Siksika Nation female relay racer takes center stage at CIFF

Of the hundreds of films being screened at the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) this year, one star's talent especially close to home. 

Aitamaako'Tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun, follows a 23-year-old young woman from Siksika Nation named Logan Red Crow, as she prepares to participate in one of the most dangerous horse races in the world at the Calgary Stampede. 

That sport is relay racing, a competition born out of Indigenous horse traditions across the prairies where riders riding bareback complete several laps of a track switching horses each time, often flying through the air to do so. 

Red Crow is one of a small number of female riders in the sport dominated by men. Before The Sun showcases not only her skill at her craft, but also her connection to her father, her family and the ancestral lands she grew up on. 

Banchi Hanuse, who directed the film, said that once she heard Red Crow's story, she knew she had to share it.

"Who she was and what she cared about stood out to me as just this amazing, fierce person … I wanted to know her," said Hanuse. 

"I'm not Siksika, I'm Mowachaht from the west coast. I'm used to being around fish, not horses but I felt so strongly about this story, and I hope we did it justice."

Shot mostly on location on Siksika Nation, the film also follows Red Crow to relay races in Enoch Cree Nation, near Edmonton, and in Casper, Wyo., in the U.S.

Hanuse said she's excited to be part of the larger representation of Indigenous films and directors at CIFF — Before the Sun joins several other indigenous-led films at the festival this year. 

Brian Owens, CIFF's artistic director, said that inclusion is something the festival continues to prioritize. 

"This year we have a great selection