On the podcast, Alex defines four criteria that make a movie ‘important’ — beyond box office and popularity — and how one Indigenous film from Canada (the April 2025 mystery film in Reel Ruminators) stacks up as one of the most important films of this decade.
What if one of the most important movies of this decade, maybe even this century, flew under your radar?
What if it won major awards in its country of origin, and yet you still hadn’t heard of it?
Would you want to see it?
In the April 2025 edition of Reel Ruminators, we’re watching an Award-winning Indigenous film from so-called Canada. I think it’s one of the most important films of this decade — if not this century.
So what do I mean by an ‘important film’?
On today’s episode of the podcast, Alex discusses four criteria that define an ‘important’ film. She then explains how these criteria apply to the April 2025 film Reel Ruminators.
In short:
- A landmark film about a hot-button topic that is more than just a work of activism but a good human story.
- A film that gives you access to people and places you might not otherwise encounter.
- A film that will hit you emotionally and may shift your perspective. As Roger Ebert would say, it’s not just what a movie is about but how it’s about it.
- A film that uses cinema’s tools—visual and aural storytelling—in an innovative way to tell an innovative story.
The episode of the podcast focuses on this particular Indigenous film and how it meets each criterion of an’important’ film. These criteria also define what drives Alex to recommend movies to you (and especially what movies she chooses to program in Reel Ruminators)!
Podcast Credits for Introducing…one of the most important films of this decade
This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.
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An AI-generated transcript for the episode is available on Apple Podcasts.
