Kanenon We - Original Seeds
United States | 2025 | 26 minutes | English | Order No. W251322
Three Indigenous women reclaim and revive sacred seed traditions on the brink of extinction –igniting a powerful movement of resistance, renewal, and food sovereignty.
SYNOPSIS
Before European contact, Indigenous communities cultivated a rich diversity of foods, with women serving as the primary caretakers of seeds and guardians of biodiversity and sustenance. But centuries of colonial violence – including boarding schools, land dispossession, forced relocation, imposed religion, and even food warfare – disrupted these relationships, severing communities from their traditional food systems.
Now, as industrial agriculture and agrochemical corporations control the majority of the global seed supply, the stakes have never been higher. Against this backdrop, these women are not only recovering rare and endangered heirloom seeds; they are also restoring ceremony, knowledge, and sovereignty.
Through intimate, on-the-ground storytelling, KANENON:WE – ORGINAL SEEDS reveals a growing movement led by Native women who are replanting more than seeds – they are regenerating culture, reclaiming identity, and reimagining a future grounded in resilience, reciprocity, and Indigenous knowledge systems.
PRESS
"An eye-opening film that takes a clear stance on Indigenous sovereignty, self-sustainability, and how caring for your community can be a form of resistance and love simultaneously"
SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS
- Best Documentary Short, The Roxbury International Film Festival 2025
- Best Short Documentary, Arizona International Film Festival 2025
- Diversity Award, My Name is Climate Film Festival 2025
- BlackStar Film Festival 2025
- The Roxbury International Film Festival 2025
- Arizona International Film Festival 2025
- My Name is Climate Film Festival 2025
- Maoriland Film Festival 2025
- Colorado Environmental Film Festival 2025
- Maine Outdoor Film Festival 2025
- Red Dirt Film Festival 2025
- Hot Springs International Women's Film Festival 2025
- The Portland EcoFilm Festival 2025
- Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival 2025
- Weengushk International Film Festival 2025
- Native Spirit Film Festival 2026
- New Jersey International Film Festival 2025
- Dawson City International Film Festival 2025
- American Documentary and Animation Film Festival 2025
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Katsitsionni has been making films since 2003 in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, where she resides. Her film “Ohero:kon - Under the Husk,” following the journey of two Mohawk girls as they take part in their traditional passage rites to becoming Mohawk Women, received funding from Vision Maker Media and was broadcast on many PBS stations. Katsitsionni received the Jane Glassco Award for Emerging Filmmaker at the imagineNATIVE Film Festival in 2016 as well as the Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking Award at LA Skins Fest in 2016. She produced a series of twelve short segments for REMATRIATION, a Native American women's online, multi-media magazine, that is focused on healing and empowerment of Native women through the sharing of their stories and successes. Her latest documentary, WITHOUT A WHISPER, is an untold story of how Native American women helped to inspire the struggle of American women’s suffrage movement in the United States. (09/20)
DIRECTOR
KATSITSIONNI FOX
PRODUCERS
KATSITSIONNI FOX
KATJA ESSON
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
FRANCENE BLYTHE-LEWIS
WRITER
KATSITSIONNI FOX
EDITOR
AMINA MEGALLI
CINEMATOGRAPHY
JAIDEN MITCHELL
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
XOCHITL FOX
ANIMATION
JOHN VALENICA
COMPOSER / MUSIC
ROBBY BAIER
SOUND DESIGN
BAD ANIMALS
KEY CAST
ANGELA FERGUSON
REBECCA WEBSTER
ROWEN WHITE
