The Cinematheque

“A deeply personal exploration of love, identity, and tradition … The film beautifully captures the intersection of tradition and modernity, illustrating how both can shape and challenge our most intimate relationships.”

Mark Hoyne, Victoria Film Festival 2025

To kick off powwow season, Our Stories to Tell is partnering with the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Students Association at SFU and its fourth annual powwow to present Sweet Summer Pow Wow, a film by Secwepemc filmmaker Darrell Dennis. The narrative follows 17-year-olds Jinny and Riley, who fall in love on the powwow circuit, where every weekend thousands of singers, dancers, drummers, and vendors congregate to celebrate Indigenous culture. Every powwow offers a space where the couple can meet and find moments of freedom from their troubled home lives. Jinny is expected to follow in the footsteps of her mother Cara, the chief of her nation, but she dreams of pursuing contemporary dance. Meanwhile, Riley prepares to move to Vancouver to begin a new life away from his alcoholic father. Set against the vibrancy and community of powwow culture in British Columbia, Sweet Summer Pow Wow is a coming-of-age story about love, responsibility, and choosing one’s own path.