Aanikoobijigan
[ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]

Polymode collaborated with directors Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil on the title design for Aanikoobijigan [ancestor / great-grandparent / great-grandchild], which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2026.

This powerful documentary follows tribal repatriation specialists from the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA) as they work to return Indigenous Ancestors from archives and museums to their communities. The film traces an ongoing effort grounded in care, sovereignty, and cultural continuity.

For the title sequences, Polymode selected Die Grotesk as a pointed echo of Helvetica. By working within a familiar visual language long associated with institutional, corporate design, and standardization, we intentionally leaned into its lineage both as an institutional parody and visual metaphor for generative rebirth. This reflects the tensions embedded within the film’s broader context.

The animation draws on a visual language of cosmic motion. We wanted it to suggest energy, transformation, and continual becoming. Together, type and motion create a system that is both restrained and expansive, supporting a narrative of remembrance and cultural restoration. An ancestral glow subtly radiates from the words, evoking a sense of presence and a connection across generations.  While the typeface on its own represents a system of repression, the glow, symbols, and motion all gesture to the ancestral spirits pushing up and beyond that system.