The Winnipeg Indigenous Filmmakers Collective started when there wasn’t much support in the industry for those looking to make a name for themselves.
“We were being put in circumstances that weren’t the greatest,” recalls Amanda Kindzierski, referring to how Indigenous artists were often hired to fill quotas when movie productions received cultural funding incentives.
Back then, they were only a handful of people who met on their free time.
But now, after a partnership with the Winnipeg Film Group and a surge in funding through arts and culture grants, the collective has more than 100 members.
Kindzierski says they all share a responsibility to prevent cultural appropriation from happening “because there’s so much money going to Indigenous stories that people are taking and maybe not thinking about.”
On this mid-August night in downtown Winnipeg, a couple dozen film enthusiasts meet to eat, greet, inspire and network.
Rachel Beaulieu’s dream of working in the industry began when she was a young child living on the Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation, about 165 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
“I wanted to do animation, then I just came up with the idea to create a production (company) and I thought that was just for fun,” says Beaulieu.
“Can Dream Productions started when I was 12 years old,” she added with a laugh after realizing how far she’s come.
“I started as an editor and then wanted to be a director, and then I became a producer out of necessity. Now I’ve directed and produced three films with budgets.”
Beaulieu’s first major film – Ojichaag – that she wrote, directed and produced will be hitting the film festival circuit across Canada this fall.
“I am proud that I have the language in there, but I am also proud (of) the people that were a part of it,” she says of the 80 per cent Indigenous cast and crew.
“Being able to hire Indigenous filmmakers, hire Indigenous actors, and just be able to tell an authentic Indigenous story” is something she won’t soon forget.
Beaulieu feels she’s come full circle with the collective that formed in 2013 by helping others like her make their dreams come true.
Keara Barrett of Norway House Cree Nation, about 456 km north of Winnipeg, attended CMU College of Makeup Art and Design.
She’s grateful to the collective for its support.
“Everyone was super nice and easy to talk to,” she says of initially having to push through her anxiety to attend a meet up.
She now offers words of encouragement to others who may suffer from social anxiety.
“I was super scared, but it is just like home as soon as you get here – it’s very welcoming.”
Barrett also picked up some skills she didn’t even consider.
“I didn’t even know I wanted to be in props and set deck but just being here they helped me figure that stuff out,” she says of members of the collective.
The group meets three times a month in Winnipeg’s Exchange District.
