The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) has selected six participants for the 2023 Indigenous Filmmaker Fellowship (IFF).

Now in its 11th year, the fellowship was created to support Indigenous talent in Canada and focuses on advancing short-form scripted projects.

The selected fellows will be mentored by Indigenous filmmakers and industry experts and will also be provided networking opportunities with broadcasters, industry decision-makers, and other Indigenous content creators. The participants will take part in virtual sessions from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, followed by in-person participation at the WFF + Content Summit.

This year’s cohort includes three participants from British Columbia, two from Alberta, and one from Saskatchewan.

B.C.-based participants include Shae-Lynn Pearson, who has been selected for the project Northernmost, which centres on the host of an investigative podcast who travels to the reserve she grew up on to cover the disappearance of a former friend.

Dustin McGladrey’s A Bloom in the Bentwood Box is a story of survival and identity for two individuals who survive a plane crash, while Cody Kearsley’s Burning from Both Ends follows the journey of a Métis man from addiction to redemption.

The Alberta-based participants are Bruce Miller for Roughriders, which follows the story of “a girl, a horse and a broken man” who are together in the “journey of healing”; and Dallas Soonias for The Frank Gypsum Story, in which a failed athlete turned oil man attempts to rebuild his life.

Saskatchewan-based Arnolda Dufour Bowes completes the cohort, with the project 215 & Counting, which centres on two sisters seeking revenge for “the crimes committed by the church to their Indigenous community.”

The fellowship is led by facilitator and mentor Camille Beaudoin, co-founder and CEO of Mosaic Entertainment, who will be joined by writer-director Jules Arita Koostachin and IFF program manager Tristin Greyeyes.

The IFF is supported by Creative BC, William F. White International, APTN, the Bell Fund, the Indigenous Screen Office, IATSE 891, and Eagle Vision.

The 23rd edition of the WFF + Content Summit takes place in-person in Whistler, B.C., from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, followed by virtual screenings available nationwide from Dec. 5 to 17.

Image: Unsplash