Approximately ten minutes into Sinakson Trevor Solway's documentary Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man, a beautiful sequence unfolds showing children catching frogs in Siksika Nation. This moment, like many in the film, was unplanned. For four years, Solway kept his camera in his car trunk whenever he visited his community of Siksika, an hour's drive east of Calgary. On that day, he joined the carefree frog mission, capturing the children's excitement as they caught frogs and placed them in a jar. Initially, the subjects ignored the camera, engrossed in their new pets. But when one frog became distressed, a boy broke the fourth wall and asked, 'Does anyone know how to do frog CPR?' before looking directly at Solway and pointing: 'Stop filming and help us!'
Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man employs cinema-verite, an unscripted documentary style where the camera observes like a fly on the wall. Solway avoids traditional talking-head interviews or voice-over narration. Working alone as director, cinematographer, and sound recorder, he often faded into the background. However, his familiarity with subjects meant they occasionally acknowledged him; the boy who scolded him was his nephew.
'I wanted it to feel like you are a part of the community and that inner circle,' says Solway, whose previous works include the comedic short Indian Giver and the anthology Tales from the Rez, and who founded the grassroots Napi Collective. 'That's the response I've heard: people felt they were experiencing things from the inside. Normally, they don't get that access as someone who didn't grow up in Siksika or around rodeo, powwow, or catching frogs with cousins.'
Solway also aimed to make clear that the filmmaker was from the community—a Blackfoot filmmaker who knew his subjects and had participated in many activities shown. 'For so long, native people have been studied and projected upon from an anthropological point of view, with a cold relationship between subject and observer. That's not how I wanted to make this film. It's a testament to Indigenous narrative sovereignty—owning our stories and how we tell them.'
The documentary balances poetic, meditative moments as it focuses on the everyday lives of men and boys in Siksika Nation. Unlike many depictions of Indigenous Canadians, this community is not shown in crisis. Filmed over four years starting in 2019, it took 90 shooting days. Siksikakowan debuted at Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival in Toronto in 2025 and earned Solway the Jean-Marc Vallee DGC Discovery Award from the Directors Guild of Canada. It is now available to stream for free on the National Film Board of Canada's platforms, including nfb.ca and its YouTube channel.
