A poetic, experimental debut feature circling the origin of the death myth from the Chinookan people in the Pacific Northwest, małni – towards the ocean, towards the shore follows two people as they wander through their surrounding nature, the spirit world, and something much deeper inside. At its center are Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier, who take separate paths contemplating their afterlife, rebirth, and death. Probing questions about humanity’s place on earth and other worlds, Sky Hopkina’s film will have audiences thinking (and dreaming) about it long after.
Rapturous. Feels like a richly woven ghost story.
- Ela Bittencourt, Hyperallergic
Stunning. Hopinka’s use of color in Malni is nothing short of astonishing. One of the most awe-inspiring films I saw at True/False.
- Vikram Murthi, RogerEbert.com
Hopinka subtly inverts the tropes of the ethnographic documentary to depict indigenous life from an indigenous perspective.
- Cayley James, Cinema Scope
Sky Hopinka's melodic debut feature...builds upon [his] sustained short-film explorations of home, identity, and most importantly, language.
- Dessane Lopez Cassell, Film Comment
Critic’s Pick! An essential portrait of contemporary Indigenous life. Refreshingly centers the Native perspective, and beckons audiences onto its wavelength by tapping into something more intuitive, the stuff of dreams.
- Beatrice Loayza, The New York Times
(Available to download after screening date)