Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Dr. Leslie Korn’s first feature-length documentary, BreakPoint: The Untold Story of the Constitution Express, is heading to film festivals across North America this fall, bringing a little-known chapter of Indigenous resistance to new audiences.
Produced, co-written, and co-directed by Korn, the film examines the First Nations uprising that challenged Canada’s constitutional plans in the early 1980s and helped shape the international movement for Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
BreakPoint tells the story through archival footage and firsthand accounts, following the communities that organized caravans and trains to Ottawa to oppose proposed constitutional changes that threatened their rights. Their efforts extended beyond Canada, including legal challenges and meetings with diplomats at the United Nations, in Great Britain, and elsewhere.
The movement became an important chapter in the broader fight for Indigenous rights, with issues raised by the activists continuing to resonate today.
Korn, who is known for her work as a documentary filmmaker focusing on social justice, food sovereignty, and Indigenous Peoples’ stories, began work on BreakPoint in 2021. Filming was completed in September 2023, just three weeks before Rudolph Rÿser, one of the film’s central figures as well as Korn’s husband and colleague, died.
The film features narration by Peter Coyote, with an original score composed by Steve Scalfati.
Korn will attend screenings in Calgary, Los Angeles, and Richmond, giving audiences an opportunity to meet the filmmaker and hear more about the history behind the documentary.
The festival schedule includes the Calgary Justice Film Festival on Thursday, November 5, at 8:45 p.m. at Burnswest Theatre. The film will then screen at the Red Nation Film Festival in Los Angeles on Monday, November 9, at 8 p.m. at AMC The Grove 14.
The Richmond screening will take place Sunday, November 22, at 9 a.m. as part of Pocahontas Reframed at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
Additional festival appearances are also planned. BreakPoint will screen at the Miccosukee Indigenous Film Festival in Coral Gables, Florida, on Sunday, October 11, at 8 p.m. The film was also named a finalist at Jackson Doc Fest in Jackson, Tennessee, taking place October 17.
Recognition has already begun to follow the documentary. BreakPoint received the Social Impact Award from the Activists Without Borders Film Festival in the United Kingdom.
Beyond the festival circuit, Korn and her team are preparing educational resources for the film. A 100-page teacher’s manual is being finalized, while licensing has begun for schools, universities, and libraries.
For Korn, the festival screenings offer more than an opportunity to present a new film. They provide a chance to bring an important part of Indigenous history to audiences who may not have heard the story of the Constitution Express and the people who helped turn their struggle into an international movement.
Leslie Korn has lived and worked in Banderas Bay since 1973 conducting research in Traditional Medicine of Mexico. She is a Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health-educated clinician in clinical practice in Mental Health Nutrition, Integrative Medicine and the prevention of dementia and cognitive decline. She is the author of 10 books and has written, directed and produced 5 documentary films that honor resilience, illuminate injustice, preserve memory, and inspire social change. To learn more about her work, visit DrLeslieKorn.com. She can be reached at lekorn(at)cwis.org.
