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In:Storytelling, Identity Formation, and Resistance in Indigenous Cultures in Canada and the United States
Edited by Kamelia Talebian Sedehi
[Studies in Narrative 28] 2025
► pp. 12–27

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Chapter 1
“We are human and we are whole”

Visual sovereignty and aesthetic virtuosity in The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

Published online: 2 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.28.01adl
Abstract
The Canadian film The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019) chronicles an encounter between two Indigenous women in East Vancouver. Áila, played by writer/director Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, is middle-class and can pass as white. Rosie, portrayed by Violet Nelson in her film début, is pregnant and a victim of male partner violence. Most of the film encompasses this meeting in real time, in one seemingly unbroken take. Working with prominent concepts from Indigenous media studies, this essay examines how the filmmakers’ intimate visual approach connects with the concept of “visual sovereignty” and Fourth Cinema, which tethers form to sociopolitical principles. In its aesthetic virtuosity, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open re-envisions ways to represent Indigenous peoples in Canadian cinema.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Part 1: Visual sovereignty and the integrality of Indigenous creativity
  • Part 2: Breaking open the “Indigenous New Wave”
  • Part 3: Aesthetic virtuosity and the power of the long take
  • Conclusion: Sovereignty through solidarity
  • References
References (30)
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