Access and affordability of "healthy" foods in northern Manitoba? The need for Indigenous food sovereignty

Mengistu Assefa Wendimu
Annette Aurélie Desmarais
Tabitha Robin Martens

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https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/302

ENDLESS COOKIE REVIEW

The Princess Cinemas hosted the premiere of Endless Cookie, an animated documentary about two half-brothers growing up together—one of them now raising nine children and 16 dogs in Shamattawa, a remote First Nations reserve in Manitoba—on July 3.  

Directed by Seth and Peter Schriver, Endless Cookie traces their journey from a 1980s childhood in Toronto’s Kensington Market to Peter’s current life in Northern Manitoba with his family. Seth, who also animated the film, was inspired by his brother’s vivid recollections.   

The documentary includes Peter’s daughter, Cookie, depicted as a chocolate chip cookie, and his dog, Nutty, depicted as the canine version of Mr. Peanut. While in production, the two directors were interrupted by the children, and they decided to include these moments into the film, layering the audio to create comedic and relatable beats.  

After a humorous introduction, where Seth gets his film approved by Telefilm Canada (featured as a character in the documentary) and calls Peter to announce the news, the documentary branches off to different tangents.  

Peter talks about his late grandmother’s terrible candy made from blood and sugar, the story of an acquaintance who met a sasquatch that ripped away its victim’s eyeballs, an owl that refused to fly away from his cousin’s arm, Cookie talking to a box of chicken and Indigenous issues such as residential schools, land claims and the RCMP.  

Despite the jokes and comedic moments included in the documentary, Seth said the overall message of his film is the importance of stories and passing them on to future generations.  

“It’s important to keep telling stories,” Seth said. “Because they’ll be forgotten if you don’t keep telling them.”  

Seth also noted that the people who saw his film asked him questions about what type of movie Endless Cookie is.  

“Is this a documentary? Is this fiction? Is this action? Or comedy?” he said. “It’s kind of a lot of those things. We didn’t want to put it into one category.”  

Sophia Irwin, the manager of Princess Cinemas, said Victoria Kent, the owner of Yeti Cafe, reached out to her about screening the film at the theatre.  

“The cinemas were planning to bring the documentary in for the initial release,” Irwin said.   

“This partnership was perfect to get Seth, the co-director, to a premiere event screening.”  

She also said the premiere will help audiences connect with Canadian filmmakers and artists, promoting independent filmmaking and exhibition in Canada.  

“We are always looking to highlight and platform Canadian stories—especially those that may not take the traditional routes of storytelling,” Irwin said.  

Seth said people enjoyed the documentary because they found its message about family relatable.  

“It’s kind of like a family portrait and people can relate to it, both native and non-native people can relate, because it’s like everyone knows how crazy their own family is,” Scriver said. “But I’ve been mostly happy that people enjoyed it and told me that they like it and stuff like that.”  

Seth started working on this documentary in 2016 and had to save up money or apply for travel grants to visit his brother, Peter, to record his stories. Then, for the next nine years, Seth spent most of his time animating the documentary using Adobe Premiere Pro.  

He hopes the documentary offers both laughter and a glimpse into life on a northern reserve.  

“I hope people enjoy it,” he said. “And maybe learn a bit about what life is like for my brother and his family.” 

#adobePremierePro #canadianStories #endlessCookie #kensigntonMarket #northernManitoba #northernReserve #peterSchriver #PrincessCinemas #SangjiunHan #sethSchriver #StoryTelling #telefilm #Toronto