In 2010, less than fifteen Nuxalk language speakers and storytellers remained. One of these elders is the director Banchi Hanuse’s grandmother. In a world consumed by digital preservation, it might seem obvious to record Nuxalk stories for future generations, but Hanuse resists. Can a recording capture the true meaning and value of these oral traditions? More urgently, does it carry the weight of cultural knowledge?

Cry Rock explores how Nuxalk stories are more than mere words. With the loss of each elder, a vast world of understanding begins to slip away. As Hanuse grapples with whether to capture or simply listen, a spine tingling legend about the Cry Rock in the Bella Coola Valley, is retold by Snxakila Clyde Tallio, a young Nuxalk man.

Immersive and visually rich, Cry Rock weaves personal reflection, ancestral memory and watercolour animation against the raw beauty of the Bella Coola Valley. The film reveals the fragile space between remembering, recording and the power of story to root a people in place.