Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild], 2026.
Directed by Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil.
SYNOPSIS:
Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place.
At one point during director Adam and Zack Khalil’s Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild], footage from numerous films appears, ranging from the adaptations of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary to the Indiana Jones franchise. In the case of the former, it is unsurprisingly about some of the unsavory tropes involved with Indian burial grounds, with a thoughtful look at how stolen land ties into that. When it comes to the latter, it’s a challenging, confrontational take that maybe the white adventurous archaeologist searching for remnants, remains, and artifacts to restore them into a white-owned museum isn’t exactly the hero.
The fact is that many of those physical belongings and human remains have gone to various museums and universities, rather than back to their respective tribes, many of whom now work with activist groups fighting for legislation to be returned to what is rightfully theirs. It also doesn’t come as much of a surprise that, even when a political victory swings in their favor, these institutions don’t necessarily follow suit and release what they possess. These are not objects; they were once people (the film also delicately handles this by censoring footage of the remains) who deserve to be returned to the earth’s soil, as such is important to Native American culture (this point is also made with some trippy, hallucinogenic visuals commenting on the connections of past, present, and future in such a manner that got the film certification for epilepsy warnings before it begins). It’s their history and heritage, and it is organically infuriating watching them be denied ownership.
Fascinatingly, the film contains more than just interviews with members of these Native American tribes; it also features key figures involved in these museums and universities, some of whom admit their wrongdoing and work to make the situation as right as it can be at this stage. Others, such as Harvard, seemingly refused to cooperate. Equally intriguing is that this is also an opportunity to go back in time and explore how archaeology itself was born from an uncomfortable interest in eugenics, attempting to make a case for the inferiority of other races.
At only 80 minutes, it is impressive how many topics and perspectives Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] crams into a tight window, yet undeniably compelling throughout. There are emotional moments capturing heavy moments of repatriations, and an overall optimistic outlook despite a dehumanizing history of being denied repeatedly. Above all else, this is a thought-provoking case on the true nature of archaeology, elevated by baking the past-present future concept into the documentary’s storytelling.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
