Mary Two-Axe Early: I am Indian Again

Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again

Winner of the Best Indigenous Short Award at the 2021 DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again is a powerful and deeply moving documentary that honors one woman’s lifelong fight for equality and recognition. Directed by Mohawk filmmaker Courtney Montour, the film celebrates the extraordinary legacy of Mary Two-Axe Earley, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) woman from Kahnawà:ke who challenged Canada’s discriminatory Indian Act and helped change the course of Indigenous women’s rights.

Through rare archival footage and intimate interviews, the film recounts Two-Axe Earley’s decades-long struggle against laws that stripped First Nations women of their status when they married non-Indigenous men. Her activism, courage, and determination culminated in the landmark 1985 legislative reform that restored status and dignity to thousands of Indigenous women and their descendants.

Narrated by Montour and featuring testimony from those who knew Mary personally, the film weaves together past and present to illuminate how one woman’s persistence sparked a movement that continues to inspire Indigenous feminists and human rights advocates today.

At once a history lesson and an act of remembrance, Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again stands as a vital portrait of resistance, resilience, and the transformative power of one voice speaking truth to power.

Screening With:

Lives in Limbo

Student Shorts Showcase

Lives in Limbo follows three families certain that their brain-injured loved ones, diagnosed as vegetative, are in fact fully conscious– and the research scientist who may be able to substantiate their claims.

9 mins 47s
Canada, 2021
Dir. Beth Warrian
Language: English