Forbidden Music (2025)
Feature documentary / 75 minutes / Knowledge Network
The feature documentary explores the extraordinary story between Kwakwaka’wakw Chief Mungo Martin and Jewish ethnomusicologist Dr. Ida Halpern. Nearly 75 years ago, they partnered up to record hundreds of Indigenous songs at risk of being lost to cultural genocide. Both had endured devastating cultural suppression: Dr. Halpern fled Nazi-occupied Austria, where her parents were killed while Chief Martin faced Canada’s Potlatch Ban and the enduring trauma of residential schools.
The documentary will be broadcast on the Knowledge Network this fall.
Financial support is from Knowledge, the Indigenous Screen Office, Rogers Doc Fund and the Canada Media Fund.
Film Festivals
Trailer
Cast and Crew
Barbara Hager
Barbara Hager
Barbara Hager
Producer / Director / Writer
Olivia Hurst
Barbara Hager
Barbara Hager
Production Manager
Kate Frobeen
Barbara Hager
Paula Raimondi Cantú
Art Director / Production Coordinator
Paula Raimondi Cantú
Paula Raimondi Cantú
Paula Raimondi Cantú
Unit Publicist / Production Assistant
Jordyn Hager
Paula Raimondi Cantú
Jordyn Hager
Visual Researcher
Tom Child
Paula Raimondi Cantú
Jordyn Hager
Mentor / Community Liaison
Cliff Hokanson
Michael Bourquin
Michael Bourquin
Director of Photography
Michael Bourquin
Michael Bourquin
Michael Bourquin
Director of Photography
Ramsay Bourquin
Michael Bourquin
Ramsay Bourquin
Sound Tech
Bently Rolf
Bently Rolf
Ramsay Bourquin
Data Wrangler / DIT