How to Lose Everything - Season 1

Season 1

How to Lose Everything is a series of Indigenous animated short films that explore personal stories of loss with all five episodes available in English, French, and the Indigenous language of the writer. How to Lose Everything is inspired by Christa Couture's debut memoir of the same name, out now with Douglas & McIntyre.

From instructions on how to survive tragedy, to parallels between two Scottish and Inuit communities, to a bear named Jesus, the five stories in How to Lose Everything span nations, languages, and perspectives on heartache. The Indigenous team of writers, animators, directors and composers represent Cree, Ojibwe, Anishinaabe, Ktunaxa, Inuit, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Atikamekw, and Métis nations.

Network

Episodes5

DatesJan 27, 2023 - Jan 27, 2023

Episodes

Season 1Episode 1

A Field Guide

"A Field Guide" is a watercolour and in-camera animation that gives instructions on survival for the uninitiated, and companionship for those who know the terrain of heartache and loss.

Jan 27, 2023

Season 1Episode 2

A Bear Named Jesus

"A Bear Named Jesus" is a stop-motion film. At Archer's Aunty Gladys's funeral, he hears a tap on the window — it's a bear named Jesus, who has come for Archer's mom. "A Bear Named Jesus" is an allegory for religious interference, with an aching yet humorous look at estrangement and mourning for the loss of someone still living.

Jan 27, 2023

Season 1Episode 3

Heart Like a Pow Wow

"Heart Like a Pow Wow" is an animated short which explores the depths of grief from an Anishinaabe perspective of love and family. Viewers are called to witness Spirit as they shift to physical form while embodying the love that precedes grief and inevitably foreshadows it.

Jan 27, 2023

Season 1Episode 4

There Are Hierarchies of Grief

"There Are Hierarchies of Grief" reflects on the wisdom and strength of bereaved mothers, as he is faced with the grief of waking up to a changed world — but also with the comfort of the people, memories and emotions left like gifts for those left behind.

Jan 27, 2023

Season 1Episode 5

Grape Soda in the Parking Lot

In "Grape Soda in the Parking Lot", animated in oil pastel paintings, Taqralik Partridge asks what if every language that had been lost to English — every word, every syllable — grew up out of the ground in flowers? Taqralik's grandmother's Scottish Gaelic and her father's Inuktitut unfold in memories of her family, of pain, and of love.

Jan 27, 2023