VANCOUVER—A thoughtful and hopeful new film, In The Spirit of Reconciliation, digs into the true stories of residential school survivors and how they made peace with their past.

Father Larry Lynn, priest and film director, shot the documentary with the help of his moviemaking son, Dan Lynn, Bishop Mark Hagemoen, and many others.

"I’ve seen other films about residential schools. It’s usually a very dark thing, because the story is dark. This film isn’t about any of that," said Father Lynn, a professional filmmaker who became a priest in 2015 after the death of his wife.

"This film says: 'Here we are. How do we forgive? Who needs forgiveness?'"

Dan Lynn, a cinematographer, sets up at a site in northern Canada.

In the Spirit of Reconciliation will have its world premiere at the SFU Goldcorp Centre in Vancouver Dec. 6.

"This film doesn’t deny what happened," said Father Lynn. "It’s not about denial or who did what. It’s not a defence of residential schools. It’s a piece on its own." 

Read an interview about the film with Father Lynn here.

Father Lynn and a First Nations woman in Behchoko, N.W.T.