Beans

Director Tracey Deer (Mohawk)
Year 2020
Run Time 92min
Genre Drama

Beans takes place at the height of the 1990 Mohawk Resistance at Kanehsatà:ke (also known as the Oka Crisis), a 78-day standoff between Indigenous land defenders, Quebec police, the RCMP and the Canadian military, over the proposed expansion of a golf course on to a Mohawk burial ground. Twelve-year-old Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed “Beans”, played by Kiawentiio) is forced into an early coming of age by these events, as her innocence turns to anger over the treatment of her people.

Drawing from her own experiences as a child, director Tracey Deer provides a poignant and engaging chronicle of these real-life events that shook the nation, as well as a much-needed look at how the traumatic events impacted youth in the community.

Beans premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the 2021 Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture.

Content Note: This film includes coarse language, violence, and thematic elements that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Director

Tracey Deer (Mohawk)

In 2008, Deer won a Gemini Award in Best Documentary Writing, for Club Native. Her debut doc was the award-winning Mohawk Girls, which she adapted into a TV series that ran for five seasons and was nominated for seven CSAs. Beans has won eleven awards, including Best Picture at the CSAs. Most recently, she directed episodes of the series Three Pines, and is currently working on the feature Thorpe, about Native American Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe.

 

Writers

Tracey Deer (Mohawk), Meredith Vuchnich

Cast

Kiawentiio (Mohawk), Dawn Ford, Violah Beauvais (Mohawk), Rainbow Dickerson (Rappahannock), Brittany Leborgne (Mohawk)

Producer

Anne-Marie Gélinas

Genre

Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Bullying, Discrimination, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English