NFB Collection
The Red Dress
197827 min 47 secFilm: Fiction
Direction: Michael Scott
Production: Vladimir ValentaRoman KroitorDieter NachtigallTom Radford
Script: Maria Campbell
Produced by the NFB in cooperation with the English Program, Prairie Centre, CBC, ATEC Canada, Alberta Education Communications Corporation, and Access Alberta for the National Museum of Man.
Renowned Métis author and screenwriter Maria Campbell explores themes of cultural identity, sexual assault, and the familial impact of colonialism in The Red Dress, echoing the themes of her seminal memoir, Halfbreed.
Kelly is a Métis man without treaty or hunting rights, struggling to sustain his traditional life. His daughter Theresa longs for a red dress from France that she believes will give her power and strength, as the bear claw once did for her great-grandfather Muskwa. When Theresa escapes an assault and Kelly turns his back on his daughter, he realizes that he must reconnect with his culture in order to make things right. Today, the red dress is a powerful symbol recognizing the more than 1,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
Availability
Other versions
Subject categories
- Families > AdolescentsFamily ConflictsIndigenous FamiliesParent-Child Relationships
- Indigenous Peoples in Canada (First Nations and Métis) > Adolescents and Young AdultsChildrenCultural ConflictCultural IdentityFamily LifePrairies
- Law and Crime > Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Credits
- director
- Michael Scott
- producer
- Vladimir Valenta
- executive producer
- Roman Kroitor
- Dieter Nachtigall
- associate producer
- Tom Radford
- script
- Maria Campbell
- camera
- David De Volpi
- sound
- Hans Oomes
- editing
- Anne Wheeler
- sound editing
- Bernard Bordeleau
- Donald Douglas
- re-recording
- Hans Peter Strobl
- music
- Roger Deegan
- cast
- Tommy Banks
- Abbie Burnstick
- Jackson Davies
- Yvonne Lois Lee
- Tom Radford
- Sam Sinclair
- Shannon Two Feathers