Powwow lifestyle showcased in full-length film debut for First Nations director

Hayley Morin recalls that some of her fondest childhood memories include attending the annual powwow on her First Nation. Morin, 29, is a member of Enoch Cree Nation in Alberta.

Though she has produced various short films during her career, Morin is excited about the upcoming release of her full-length film as a director. Her film, Under The Arbor, will premiere across Canada on CBC Gem starting on Aug. 15.

And those who live in Alberta and British Columbia will be able to watch the film on their CBC Television channels on Aug. 16.

The film follows dancers, singers, performers and families who take part in powwows in Alberta.

“My family wasn’t the most involved in powwow growing up,” Morin said. “We were pretty affected by residential schools and colonialism through my kookums (grandmothers) and mushums (grandfathers). So, unfortunately with my family, we didn’t speak our language. We didn’t participate in powwows.”

Her early exposure to powwow was as a spectator at Enoch.

“It always was one of my favourite memories as a child,” Morin said. “As I grew older and into my early teen years, I found an interest in dancing myself. So, I did a bit of women’s traditional dancing when I was about 11 to 14.”

But she never competed in powwow. Instead, Morin was keen to tell the stories of those who were involved.

Footage for her latest film, which was shot during July and August 2024, was captured at powwows on the Enoch Cree Nation, Tsuut’ina Nation and Samson Cree Nation.

Morin said she has two main goals for the film.

“The biggest one for me was just to be able to pay a lot of love and a lot of homage to this community that is so special to not only me but to many First Nations people,” she said. “I think being able to show us in a way that we’ve never really been able to be shown before is really important.”

And she wanted to introduce others to Indigenous cultural celebrations.

“I also hope that people who aren’t familiar with the powwow scene or they may have never been able to go to one themselves, they’re able to learn about the tradition, something that happens every single year pretty much very, very close to them,” she said. “And I hope that it just spurs them to want to be able to check out one around them and join the circle.”

Morin said that during the brief periods she was a dancer herself she didn’t realize how much passive knowledge she gained just being around the powwow circle.

“So, going back and doing the film, it was a really great experience because being back around the drum, being around the dancers, it really just reminded me of how much it actually was a part of my childhood without me really being that involved,” she said.

“Being able to kind of reconnect to that part of my life and being able to learn more educationally about what was happening, like learning the significance of the dances, learning the difference between the songs and how to be able to tell the different beats. Being able to just come at it from a more, I guess, proper way of education was just really beneficial to me and made me realize how much it actually was a part of my life.”

Under The Arbor enabled Morin to try something different — directing a full-length film.

“Being in that position was definitely a very different place for me,” she said. “Most of my career up to this point has been producing documentary shorts. And in the last couple of years I’ve gotten into producing narrative features as well. So, being able to return to directing, being able to have it through the powwow scene and have this sort of be my first full-length film was super special. And it made it feel so much more important to return to directing to tell a story like this.”

Morin said she thinks shorts will always be a part of her life. “But I’m very excited to sort of focus on features for the next couple years.”

Under The Arbor includes some notable performers, including singer/songwriter Fawn Wood and the drum group Cree Confederation.

Wood, a Cree and Salish performer from St. Paul, won a Juno Award in 2022 in the Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year category.

“It was huge,” Morin said of having the popular singer in her film.

“Fawn Wood is a super iconic and legendary musician, not only in the powwow scene but the Indigenous music scene in general.”

Cree Confederation has been nominated for both Juno and Grammy awards.

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This article was written by a reporter supported through the Local Journalism Initiative and edited by the writer’s host newsroom. The Local Journalism Initiative is a federally funded program that supports original public-interest journalism in smaller or underserved communities across Canada. Content produced through the initiative is editorially independent and does not necessarily reflect the views of Shootin’ the Breeze. Stories like this are shared to keep readers informed and connected — and to reflect real Canadian life.