MONTREAL, CANADA.- The McCord Museum and Land InSights will present four documentary films during the 17th edition of the First Peoples' Festival Présence autochtone 2007. The films will be shown in the J.A. Bombardier Theatre. For further details of the festival, please visit the Land InSights website: http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca/

Friday, June 15, at 2 pm - The Return of the Qimutsiit (Documentary, 2006, in French). The Return of the Qimutsiit is the story of the great Ivakkak dogsled race. For the past five years, Inuit from all over Nunavik, the Inuit territory in northern Quebec, have come together to share in this truly sociocultural event. More and more young Inuit are gaining interest in their traditions and participating in the race. This film looks at the rapport between the young and their elders and how, together, they see reintroducing the dog sled. Director: Bobby May Jr. Duration: 48 min, 55 sec.

Saturday, June 16, at 1:30 pm - Ullumi (Documentary, 2007, In French). Ullumi is designed to be meaningful to both northern and southern audiences. The film's stories are told from the points of view of four young people from Nunavik and Nunavut who affirm their Inuit identity in an age of information, technology and self-determination. Directors: Lena Ellsworth, Qajaaq Ellsworth, Evie Mark, Tunu Napartuk. Duration: 51 min, 50 sec.

Saturday, June 16, at 3:30 pm. Ochre and Water - Himba chronicles from the land of Kaoko (Documentary, 2001, In English). Set in the starkly beautiful landscape of northwestern Namibia, this documentary describes the conflict between tradition and modernity. The Himba people of North Western Namibia, known as the ochre people, are threatened by a hydro-electric dam development that would destroy their unique and thriving pastoral nomadic culture through the loss of their pasture along the banks of the Cunene River and hundreds of ancestral graves. The Himba and their irrepressible chief must learn to function in the world of politics and public relations if they are to survive. Directors: Craig Matthew and Joëlle Chesselet, UNESCO. Duration: 53 min.

Thursday, June 21, at 2 pm - Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (Documentary, 2006, In French). M'Sadoques rocks forward in her chair. She's lived in the Abenaki community of Odanak for over a century - and has no shortage of stories to tell. "The priest would march into our home and order us to stop dancing. We were going to the devil, he said." She pauses, a humorous glint in her eye. "But you know - I don't really believe in the devil. Do you?" M'Sadoques is in conversation with Alanis Obomsawin, another of Odanak's proud daughters - and one of Canada's leading documentary filmmakers. Obomsawin's illustrious career comes full circle with Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises. Having dedicated nearly four decades to chronicling the lives of Canada's First Nations, she returns to the village where she was raised to craft a lyric account of her own people. Directors: Alanis Obomsawin. Duration: 104 min, 02 sec.