127 minutes – Drama, Indigenous
Language: English, Cree, ʔayʔajuθəm, Italian
Festival release date: September 10, 2022 – TIFF (World Premiere)
Release date: June 2, 2023
Production companies: Ayasew Ooskana Pictures, Marie Clements Media, Screen Siren Pictures, Grana Productions
Canadian distributor: Elevation Pictures

Bones of Crows is told through the eyes of Cree Matriarch Aline Spears, played by different actors at different stages of her life, as the story unfolds over 100 years. She survives a childhood in the Canadian residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. She uses her uncanny ability to understand and translate codes into working for a special division of the Canadian Air Force as a Cree code talker in World War II. Confronted by her traumatic past, as she embarks on a classified mission during the war she realizes the devastating secrets long buried in her are shared by others.

The feature film gets expanded when a five-part series will debut on CBC and Radio-Canada in 2023-24.
Also see: Tiff 2022 – Day Eight.