Documentary
Like millions of indigenous people, many Native American tribes do not control their own material history and culture. For the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes living on the isolated Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, new contact with lost artifacts risks opening old wounds but also offers the possibility for healing. What Was Ours is the story of how a young journalist and a teenage powwow princess, both of the Arapaho tribe, travelled together with a Shoshone elder in search of missing artifacts in the vast archives of Chicago’s Field Museum. There they discover a treasure trove of ancestral objects, setting them on a journey to recover what has been lost and build hope for the future.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
The Homecoming
Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii
Black Thoughts
Cracks in the Mask
Reunion
Hard Bargaining: Museums Face Claims for Return of Artefacts
Volver a Volver
Home from School: The Children of Carlisle
Etched in Bone
Idak-Idak-Idak
Message from Mungo
Sharp Objects
The Stone That Remembers
Album polski
Yana's Friends
The Agency
Becoming Cousteau
Graham Goes to Dollywood
My Left Breast
John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
SIMILAR MOVIES
The Homecoming
IMDB 8.5 | Sep , 2023
Sámi artefacts from the Finnish National Museum are returning home to Sápmi, while the holy drums of the Sámi people are still imprisoned in the basements of museums across Europe. The returning objects symbolise the dignity, identity, history, connection to ancestors and a whole world view that was taken from the Sámi people. Director Suvi West takes the viewer behind the scenes of the museum world to reflect on the spirit of the objects, the inequality of cultures and the colonialist burden of museums.Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii
IMDB 0 | Jul , 2004
Filmmaker Kevin McMahon accompanies the Haida delegation on a repatriation trip to Chicago in 2003. His film reveals the whole repatriation process through the stories and experiences of the people who participated, both Museum staff and the Haida people.Black Thoughts
IMDB 5.5 | Aug , 2020
A man that is a stranger, is an incredibly easy man to hate. However, walking in a stranger’s shoes, even for a short while, can transform a perceived adversary into an ally. Power is found in coming to know our neighbor’s hearts. For in the darkness of ignorance, enemies are made and wars are waged, but in the light of understanding, family extends beyond blood lines and legacies of hatred crumble.Cracks in the Mask
IMDB 0 | Jun , 1997
A century ago the Torres Strait Island were the subjects of the famous Cambridge Anthropological Expedition - the resulting depletion of their cultural artifacts left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the Pacific to make elaborate turtleshell masks have none left - they are all in foreign museums. In a quest to reclaim the past, Ephraim Bani, a wise and knowledgeable Torres Strait Islander, travels with his wife to the great museums of Europe where his heritage lies. The film, an SBS Independent production, shows that the thickest of masks cracks when a descendant of the original owners enters a museum.Reunion
IMDB 6.8 | Jan , 1946
Live footage from concentration camps after the liberation, and the complex transport and lodging of masses of prisoners of war and other deported people back to their home countries, at the end of World War II. A 45min 35mm print also exists (shown at Cinémathèque française in 2023).Hard Bargaining: Museums Face Claims for Return of Artefacts
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2011
Four French museums, the Louvre, the Quai Branly, the French National Library, and the Rouen Museum, are faced with pressing demands for the return of works of art. The number of demands is multiplying. They come from all over the world, and in particular from Egypt, Mali and New Zealand. The question of returning works of art to their countries of origin is increasingly making news. Take for example the emotions aroused by President Sarkozy’s decision, on the 12th November 2010, to return 297 royal manuscripts to South Korea. The ensuing row involved diametrically opposed points of view. Was it a violation of the principle of inalienability of France’s national collections or was it a just reparation for the victims of colonization? The rich countries’ great museums and the countries of origin have completely different visions of the issue. The museums defend the idea of a universal museum whose works belong to the whole of humanity.Volver a Volver
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2025
The Sykora family are only four people out of millions of Venezuelans that have recently escaped their collapsing country. They land in the Czech Republic, the country where Grandpa Jan was born, but also a place utterly strange to them. In a matter of months their savings have almost gone and job seeking becomes a nightmare. Again, the dream of just having a normal life starts to vanish. Will the family manage not to crumble along the way?Home from School: The Children of Carlisle
IMDB 5 | Nov , 2021
“Kill the Indian to save the man” was the catchphrase of The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school opened in Pennsylvania in 1879. It became a grim epitaph for numerous native children who died there. In 2017, a delegation from the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming attempts to retrieve the remains of three Northern Arapaho children buried far from home in the school cemetery, on a journey to recast the troubled legacy of Indian boarding schools, and heal historic wounds. This documentary film is produced by The Content Lab LLC, with support from The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, The Wyoming Humanities Council, and Wyoming PBS.Etched in Bone
