Overview

Elder Marie Leo recounts her experiences going through puberty. Growing up on the Líl̓wat Nation near Mount Currie, B.C., Marie details the important process of preparing for womanhood. The various tasks and duties she undertakes demonstrate a complex, beautiful journey a young Líl̓wat person undergoes as they welcome adulthood and increased responsibilities. This short is part of the L’il’wata series. In the early 1970s, at the outset of her documentary career, Alanis Obomsawin visited the Líl̓wat Nation, an Interior Salish First Nation in British Columbia, and created a series of shorts that provide personal narratives about Líl̓wat culture, histories and knowledge.