Montreal: Telefilm Canada and tvnc have announced the winners of their 1999 Aboriginal Production Awards. The winner for best English- or French-language aboriginal production is Stories from the Seventh Fire, a 23-minute animation short from Storyteller Productions, Vancouver. The producers are Gerri Cook and Ava Karvonen. The production is based on the artwork of Norval Morrisseau and was broadcast on vtv Vancouver. It was one of 10 entries in the category this year.

The award for best aboriginal-language production went to Spirit Broken: The Pelican Indian Residential School Days. The one-hour Oji-Cree-language documentary was produced by Wawatay Native Communications Society, Sioux Lookout, Ont., with director/producer Joe Beardy. It was broadcast on tvnc and was one of seven entries.

The winning entries each receive $10,000 worth of pre-approved Telefilm funding for a subsequent project, or $5,000 in cash. The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network goes to air across Canada Sept. 1. aptn is based in Winnipeg.