APTN lumi presents ‘Little Bird’ – the story of a sixties scoop woman raised as part of a Jewish family

(Toronto) – Friday, May 26 marks the premiere of the anticipated limited series, Little Bird on APTN lumi. Based on experiences of Indigenous communities across North America, this groundbreaking show focuses on themes of trauma and loss associated with the forcible apprehension of Indigenous children during the Sixties Scoop.

The six-part, one-hour limited series follows Bezhig Little Bird (Darla Contois) who is removed from her home in Saskatchewan at the age of five and adopted by a Montréal-based Jewish family (mother played by Lisa Edelstein). Now in her 20’s, Bezhig longs for the life taken from her and sets out to reunite with her family and put the pieces of her fragmented past back together.

Little Bird draws parallels between the Indigenous themes of loss that Bezhig experiences and the trauma experienced by her mother, a Holocaust survivor. The show is inspired by real events from co-creator and showrunner Jennifer Podemski’s life. Raised by a Jewish father after being removed from her Indigenous mother at the hospital, Jennifer Podemski’s life was a deep source of inspiration for the show.

Last month, Podemski was awarded the Academy Board of Directors’ Tribute Award at the Canadian Screen Awards for her extraordinary impact on the growth of the Canadian media industry. Podemski, along with the director, producers, writers and bulk of the Little Bird cast are Indigenous. The production featured a training program that included opportunities for Indigenous creators at all skill levels to gain practical on-set experience leading to subsequent employment in the industry. See here for more.

Alongside the final episode on June 30, Crave and APTN lumi are making available Coming Home, a 90-minute companion documentary providing historical context, about the Sixties Scoop.

Led by an Indigenous creative team, LITTLE BIRD is developed by showrunner Jennifer Podemski and Rezolution Pictures, and created by Podemski and head writer Hannah Moscovitch.