Alexandra Knowles

Built on a layer of frozen earth, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada has subarctic winters where temperatures routinely drop below −40°C. Meet the four season food producers who engage in small-scale agriculture, and those who support their back-to-the-land movement. These resilient unassuming farmers have carved out small patches of fertile soil, in an otherwise unforgiving expanse of isolated wilderness, to make a living and a life.

WaaPaKe is a story about resilience, love and transformation. Examined through an Indigenous lens, the stories of residential school Survivor-Warriors and their families offer an understanding of both intergenerational trauma and healing. We are taken to a studio set-up in front of a green screen. Through compassionate, candid conversations, Jules Koostatchin shares interviews with five individuals, family and friends, that all directly or indirectly experienced intergenerational trauma.

Winters in the sparsely populated Yukon are long, cold and dark—a natural recipe for isolation. For newcomers like Alexandra Knowles, it can be hard to find friends. But anywhere there is a yarn store, there are knitters. And where there are knitters, there is a knitting circle, weaving together a circle of care, one stitch at a time—and reminding us of the simple ways that community is built on presence, storytelling and shared purpose.