In Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild], the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA) works to have the remains of Indigenous Ancestors brought back to their respective tribes from museum storage sites. The documentary shows this work happening over years, with various roadblocks being overcome along the way.

Aanikoobijigan takes us through the history of the practice of exhibition – western institutions digging up burial sites and holding on to indigenous remains for ‘study’, and breaks down the averse implications of this practice – not just the racism, but also the turning over of an entire belief system in which there is no distance in time, and being buried in the earth is an important part of the cycle of life.

Aanikoobijigan takes an experimental approach, blending visual effects with interviews and archival footage to blur the lines between the physical and spiritual. It highlights there is still a long way to go in recovering these remains, in the United States where it’s set and certainly in the rest of North America. Overall, the documentary is a wake-up call, imploring us to question what is put on exhibition and by whom.

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] premiered at Hot Docs ’26. For more information, click here.