photography |
| Editing | Michael Todd | Editor |
| Sound | Buffy Sainte-Marie | Original Music Composer |
