Foster Child

Cardinal, Gil, (film director.). Krepakevich, Jerry, (film producer.). Radford, Tom, (film producer.). McCrea, Graydon, (film producer.). National Film Board of Canada (Montreal), (film producer.).

Summary: An important figure in the history of Canadian Indigenous filmmaking, Gil Cardinal was born to a Métis mother but raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, and with this auto-biographical documentary, he charts his efforts to find his biological mother and to understand why he was removed from her. Considered a milestone in documentary cinema, it addressed the country's internal colonialism in a profoundly personal manner, winning a Special Jury Prize at Banff and multiple international awards. "Foster Child is one of the great docs to come out of Canada and nobody but Gil could have made it," says Jesse Wente, Director of Canada's Indigenous Screen Office. "Gil made it possible for us to think about putting our own stories on the screen, and that was something new and important.".

Record details

Physical Description: 1 streaming video (43 min., 05 sec.) : sound
remote
access
Publisher: Montreal : National Film Board of Canada, 2009.
Copyright: ©1987

Content descriptions

General Note:	Aboriginal filmmaker. Also available:.Also available in a video compilation: <I>50 for 50: Volume 2 - The Documentary Tradition: Tape 2</I>. Agency - English program:.English Program, North West Centre.
Restrictions on Access Note:	No restrictions.
Creation/Production Credits Note:	Director, Gil Cardinal ; producer, Jerry Krepakevich ; executive producer, Tom Radford, Graydon McCrea ; cinematography, James Jeffrey ; sound, Alan Bibby ; editing, Alan Bibby ; sound editing, Gerald K. Wilson ; re-recording, Barry P. Jones.
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:	Recorded 1987.
Target Audience Note:	14-17.
System Details Note:	Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Awards Note:	Special Jury Award, 1988 Special Jury Award - with a cash prize of 1,500$, 1988 Gemini Award for Best Direction in a Documentary (Gil Cardinal), 1988 NFB Kathleen Shannon Documentary Award - with a cash prize of 1,000$, 1988 Golden Sheaf Award - Category: Best Production of the Festival, 1988 Golden Sheaf Award - Category: Best Documentary over 30 minutes, 1988 Certificate of Merit for Cinematography (James Jeffrey), 1988 Best Documentary Short Award, 1987 Gold Apple Award - Category: Human Relations / Life Styles and Life Passages, 1989 Red Ribbon Award - Category: Family Relations, 1988 Honorable Mention - Category: Health and Medicine / Adoption, 1988
Source of Description Note:	Description based on online resource; title from title screen (National Film Board of Canada, viewed 2024-07-01).