Cold Journey
50th anniversary special edition
Cold Journey (1975)
15-year-old Buckley (Adventures in Rainbow Country’s Buckley Petawabano) is coming of age torn between two worlds: his stifling experience in a residential school and his hunger for the old traditions of the reserve. But when he returns to visit his family over summer break, his distance from their way of life – and even the Cree language – is painfully apparent. During a disastrous stint living with a white foster family, Buckley meets Johnny (King of the Grizzlies star Johnny Yesno), a caretaker at the school who becomes a bridge to Indigenous history and community. Despite this fleeting connection, Buckley grows increasingly disaffected, and his alienation begins to sow the seeds of personal tragedy.
Loosely inspired by the haunting true story of Anishinaabe boy Chanie “Charlie” Wenjack, the sole fiction feature from National Film Board of Canada documentary veteran Martin Defalco is both deeply empathetic and bracingly unsentimental. Featuring a supporting performance by Chief Dan George (Little Big Man) and several songs by celebrated musician-filmmaker Willie Dunn, Cold Journey remains an essential and withering portrait of Canada’s now-infamous residential school system and its devastating impact on First Nations youth.
Special features
• Scanned and restored in 2K from the 35mm interpositive by the National Film Board of Canada
• New audio commentary featuring Lawrence Dunn and Kevin Howes, producers of Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology
• That Unique Feeling (2025, 26 min.) – New interview with film historian Jesse Wente
• Willie’s Journey (2025, 11 min.) – New interviews with Lawrence Dunn and Kevin Howes
• The Ballad of Crowfoot (1968, 10 min.) – Musical short film directed by Willie Dunn with optional audio commentary featuring Lawrence Dunn and Kevin Howes
• The Other Side of the Ledger: An Indian View of the Hudson's Bay Company (1972, 42 min.) – Collaborative short film directed by Martin Defalco and Willie Dunn
• Sounds from Our People: Cold Journey (1979, 28 min.) – Abridged cut of the film made for children by Alanis Obomsawin (Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance)
• Four additional short films directed by Defalco: Bird of Passage (1966, 10 min.), Northern Fisherman (1967, 24 min.), What in the World Is Water? (1967, 12 min.), and Charlie’s Day (1967, 12 min.)
• Double-sided poster
• Reversible cover artwork
• English SDH subtitles
Canadian International Pictures
From arthouse to Canuxploitation, Canadian International Pictures (CIP) is devoted to resurrecting vital, distinctive, and overlooked triumphs of Canadian and Québécois cinema. We are focused on the country’s original cinematic boom years – spanning the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s – occasionally venturing past that period (and the country’s borders) to highlight the films of Canada’s most inspired actors and filmmakers.
