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Ripped away from their mother to be put up for adoption, now looking for family. “Little Bird” premieres Oct. 12 at 9 pm
< < Back toAward-winning Canadian Drama
LITTLE BIRD
comes to PBS
Created by Jennifer Podemski and Hannah Moscovitch
The Six-part Limited Series Starring Darla Contois and Lisa Edelstein Premieres October 12 on all PBS Platforms
The celebrated Canadian drama LITTLE BIRD will premiere October 12th at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS and across all PBS platforms in the US . The six-part, one-hour limited series explores universal themes of resilience in the face of trauma and loss. It follows Bezhig Little Bird (Darla Contois) as she embarks on a path to find her birth family and uncover the hidden truth of her family history.
LITTLE BIRD and COMING HOME will stream on all station-branded PBS platforms including PBS.org, and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO and will also be available to stream on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
Removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan, Bezhig Little Bird is adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at age five, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them. Her search lands her in the Canadian Prairies, worlds apart from everything she knows. As she begins to track down her siblings, she unravels the mystery behind her adoption and discovers that her capprehension was connected to a racist government policy, now known as the Sixties Scoop. Bezhig’s sense of identity shatters, and she is forced to reckon with who she is and who she wants to become.
Led by Contois, the character-driven drama features a talented cast of Indigenous actors, including: Ellyn Jade; Osawa Muskwa; Joshua Odjick; Imajyn Cardinal; Braeden Clarke; Eric Schweig; and Michelle Thrush. Rounding out the cast is Lisa Edelstein (House, M.D., Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce) who plays Esther’s adoptive mother, Golda Rosenblum.
The recent winner of the coveted Audience Award at the 2023 SERIES MANIA Festival in Lille, France, LITTLE BIRD was filmed in and around Winnipeg, in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation on Treaty 1 territory and in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation. LITTLE BIRD show runner Jennifer Podemski was also recently presented with an Academy Board Of Directors’ Tribute Award at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.
“PBS is proud to bring American viewers the premiere of LITTLE BIRD,” says Maria Bruno Ruiz, Vice President, Program Content Strategy and Scheduling at PBS. “We aspire to bring authentic programs rich in culture and diversity to our audience and we’re thrilled to add the powerful LITTLE BIRD story to our platforms.”
“It is a powerful narrative that not only engages and pulls on your heartstrings, but also educates on a profoundly disturbing time in North American history that is rarely portrayed.” said Germaine Sweet, Managing Director, Content Acquisitions at PBS Distribution. “In addition to the creative brilliance of Jennifer Podemski and Hannah Moscovitch, this series was delivered by a wealth of Indigenous talent both in front of and behind the camera.”
“LITTLE BIRD is a crucial story that requires sensitivity and boldness to shed light on a piece of history that is not widely known. We are proud to collaborate with PBS to ensure that this story reaches audiences in the United States and receives the recognition it deserves,” said Lisa Honig, Senior EVP Distribution North America, Fremantle.
Led by an Indigenous creative team, LITTLE BIRD is developed by showrunner, Jennifer Podemski and Rezolution Pictures, and created by Podemski and head writer Hannah Moscovitch. The creative team includes directors Zoe Hopkins and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and was written by Hopkins and Moscovitch. The series is executive produced by Christina Fon, Ernest Webb, Catherine Bainbridge, Linda Ludwick (Rezolution Pictures), Kim Todd, Nicholas
LITTLE BIRD and COMING HOME join the slate of Indigenous programming PBS will broadcast this fall honoring Native American Heritage, including THE AMERICAN BUFFALO by Ken Burns premiering October 16, NEXT AT THE KENNEDY CENTER “Embracing Duality: Modern Indigenous Cultures” premiering October 20 and NATIVE AMERICA SEASON TWO premiering October 24. All programs will continue to stream on PBS.org, and the PBS
app throughout Native American Heritage Month in November.