By John Corrado
The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto
The title of #skoden refers to an Indigenous phrase that is the shorthand of “let’s go, then” said with an Indigenous accent. The saying became immortalized as a meme through a viral image of a Blackfoot man with his fists raised at a party, seemingly ready to fight.
In #skoden, director Damien Eagle Bear tells the story of the man behind this image that many saw and shared. His name is Pernell Bad Arm, a homeless man drifting in and out of the Lethbridge, Alberta shelter system. Eagle Bear has his own history with Parnell, having interviewed him early in his career for an unfinished documentary about the shelter system. In many ways, this is the rest of his story.
A film about a meme could have simply been a quirky human interest story. But #skoden is something deeper and sadder than that. It’s a film about an individual failed by the system, whose image was taken from him along with everything else (Eagle Bear intentionally doesn’t show the meme out of respect to him). Eagle Bear explores residual racism in Lethbridge, inadequacies in the shelter system, and a history of neglect and trauma from residential schools.
The context that Eagle Bear provides through interviews with social workers, family and friends, just makes the idea that Parnell had his identity separated from him – first as a mockery by non-Indigenous people sharing the meme, before it was reclaimed – even more heartbreaking. The film unfolds as a digital age drama, that serves as a powerful reminder of the people behind every image.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
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