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2018
Drawing on original footage from National Geographic, Etched in Bone explores the impact of one notorious bone theft by a member of the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. Hundred of bones were stolen and deposited in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, until it became known to Arnhem elders in the late 1990s. The return of the sacred artefacts was called for, resulting in a tense standoff between indigenous tribespeople and the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian.Idak-Idak-Idak
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2025
Idak-Idak-Idak is a hybrid-documentary relating the stolen Lombok Treasures with the Sasak diaspora through three generations of women: a daughter, her mother, and her grandmother. Blending full-spectrum cinematography with personal footage, this film moves between Indonesia and the Netherlands to examine colonial legacies, displacement and healing the heart of home. In Sasak, "Idak" can be interpreted as both “heart” and “absence”, becoming a container for memory, loss, and the unseen layers of the self between generations.Message from Mungo
IMDB 7 | Sep , 2014
Lake Mungo is an ancient Pleistocene lake-bed in south-western New South Wales, and is one of the world’s richest archaeological sites. Message from Mungo focuses on the interface over the last 40 years between the scientists on one hand, and, on the other, the Indigenous communities who identify with the land and with the human remains revealed at the site. This interface has often been deeply troubled and contentious, but within the conflict and its gradual resolution lies a moving story of the progressive empowerment of the traditional custodians of the area.Sharp Objects
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2025
‘Sharp Objects’ follows the forgotten story of the Klungkung keris back to its origins and to its post-colonial relevance to Bali today, tracing the looting of the keris to modern day tourism in Bali. The film juxtaposes the 'knowledge' of colonial archives against community-based knowledge and mythology, convoluting the understanding of what is preserved, what is dead and what is lost. The artists apply a tangible intervention on the photochemical material they use for the film. This time consuming approach embodies the narrative of the labor intensive iron forging craftmanship of a keris blacksmith.The Stone That Remembers
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2025
The Stone That Remembers interprets the Durga Mahisas-uramardini statue’s journey from its home, the Singhasari Temple, to the hands of colonizers, and various museums. The film follow the patriarchal displacement of a woman that represents the Durga, exploring the parallels between the fate of the statue and many women today.Album polski
IMDB 0 | May , 1970
University student Anna and her boyfriend Tomek use a precious photograph to trace and unveil the complex wartime and post-war past of their parents.Yana's Friends
IMDB 5.8 | Nov , 1999
Three parallel stories of immigrants in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War and about coming together while sealed in a room during the Scud attacks.The Agency
IMDB 4 | Dec , 2020
A look at the work of a group of reporters and photographers from EFE, a Spanish news agency founded in 1939, which is celebrating its eightieth anniversary. A journey around the world —Mexico, Congo, USA, Libya, France, Spain, China and the Chilean Patagonia— with the purpose of honoring all people who work in the shadows, tirelessly seeking the truth in the era of social networks and fake news.Becoming Cousteau
IMDB 7 | Oct , 2021
Adventurer, filmmaker, inventor, author, unlikely celebrity and conservationist: For over four decades, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his explorations under the ocean became synonymous with a love of science and the natural world. As he learned to protect the environment, he brought the whole world with him, sounding alarms more than 50 years ago about the warming seas and our planet’s vulnerability. In BECOMING COUSTEAU, from National Geographic Documentary Films, two-time Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus takes an inside look at Cousteau and his life, his iconic films and inventions, and the experiences that made him the 20th century’s most unique and renowned environmental voice — and the man who inspired generations to protect the Earth.Graham Goes to Dollywood
IMDB 0 | Dec , 2001
Dolly Parton enjoyed her appearance on late-night talk show So Graham Norton so much that she invited the host to visit her theme park in Tennessee. Among other things, Graham rides a rollercoaster with 50 Dolly lookalikes, watches ostrich races at a rodeo and sings "Islands in the Stream" as a duet with Dolly herself.My Left Breast
IMDB 1 | Oct , 2000
Gerry Rogers, a filmmaker in Newfoundland, documents her personal battle with breast cancer. With her partner Peggy and lots of support from family and friends, she makes her way to recovery.John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1990
"Lounge Lizard" John Lurie — actor, performer, and musician — talks about love and life and gives a gentle insight into modern time's hipster attitudes.