Critical Writing Index

NFB documentary takes hard look at alienation of aboriginal cultures

by Sandy Greer

The Gazette, 1988

Alanis Abomsawin's one-hour documentary film, No Address, chronicles the struggles of homeless Montreal Aboriginals. The goal of the film: to challenge perceived and prejudiced notions of the homeless and posits that both community as well as government reform must happen to aid this growing problem. In the work the filmmaker conducts interviews with homeless Aboriginal men and women who discuss reasons for why they are on the street. Abomsawin uses film to make the public aware of this type of hidden reality to prompt social change. This work, like all Abomsawin's, shows the result of the removal of Aboriginals from their traditional value system as well as the perserverance and celebration of Aboriginal culture.

ITEM 1988.063 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

No AddressAlanis Abomsawin