Documentary Feature "təm kʷaθ nan - Namesake" World Premiere at Hot Docs-- April 29th & 30th in Toronto

təm kʷaθ nan - Namesake

Directors: ƛɛsla Dr. Evan Adams & t̓agəm Eileen Francis

Camera and Sound: Angela Kendall & Claudia Medina

Producer: Peg Campbell

Editor: Angela Kendall

2026 | 1h 16m

English & ʔayʔajuθəm

Vancouver, BC —  təm kʷaθ nan - Namesake, a TELUS original documentary, has been announced as an official selection at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival. The film will world premiere in the Canadian Spectrum programme, the official competition section for Canadian productions. The screening will take place at the TIFF Lightbox on April 29th, 2026, and April 30th with the team in attendance. 

 

Namesake documents the Tla’amin Nation’s request that the City of Powell River change its name. The city is named after Israel Wood Powell, who served as B.C.’s Superintendent of Indian Affairs for 17 years and was instrumental in the establishment of Indian Residential Schools, the banning of the potlatch, and the theft of Tla’amin territory (lot 450). təm kʷaθ nan has been in production since 2022. Through insightful interviews, Tla’amin oral history, archival imagery, heated and moving community engagement events, and powerful footage of support for and against this request, a local story with national relevance is told. 

Through interviews, archival records, oral histories, and community gatherings, təm kʷaθ nan (Namesake) follows the unfolding discussion around a possible name change for the city and the deeper question beneath it. The film, which follows community conversation on history, naming, and the future of qathet, is a powerful work of art, resistance, and reconciliation

“This film comes from this place. It was important for it to take root here first, with the people and conversations that shaped it, and with the history that continues to be felt," says co-director Eileen Francis. 'This is not just a story we are telling; it is one the community has been living.”

 

“This film sits in the tension between memory and responsibility,” says Co-Director Evan Adams.  “It does not turn away from difficult truths, and it asks what it means to live well with each other in a place where we have different histories. It’s a story that will resonate in small towns facing Reconciliation across the country.”

Tla’amin Nation is a self-governing First Nation with ʔəms giǰɛ (territory) on the upper Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. With over 1,200 citizens, the Nation exercises its inherent right to govern its lands, resources, and services under its Treaty and Constitution. Rooted in ʔayʔaǰuθəm, guided by ta’ow, and shaped by relationship to land and water, Tla’amin continues to carry its teachings forward and build a strong future for the next generations.

                      

TELUS originals supported the funding of the film through a production grant as part of its documentary funding program. The program supports the production of compelling, locally-reflective documentaries set in B.C. and Alberta, and furthers TELUS’ commitment to supporting Canadian and Indigenous filmmakers bringing locally-rooted stories to wider audiences, including the impactful storytelling undertaken in this film.