Executive Producer
Five hundred miles north of Vancouver is Kitamaat, an Indian reservation in the homeland of the Haisla people. Growing up a tough, wild tomboy, swimming, fighting, and fishing in a remote village where the land slips into the green ocean on the edge of the world, Lisamarie has always been different. Visited by ghosts and shapeshifters, tormented by premonitions, she can't escape the sense that something terrible is waiting for her. She recounts her enchanted yet scarred life as she journeys in her speedboat up the frigid waters of the Douglas Channel. She is searching for her brother, dead by drowning, and in her own way running as fast as she can toward danger. Circling her brother's tragic death are the remarkable characters that make up her family: Lisamarie's parents, struggling to join their Haisla heritage with Western ways; Uncle Mick, a Native rights activist and devoted Elvis fan; and the headstrong Ma-ma-oo (Haisla for "grandmother"), a guardian of tradition.
Director
In 2007, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation Women's Council received funding to undertake the Major NAN Women's Development Project over a three year period. One of the main goals of the project was to empower and inspire women to take on their traditional role as community builders and leaders. KANIKANITCHIK EQUAYWUK is a Cree term that literally translates into "a group of women leaders who lead the way." This film shows the project's immediate and long-term impacts on women and their remote communities in Northern Ontario.
Director
Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) is the largest First Nation police force in North America. Police officers in this severely underfunded police force go above and beyond the call of duty when compared to other police officers. NAPS officer duties include, cutting firewood for the wood stove that heats the police detachment and emptying slop buckets with prisoners’ urine and excrement. "A Sacred Calling" shows the deplorable working conditions and the devastating personal consequences to NAPS officers as they heroically provide security and safety to First Nation communities in the remote north of Ontario.
