Toronto-based White Pine Pictures has begun production on the documentary feature film Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On.

White Pine is co-producing the film with Eagle Vision and Paquin Entertainment. Carry It On will feature exclusive access to the Academy Award-winning musician and activist. In the film, Sainte-Marie talks about the power of creativity in the face of adversity and what people can do to effect change.

The film will be infused with music and poetry, blending a collection of archival material, some never seen before, with present-day footage of the singer-songwriter performing. The film will also include interviews with Sainte-Marie, her bandmates and colleagues.

“To turn one’s life story over to a documentary production is a leap of faith, but with White Pine Pictures and Eagle Vision, the process is feeling natural to me. I look forward to experiencing the story of my life as told through their lens and sharing that story with the world,” Sainte-Marie said in a statement.

The film is an Ontario-Manitoba co-production, directed by Madison Thomas. Thomas is an award-winning filmmaker based in Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg.

White Pine Pictures previously produced the award-winning Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, the first Canadian documentary to open the Toronto International Film Festival.

The new documentary will be released theatrically in the fall of 2022, followed by broadcasts via Bell Media and APTN in Canada. It will make its exclusive U.S. broadcast premiere on PBS’ American Masters series, in collaboration with Vision Maker Media.

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On is executive produced by Peter Raymont, Steve Ord and Andrew Munger for White Pines Pictures; Lisa Meeches, Kyle Irving and Rebecca Gibson for Eagle Vision; as well as Sainte-Marie’s long-time manager Gilles Paquin, Randy Lennox, Michael Kantor for the American Masters series and Francine Blythe-Lewis for Vision Maker. White Pine’s Stephen Paniccia also serves as a producer. The film is written by Andrea Warner, author of Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography.

Funding for the film was secured through the Canada Media Fund’s POV Fund, Rogers’ Documentary Fund, Ontario Creates and the Telefilm Theatrical Documentary Fund.

This story originally appeared in Realscreen