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MSPIFF40 Audience Choice Award Winner - Nextwave Global Features
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
Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer led the acclaimed dramedy Mohawk Girls to five award-winning seasons as its co-creator, director, and co-showrunner. She received four consecutive Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Direction in a Comedy Series for Mohawk Girls, and she has been honored at TIFF with the Birks Diamond Tribute Award. She recently returned from Los Angeles, where she was a writing co-EP on the Netflix/CBC series Anne with an E. She’s currently working on Inner City Girl, a feature about Aboriginal gang life, with Original Pictures. Tracey’s work has been honored with two Gemini Awards and numerous awards from multiple film festivals, including Hot Docs. She has worked with the CBC, the National Film Board, and numerous independent production companies throughout Canada in both documentary and fiction. Tracey chairs the Board of Directors of Women in View, a non-profit that promotes greater diversity and gender parity in Canadian media. She has mentored emerging talent as leader of the Director Training Program at the imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival, as a guest at the National Screen Institute (NSI) New Indigenous Voices Program, and as mentor at NSI’s new IndigiDocs training course.
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