For the Land, For the Future: Youth Film School for critical knowledge mobilization, Indigenous governance and leadership

This SSHRC-funded project explores how Indigenous-led, youth-centered film programs function as tools for knowledge governance, cultural continuity, and self determined storytelling.

In an age of digital literacy and emergent landscapes of synthetic intelligence, knowledge transference, translation and mobilization are acts of sovereignty, governance and Nationhood for Indigenous communities. This project explores how Indigenous-led, youth-centered film programs function as tools for knowledge governance, cultural continuity, and self-determined storytelling. Working in partnership with the local School Boards (British Columbia), the research will document and co-develop community-based film-production approaches that integrate land-based knowledge, cultural protocol, language, and relational accountability into youth media practice. Through field observation, collaborative workshops, and a short, applied youth film intensive, the project will examine how Indigenous communities design film-based learning that supports intergenerational knowledge transfer and youth leadership in digital media. While Indigenous communities increasingly use film and digital media to share knowledge, there is limited research examining Indigenous-controlled film production as a form of governance rather than solely artistic or educational activity. Addressing this gap, the project centers Indigenous research methodologies grounded in Michif relational teachings that locate knowledge, identity, and responsibility as emerging from the land. The research will contribute to scholarship in Indigenous studies, communication, education, and digital media, while also producing findings and frameworks of direct use to Indigenous organizations, educators, and cultural practitioners.