This acclaimed film follows 14-year-old Sami girl Elle Marja ("Powerful newcomer Lene Cecilia Sparrok." - New York Times), who, along with her sister, is torn from her indigenous reindeer-herding family and placed in a government-run boarding school in 1930s Sweden. There Elle dreams of education and a future, but these dreams are hindered when she is met with racial expectations that class her people as inferior. What follows is a girl's attempt...

In this feature film, the profound impact of the Canadian government's residential school system is conveyed through the eyes of 2 children who were forced to face hardships beyond their years. As young children, Lyna and Glen were taken from their homes and placed in church-run boarding schools, where they suffered years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the effects of which persist in their adult lives. We Were Children gives voice to a national...