Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki Nation, is one of Canada's most distinguished documentary filmmakers. Her latest film is the 2007 National Film Board of Canada documentary Gene Boy Came Home, in which Ms Obomsawin turns her camera on the ugliness of war through the eyes of one survivor, Vietnam War veteran Eugene "Gene Boy" Benedict, from her home community of Odanak.

The people of Odanak and their stories are also the subject of her award-winning 2006 feature documentary Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises. Obomsawin's 2005 drama Sigwan focuses on a young girl who is aided by the animals of the forest. Her 2003 NFB documentary Our Nationhood chronicles the determination and tenacity of the Listuguj Mi'gmaq people to use and manage the natural resources of their traditional lands. The Mi'gmaq of Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church), New Brunswick were the subject of her 2002 documentary, Is the Crown at war with us?, a powerful and painstakingly researched look at the conflict over fishing rights.

The 2000 NFB release Rocks at Whiskey Trench was Obomsawin's fourth film in her series about the 1990 Oka crisis. The first, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), was a feature-length film documenting the 1990 Mohawk uprising in Kanehsatake and Oka, which has won 18 international awards. It was followed by My Name is Kahentiiosta (1995), a film about a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman who was arrested after the 78-day armed standoff, and Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man (1997), profiling Randy Horne, a high-steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake.

Obomsawin began her career as a singer, writer and storyteller, but dove into filmmaking in 1967 with Christmas at Moose Factory, which she wrote and directed. Since then, Obomsawin has made over 30 uncompromising documentaries on issues affecting Aboriginal people in Canada. Her other films include: Incident at Restigouche (1984), a powerful depiction of the Quebec police raid of a Micmac reserve; Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child (1986), the disturbing examination of an adolescent suicide, and No Address (1988), a look at Montreal's homeless.