Changing the Lens: Film as Action Research and Therapeutic Planning Practice

This paper discusses an action research project in which the making and screening of a film was conceived as a catalyst for social change in a deeply divided community. The context is the history of segregation of Indigenous peoples and settlers in Canada. Is there a decolonizing role for planning, beginning with the work of healing and reconciliation? And, is there a role for film as a methodological tool in such a process? Our findings suggest a very necessary role for therapeutic planning, albeit with caveats; and, that film can be an effective catalyst for creating this therapeutic space.