Banchi Hanuse's 'Ceremony' Wins SXSW, Hot Docs, Sydney
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- "Ceremony" directed by Banchi Hanuse won the Audience Award at SXSW, a DGC Award at Hot Docs, and the First Nations Award at the Sydney Film Festival, with its next screening June 19 at the Bentonville Film Festival
- Hanuse spent 12 years developing the documentary about her Nuxalk community in British Columbia's Bella Coola Valley, framing the project as a healing ceremony she had to personally undergo before she could complete it
- The film centers on two Nuxalk biologists working to restore the ooligan in the Bella Coola River — a fish central to the community's food, grease-making, and family bonds — with Qwaxw, co-founder of Nuxalk Radio, serving as the narrative touchstone
- "Ceremony" documents how white settlers, with the implicit accord of the Canadian government, murdered thousands of Nuxalk with the smallpox virus in 1862 and colonized their land, featuring 100+ year-old footage of survivors
- Animation led by Indigenous artist Jay White, with designs by Hanuse's niece Anuximana Jade Hanuse, conveys stories of the Nuxalk's ancient way of life and spiritual connection to lands and waters
- Hanuse said the film's core message — that humanity needs to return to living in harmony with nature to survive — applies "for the wider world," not just her community
Why it matters: The film's festival sweep gives a platform to a story rarely centered in mainstream cinema: the 1862 smallpox massacre of thousands of Nuxalk and the ongoing fight to restore the ooligan as a cultural cornerstone. For the Nuxalk community, "Ceremony" functions as a healing tool for intergenerational trauma, while Hanuse's broader argument — that reconnecting spiritually with lands and waters is a survival imperative for all — reframes Indigenous knowledge as universally relevant.
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