maɬni—towards the ocean, towards the shore

Bodies of water ebb and flow throughout this poetic experimental documentary by filmmaker Hopinka. Honoring connections to nature and the cycles of life, maɬni (pronounced “moth-nee”) separately follows the wanderings of Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier as they share their personal rituals and relationships to life, identity, language, and their homeland. Meditative and beautifully photographed, the film sonically weaves in the origin-of-death myth from the Chinookan people. Hopinka has crafted a lush exploration of afterlife, rebirth, and the place in between.