Małni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore

A stunning poetic excursion through the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Our protagonists and guides are Jordan Mercier and Sweetwater Sahme, who share their own personal rituals and relationship with the spirit world, traditions, and circularity around the origin of the death myth of the Chinookan people. The language of this slowly-paced film fluctuates from English to the indigenous language of Chinuk Wawa. As gorgeous as the photography is, Maɬni is also sonically adventurous, with enticing scenes that present both an epic wander of the great northern terrain and an inward dive that taps deep into the meanings of mortality. Sky Hopinka entwines personal paths and bodies of water as he constructs multi-layered metaphors of homeland, landscape, and myth in an indigenous world. (True/False Film Festival)