The Ballad of Crowfoot (1968)

Overview : Released in 1968 and often referred to as Canada’s first music video, The Ballad of Crowfoot was directed by Willie Dunn, a Mi’kmaq/Scottish folk singer and activist who was part of the historic Indian Film Crew, the first all-Indigenous production unit at the NFB. The film is a powerful look at colonial betrayals, told through a striking montage of archival images and a ballad composed by Dunn himself about the legendary 19th-century Siksika (Blackfoot) chief who negotiated Treaty 7 on behalf of the Blackfoot Confederacy. The IFC’s inaugural release, Crowfoot was the first Indigenous-directed film to be made at the NFB.

Release Date : January 1, 1968

Runtime : 10m

Genre : Documentary, Music  

Companies : ONF | NFB, Challenge for Change / Société Nouvelle

Countries : Canada

Keywords : indigenous, archive footage, music, mi'kmaq, colonial betrayal, scottish folk singer