How We Stand

Based on writer-director Marie Clements’ (Bones of Crows, TIFF ’22) own play Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, How We Stand is a riveting drama of sisters whose lives are shaped by government policies meant to eradicate Indigenous people.

In 1950s Oklahoma, a single mother (Cara Jade Myers, Killers of the Flower Moon) and her three young daughters take a risk on the Native American Relocation Program, and journey to Los Angeles. But instead of the promised career and stability, they find the opposite. A traumatic event takes place in the Los Angeles’ river’s concrete channel, which then becomes a crucial place for the sisters in its aftermath.

Divided into different foster homes, we meet them again 20 years later, as young women. Jessie (Amber Midthunder, Rez Ball, TIFF ’24) is a doctor, about to start a new job at a clinic alongside her husband, while her sister Miranda (Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Bones of Crows, TIFF ’22) is an activist trying her hand at acting. Lastly, Janey (Isabel DeRoy-Olson, Fancy Dance) is in distress, fresh from a trauma she can’t express. Their paths are very different, but all are tinged by historical injustices.

Inspired by true events, Clements infuses How We Stand with magic realism, a dose of humour — in particular with a send-up of Hollywood westerns —and compelling characters to craft a timely story about forced separation and finding connection.

KELLY BOUTSALIS

Content advisory: sexual violence, racist language, coarse language, mature themes, drug use, scenes of surgery, violence, sexual content