Share on Facebook
Share on X
Share by Email
Share on Google Classroom
Indigenous filmmakers have been creating award-winning films and shows for decades. Through documentaries and works of fiction, Indigenous filmmakers have created space for representations of Indigenous peoples that more accurately reflect their lived realities and help to counter stereotypes.
1. Alanis Obomsawin
Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki Nation, is an award-winning and nationally recognized documentary filmmaker. Her documentaries have shared the experiences of Indigenous peoples from their own perspectives. She has covered numerous important topics in her documentaries, including the Kanesatake Resistance (Oka Crisis), Mi’kmaw fishing rights and the challenges faced by Indigenous leaders when negotiating with the federal government.
2. Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril is an Inuit filmmaker and documentary director. Much of her work promotes Inuit culture and traditional knowledge and advocates for Inuit. Additionally, her work has helped to establish a film industry in Nunavut, especially in Iqaluit, where she is owner of a film production company. She has created both live-action and animated films, including the widely acclaimed Angry Inuk, a documentary about the North American and European Union anti-seal hunting and sealskin bans and their impact on Inuit.
3. Danis Goulet
Danis Goulet is an internationally recognized Cree-Métis filmmaker. Her debut film, Night Raiders, received significant attention and was nominated for 11 Canadian Screen Awards. In addition to her work behind the camera, Goulet has been in leadership positions within numerous film festivals and arts councils, including as a member of the board of directors for the Toronto International Film Festival and executive director for the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
4. Gil Cardinal
Gil Cardinal was an influential Métis filmmaker who created numerous documentary films with the National Film Board. He won a Gemini award for his film Foster Child about his search for his biological family. Additionally, he was recognized for his directorial work on the CBC miniseries Big Bear with a second Gemini nomination. In 1997, he received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now the Indspire Award).
5. Jeff Barnaby
Jeff Barnaby was an award-winning Mi’kmaw filmmaker. Barnaby won awards for his two feature films, Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Blood Quantum. Additionally, he received recognition for some of the short films he created. Barnaby was best known for his work in the horror genre, and he was regularly present at prominent film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.
6. Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is a renowned Kanyen’kehà:ka actor, writer, producer and filmmaker. In addition to her work acting in prominent movies and shows like Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Reservation Dogs, Jacobs has written and directed both short films and television shows. She has participated as a fellow in the Sundance Screenwriters lab. Additionally, Jacobs and D.W. Waterson established their own production company, called Night is Y.
7. Loretta Todd
Loretta Todd is a renowned Cree/Métis documentary filmmaker. Her work has covered numerous topics of importance to Indigenous peoples, including the stories of residential school survivors, the history of Indigenous veterans of the Second World War, repatriation of Indigenous artifacts and biographical portraits of Indigenous women, as well as Chief Dan George. Her work has received a nomination for a Genie Award, as well as lifetime achievement awards, including one from the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
8. Tasha Hubbard
Tasha Hubbard is an award-winning documentary filmmaker from Peepeekisis First Nation with family connections to Thunderchild First Nation (see also First Nations in Saskatchewan). Her documentary films have covered a number of topics, including the Sixties Scoop, Starlight Tours and the experiences of Indigenous peoples in their interactions with police in Saskatoon, the death of Colten Boushie and returning bison to the land in the prairies (see also Gerald Stanley Case). Her work has garnered numerous awards and nominations, including the Canada Award from the Gemini Awards and the Moon Jury prize at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
9. Tina Keeper
Tina Keeper is an award-winning Cree actor and producer who is best known for her role in the CBC show North of 60. In addition to acting, Keeper has served as a Member of Parliament (2006–08) and Honorary Witness for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission National Event. She established a production company named Keeper Productions, through which she is also part of and has served as president for Kistikan Pictures. Kistikan Pictures has contributed to multiple television shows, as well as the feature-length movie Through Black Spruce, based upon the Joseph Boyden novel of the same title.
10. Zacharias Kunuk
Zacharias Kunuk is an internationally recognized Inuit filmmaker and artist. He has won numerous awards for his work, including for his debut film Atanarjuat (Fast Runner). In addition to his award-winning films, Kunuk was one of the founders of Igloolik Isuma Productions, as well as the online television company Isuma.tv. Atanarjuat (Fast Runner) was named the No. 1 Canadian film of all time in a poll conducted by the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.
