BEANS, TRACEY DEER’S BEANS RECALLS THE 1990 OKA CRISIS AND ITS TRAUMATIC EFFECT ON A YOUNG MOHAWK...

Violah Beauvais and Kiawentiio in Tracey Deer’s Beans

Tracey Deer’s heartbreaking, fact-based film follows Beans, a young girl living on a reservation near Oka, Quebec, who has just been accepted into a prestigious school in Montreal. Her dream is interrupted when First Nations protesters battle developers who intend to destroy sacred native grounds for a golf course, in a violently divided event seen around the world. Beans’ innocence is lost as she witnesses abuses against her people, racist police, military and citizens who disrupt the protest. What She Said’ Anne Brodie spoke with gifted 15-year old Kiawentiio (pronounced Gia-won-dio) who plays Beans, and writer-director Deer, who was Beans.