7:30 PM – The Knowing
Acclaimed journalist Tanya Talaga searches for her long-lost matriarch Annie, solving an 80-year-old family mystery through her evocative storytelling on screen.
With lush cinematography and evocative storytelling, Anishinaabe journalist Tanya Talaga embarks on a deeply personal search to discover what happened to her great-great-grandmother in The Knowing.
Co-directors Talaga and Kanien’kehá:ka filmmaker Courtney Montour (Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again) use archival footage and intimate interviews to piece together the unknown story of Talaga’s family member, Annie Carpenter. In the first two parts of the four-episode docuseries, they skillfully illustrate how hard it is for Indigenous families to get answers from authorities, especially about those who have entered the residential school or Indian hospital systems.
Armed with a collection of historical documents, Talaga meets previously unknown relatives, discovers her new homelands, and deepens her knowledge about her family’s history. Journeying from the fly-in Northern Ontario community of Peetabeck (Fort Albany First Nation) to Toronto and beyond, The Knowing weaves together residential school history, the Canada-wide recognition of unmarked graves — beginning with Kamloops — and the personal history of Talaga’s family.
Q&A following the screening. Journalist Tanya Talaga embarks on an eight-decade search for her matriarch Annie Carpenter, uncovering a story deeply connected to Canada’s residential school system.
When: 2/19/25
Time: 7:30pm to 9pm
Where: Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center
5011 Bernie Whitebear Way, Seattle, WA 98199 in Discovery Park