This New Documentary Examines What it Means To Be Black Canadian

22-year-old Toronto filmmaker Samah Ali's film is a nuanced discussion on what Black Canadian identities look like.

black canadian documentary hyphen-nation

Samah Ali, a Toronto-based Kenyan-Somali filmmaker, directed and produced a new documentary that beautifully analyzes what it means to be a black immigrant in Canada.

The 14-minute film, hyphen-nation, introduces us to five women originally from Africa and the diaspora who discuss how their cultural heritage influences their identities as Canadians and immigrants.

"The whole conversation is what's your hyphen?" Ali says in an interview with CBC News, who called her debut film a "nuanced" discussion about what black Canadian identities look like.

"And that's what opens it up to so many people to identify with because whether it's themselves or their family members who have an immigration story, everybody typically has a hyphen."

Watch hyphen-nation in full below.

A photo of ‘African Queens: Njinga’ star Adesuwa Oni dressed in traditional African royal attire, being carried on a throne.
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