About Akia Films

The company was founded on Vancouver Island, BC in 2021 by Inuk/Haitian/Taíno artist/filmmaker Siku Allooloo. “Akia” (which translates to “the other side” in Inuktitut) evokes both the ethereal nature of her films and the nickname of her late mother, whose legacy the films are bringing to light. In her father’s community, Akia also refers to the mountainous, oceanic landscape overlooking Mittimatalik, NU. As an artist living far away from both Nunavut and Haiti, it seems fitting to produce works from the other side of each homeland that nonetheless feed the spirit of her people.

In 2022 Akia Films partnered with Lantern Films to release its debut experimental short doc, Spirit Emulsion. This “cinematic opening prayer” was received with wide acclaim, winning Best Canadian Short Film at Gimli International Film Festival, Le Prix de la Relève (Emerging Talent Award) at Festival International Présence Autochtone, Honourable Mention, DOXA Documentary Short Award, and two Filmmaker Awards at Yellowknife International Film Festival.

Akia Films is presently leading development of its first feature-length film, INDÍGENA, a hybrid documentary re-presencing historic Indigenous women's activism and Taíno resurgence from colonial erasure (co-produced with Lantern Films). 

What We Do

Our films illuminate extraordinary Indigenous stories in genre-defying ways through:

• Highly artistic conceptual development

• Deep research and beautiful, multilayered writing 

• Resourceful project planning and culturally-steeped process

• Building strong relationships based in reciprocity, care, collaboration, and consent

• Experimental audiovisual techniques, including cultural land-based practices 

• Collaboration with incredibly talented artists to create exceptionally moving work 

Vision

To create vivid cinematic experiences through films that illuminate, transcend, evoke emotion, shift perspective, and reaffirm Indigenous worlds. 

Mission

Akia strives to create films that lovingly and profoundly reflect the power of Indigenous stories and people, while actively fostering decolonization and resurgence by:

• working in a highly relational way, embedded in culture and community 

• engaging appropriate protocols, ethics, processes, and frameworks

• creating innovative project strategies that amplify grassroots work

• collaborating with trusted partners

• centering community care, consent, and narrative sovereignty

Values

Our work is guided by Inuit traditional values at the centre (Inuit Qaujimajatuqannigit), including:

• Respecting others and caring for people as well as relationships

• Fostering good spirit by being open, welcoming and inclusive

• Serving and providing for family and community

• Decisionmaking through discussion and consensus

• Being innovative and resourceful

• Development of skills through observation, mentorship, practice, and effort

• Care and respect for the land, all living beings, and elements that sustain life

Ownership

Siku Allooloo is an award-winning Inuk/Haitian/Taíno filmmaker, interdisciplinary artist and writer from Yellowknife, NWT by way of Haiti and Mittimatalik, NU. She is known for artistically reimagining conventional forms as imbued by her cultural traditions, oral histories, and land-based practice. Siku’s writing has been published nationally and internationally, and her artwork has exhibited in several groundbreaking Indigenous art exhibitions. Her first short film, Spirit Emulsion, won several awards and screened widely at national and international festivals. She is an emerging director and producer, and resides in the unceded homeland of K’ómoks First Nation (BC).