On a beautiful sunny day in Northern Alberta, a river surrounded by green trees runs gently through the traditional lands of the Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation. As birds softly chirp, a father makes a tobacco offering to the river and reaches his hands below the water's surface to pull out a caribou hide. Nearby, his young child watches. Today they will learn from their father how to make a caribou drum. Heartbeat of a Nation is an evocative short documentary by Eric Janvier. It celebrates the healing of a community and a nation through the reclamation and passing down of traditional teachings within a Dene family.

Indigenous filmmaker.