Canada’s film industry is paying tribute to the late Mi’kmaw filmmaker Jeff Barnaby, remembered as a “visionary” director and “extraordinary talent.”

Barnaby died this week at the age of 46, one year after being diagnosed with cancer, announced Thursday (Oct. 13) by public relations agency Touchwood PR.

“Jeff Barnaby’s films changed Canada, and played an outsize role in advancing the cultural and political imperative to reconcile with Indigenous peoples,” wrote Prospector Films founder John Christou, who produced both of Barnaby’s feature films and his short The Colony.

“His mastery of the craft, his storytelling, his uncompromising vision, and his humanity, shine through his work. My greatest hope is that the next generation of Indigenous filmmakers will pick up the torch and honour his legacy by being equally uncompromising in the realization of their vision,” he continued.

The late Montreal-based director grew up on the Listuguj Reserve in Quebec and was best known for his critically acclaimed features Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013), which launched the career of actor Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, and the multi-Canadian Screen Award-winning horror film Blood Quantum (2019).

Both films offered unapologetic takes on Indigenous life in Canada, with Rhymes for Young Ghouls created as revenge tale for children forced to attend residential schools, and Blood Quantum as a horror thriller where a local Indigenous community is immune to a zombie plague.

He won Best Canadian First Feature for Rhymes for Young Ghouls at the Vancouver International Film Festival, while Blood Quantum was the most-decorated feature of the 2021 Canadian Screen Awards, winning seven awards after receiving 10 total nominations.

Barnaby’s work helped usher in a new wave of Indigenous cinema, using supernatural and horror devices to tell Indigenous stories. “He never would have called his films Indigenous Futurism, but his films invented the genre,” his obituary reads.

He was often ahead of his time. Christou previously told Playback that Barnaby created the concept for Blood Quantum back in 2007, but it would be another decade before a financier would support an Indigenous-led feature with a multi-million dollar budget.

Tributes have poured in since the news of Barnaby’s death to honour his indelible impact on the world of cinema.

“Jeff was a fearless filmmaker who was at the vanguard of a new wave of Indigenous dystopian horror filmmaking. We have lost a singular voice but we know his work will be watched, studied and written about for years to come,” said Kerry Swanson, co-executive director of the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), in a statement.

Jesse Wente, ISO co-executive director, added that Barnaby was a “vital figure in the Indigenous new wave of the 2000s, whose influence will be felt for generations.”

“We should have had so many more films from Jeff Barnaby,” wrote TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey in a statement on Twitter. “Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Blood Quantum and his short films showed an artist powered by a blazing fire. He understood horror on its deepest levels.”

“I’ve seen everything Jeff has made. He was an uncompromising visionary whose work flies in the face of polite Canada. He came up in a time of little support for Indigenous film, had to fight all the way through. Leaves a huge void in Indigenous film,” wrote Night Raiders director Danis Goulet.

“[Jeff Barnaby] was a visionary director [and] a beautiful person,” wrote Michael Greyeyes, who won a Canadian Screen Award for his work on Blood Quantum. “We have lost a giant.”

Barnaby is survived by his wife Sarah Del Seronde and his son Miles.

Photo courtesy of Touchwood PR