Ceremony, a powerful feature documentary directed by Nuxalk Nation filmmaker Banchi Hanuse, begins with a localized environmental mystery: the sudden disappearance of the ooligan (a culturally vital, smelt-like fish) from the Bella Coola River in British Columbia. Rather than framing this loss as a simple ecological crisis, the film follows Nuxalk biologists and community members as they investigate the absence outward. Using the ramshackle local station, Nuxalk Radio, as a "courtroom, confessional, and conjuring ground," the film peels back layers of history through archival recordings and rare testimonies. The investigation untangles a dark, centuries-old colonial web, mapping the vanishing of the fish directly to an illegal land claim filed on the exact day that smallpox was intentionally introduced to the village—a genocidal devastation that left less than one percent of the Nuxalk population alive.
Far from being just a chronicle of historic atrocities and trauma, the documentary unfolds as an inspiring story of survival, sovereignty, and resistance. Blending handheld watercolor animation, historical photographs, and intimate home videos, Hanuse showcases the enduring resilience of the Nuxalk descendants who continue to honor their ancestors and fight for their unceded land. As families actively return to reclaim empty ancestral villages and defy corporate trespass notices, the narrative emphasizes that the environment and its people are inextricably bound. Ultimately, Ceremony operates under a sacred, ancient law: that the ecosystem cannot heal in isolation, and the sacred ooligan fish will fully return to the waters only when the Nuxalk people have successfully returned to their rightful place on the land.
Official Trailer
