Where the Spirit Lives

Where the Spirit Lives
Promotional poster
Written by	Keith Ross Leckie
Directed by	Bruce Pittman
Starring	Michelle St. John Kim Bruisedhead Fox
Music by	Buffy Sainte-Marie
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Heather Haldane Eric Jordan Mary Young Leckie
Cinematography	Rene Ohashi
Editor	Michael Todd
Running time	96 minutes
Production company	Screen Door
Budget	$2.6 million[1]
Original release
Network	CBC Television
Release	October 29, 1989 (1989-10-29)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Where the Spirit Lives is a 1989 television film about Aboriginal children in Canada being taken from their tribes to attend residential schools for assimilation into majority culture. Written by Keith Ross Leckie and directed by Bruce Pittman, it aired on CBC Television on October 29, 1989.^[2] It was also shown in the United States on PBS on June 6, 1990, as part of the American Playhouse series^[3][4] and was screened at multiple film festivals in Canada and the United States.

The film stars Michelle St. John as Amelia, a young Kainai girl captured and confined to the residential school system of the 1930s. The system was an attempt to have aboriginal youth to assimilate into the majority European-Canadian culture. Amelia resists assimilation and plans her escape. The film's cast includes Ann-Marie MacDonald and David Hemblen as teachers at the school.