Filming grounded in my roots documentary
Chantal Adams grew up with the teachings and Haida laws of respect and consent. Along her journey, she realized how important deep meaningful connections and conversations were to her: along with belonging and connection to community, land, and water. Wanting to continue building connections, in a healing way with people, Chantal pursued a degree in Child and Youth Care with an Indigenous Specialization. She became involved in re-search with Kinship Rising, that re-centers Indigenous ways of being through arts and land-based methodologies. It was through this journey that she found her passion for research and storytelling. It is Chantal’s keen affection for people, nature, healing, reclamation, and belonging that drives her research and creative journey.
Gabriel Swift has always been fascinated by the process of creating art. Intrigued by stories about the power of the natural world and the human condition, he witnesses how visual storytelling provides an outlet to share stories across cultures and generations that can make lasting impacts on our lives and the decisions we make. He has worked alongside an award-winning team as a cinematographer on the feature length film “Coextinction.” Everyone has a voice, a perspective, and a story, they just need to be heard. Gabriel’s focus is on creating films that heal and foster connection to ourselves and the natural world.
“Curiosity is one of the most important factors, you have to be curious and interested in the subject and that going to make a really great film.”
Nicolette partnered with Gabriel and Chantal on create two documentaries, 1) Grounded in My Roots and 2) Food of Our Ancestors which tell the stories of discovering food as medicine and Nicolette’s journey running and biking across Canada to uncover the barriers that BIPOC peoples face in accessing clean real foods. Today’s episode shares how Indigenous, Black, People of Colour (BIPOC) are disproportionally affected by chronic disease and how human and planetary healing can happen through re-connecting with food, the earth, ourselves, and our spirits. Chantal shares stories from her Haida Gwaii lineage and Gabriel shares how he was nurtured through spending time with his family in India. They discuss how their generation is choosing to live differently from the Baby Boomers that over consumed and how overconsumption led to the mental and physical health breakdowns and climate change that we see today. The first step: look to our Elders and to Nature. We need to connect to lineages and roots and bring them to the forefront if we are to heal ourselves.