The Pretendians

This article is about the documentary film. For people who falsely claim an Indigenous identity, see pretendian.
The Pretendians
Directed byDrew Hayden Taylor
Paul Kemp
Written byJonathan Baltrusaitis
Paul Kemp
Drew Hayden Taylor
Produced byPaul Kemp
StarringDrew Hayden Taylor
CinematographySara Cornthwaite
Tim Hutchison
A.J. Leitch
Edited byJonathan Baltrusaitis
Music byKevin Swartz
Production
company
Paul Kemp Productions
Distributed byCBC Television
Release date
  • September 30, 2022 (2022-09-30)
Running time
44 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The Pretendians is a Canadian television documentary film, directed by Drew Hayden Taylor and released in 2022.[1] The film explores the issue of people falsely claiming Indigenous status despite a lack of any documented First Nations, Métis or Inuit heritage, covering the issue from a variety of facets including the production of fake Indigenous art and the efforts to track down a significant false claimant of Indigenous identity who has resisted any efforts to confront him on it.[2]

The film debuted on September 30, 2022, as an episode of The Passionate Eye.[2]

The film won the Donald Brittain Award for best social or political television documentary at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023.[3]

  1. ^ Haley Lewis, "What are ‘pretendians’ and how are they causing ‘severe harm’ to Indigenous communities?". Global News, March 9, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Blair Ingenthron, "CBC to Air THE PRETENDIANS This Week". Broadway World, September 25, 2022.
  3. ^ Jackson Weaver, "To Kill a Tiger, We're All Gonna Die and BLK emerge as top winners at CSAs' opening night". CBC News, April 11, 2023.