The Hamat'sa (or "Cannibal Dance") is the most important-and highly represented ceremony of the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) people of British Columbia. This exciting and dramatic film dives into the history of the dance and presents some of the ways in which diverse attitudes toward this history create current dramatic and colorful performances of the Hamat'sa. The film also explores the relationship between First Nations history and the people that have told it. 
The material for this film was gathered and shot over the year between 2002 and 2003 during the course of research for Glass's dissertation in Socio-Cultural Anthropology. The research process consisted of extensive archival work - in which he traced the history of ethnographic representation of the Hamat'sa (in texts, film and photography, art gallery and museum display, and intercultural performance) - followed by an eight month period of residence in the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Alert Bay, BC. The film was edited in a documentary filmmaking course in the Program for Culture and Media at New York University. It is intended to communicate some of the complex issues involved in representing indigenous peoples and their expressive practices, especially as anthropological materials increasingly end up back in Native communities where they are used and debated as one kind of historical resource among many.
Produced and Directed by Aaron Glass, 2004