How to Watch
Based on Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer’s own childhood, Beans is the story of a 12-year-old girl coming of age during the tumultuous summer of the 1990 Oka Crisis.
Her name is Tekahentahkhwa, but everyone calls her Beans. As Beans (Kiawentiio) and her close-knit family debate whether or not she should attend an elite private school, a stand-off over land rights escalates between their Mohawk community and the Canadian government. Joining Indigenous activists on the frontlines, Beans experiences tense conflict and racist violence firsthand. Isolated behind the barricades, Beans befriends a group of older teens and finds herself on a precipitous edge--on one side the innocence of a protected childhood, and on the other the complex responsibilities of adulthood. Coping with traumatic racial hostilities and eager to prove herself, Beans faces challenging questions about how to fit in, how to survive, how to pursue her dreams and stand with her people for what’s right. (Deb Girdwood)
“I want our children to grow up confident that they are safe in this world – and that their lives and dreams are important. For that to happen, we need social and racial equity. I made this film to inspire audiences to open their hearts and minds to living as allies of Indigenous people. We need their friendship, support, and action for society to change for the better.” --Tracey Deer, Winner, Toronto International Film Festival Emerging Talent Award
Content advisories: racialized violence, implied sexual violence, alcohol, mature language. Recommended for ages 12+
Director Biography
Born in 1978 in Kahnawake, Canada, Tracey Deer graduated with a degree in film studies from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Afterwards, she helped start Rezolution Pictures, an Aboriginal-run film and television production company. She is the director of the documentaries One More River: The Deal That Split the Cree (2004), Mohawk Girls (2005), Club Native (2008) and created the popular television series Mohawk Girls, that ran for five seasons. Beans (2020) is her debut feature.
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