The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) has selected seven participants for the 2024 Indigenous Filmmaker Fellowship (IFF).

Now in its 12th year, the program was created to support the development of Indigenous talent in Canada. The 2024 program focuses on the development of short-form web series.

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.

Two of the participants hail from B.C., two from Ontario, and one each from Yukon, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

B.C.-based participants include Bree Island (pictured), who has been selected for the project âniskê, a supernatural horror/comedy about an individual who must use Cree stories to rescue their grandma.

Michael Nichol’s drama Knife Life focuses on an Indigenous teen and his fateful blunder that leads to an accidental stabbing.

Ontario’s participants include Tim Reidel with Ancestral Beasts, about a woman who discovers a demon underneath her rural home; and Ryan Cunningham with Traditional Transplantation, about a grandma who refuses a kidney transplant because it goes against her beliefs.

Saskatchewan’s Moniquea Marion is developing the comedy Christmastown, which focuses on an acclaimed Hollywood director who ends up in a small town that serves as the inspiration for all Hallmark movies.

Manitoba’s Blaine York was selected for Agatha and Her Ghosts. The dramedy focuses on a 21-year old gifted with necromancy and her 300-year-old ghost companion.

Finally, Yukon’s Whitney Horne is developing her dystopian sci-fi Digital Spirits, about a woman whose AI avatar gains sentience.

The fellowship is led by facilitator and mentor Camille Beaudoin, co-founder and CEO of Mosaic Entertainment, who will be joined by filmmaker Barbara Hager. The participants will take part in virtual sessions from Oct. 21 to Nov. 15, followed by in-person participation at WIFF + Content Summit.

The IFF is supported by Creative BC, APTN, Sunbelt Rentals, the Bell Fund, Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, IATSE 891 and Eagle Vision.

The 24th WIFF + Content Summit takes place in Whistler, B.C. from Dec. 4 to 8.

Image courtesy of Whistler Film Festival