Endless Cookie

Animator Seth Scriver, who wanted to document the many anecdotes of his older half-brother Peter – Pete – soon found out you can’t make ‘clean’ interview recordings in a house with seven children and twelve dogs. So he simply animated all those interruptions as well. And because regularly travelling from Toronto to Shamattawa was far too expensive, he would usually just send the recording device – and thus had no control whatsoever.

But it’s precisely those interruptions (a child with noisy toys, squeaky puppies under the stairs, a neighbour dropping by) which bring Pete’s daily routine to life. It’s messy, merry, and social. And never too serious – just like the title. The obstacles turned into an advantage. And won them the Contrechamp Grand Prix at Annecy.

Seth has a White mother, Pete’s mother is Cree from the Shamattawa First Nation. Their animated documentary falls within the tradition of oral history. But not too solemnly: in Endless Cookie, everyone’s a cheerful caricature, all is colourful and the laconic Pete might have the most infectious giggle of Kaboom 2026.

This is precisely what makes the difficult aspects of Indigenous life, which of course are there, so painful. Because they form an integral part of that warm and loving family life. How their languages are disappearing, how tiny the remaining area is where these native inhabitants are still allowed to live and hunt, how absurdly violent the Canadian government has been towards them.

It took them nine years to make this, Seth and Pete. But it was worth it.