Alanis Obomsawin

Born 1932 · Abenaki filmmaker, singer and activist · National Film Board of Canada

Alanis Obomsawin was born 31 August 1932 near Lebanon, New Hampshire, and raised largely in Quebec; she is a member of the Abenaki Nation. She came to film through singing and storytelling, was hired by the National Film Board of Canada as a consultant in 1967 ↗, and has since made some fifty documentaries on First Nations life and history, including Incident at Restigouche and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. She is among the most honoured Indigenous directors working anywhere — which makes it striking that the words most often put in her mouth are not quite the ones she said.

Traced to source

1 quote we’ve traced

Did they really say it?

Thought Alanis Obomsawin said something else?

Type a quote you think Alanis Obomsawin said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.