WFI TEAMS UP WITH MÉTIS AUTHOR & HISTORIAN JEAN TEILLET AND RISING STAR KIAWENTIIO FOR APTN INDIGENOUS DAY LIVE SEGMENTS

It was a busy Winter and Spring around here as Wookey Films has had the immense pleasure of working with Media Rendez-Vous and Animikee See to produce two special segments for APTN's 2021 Indigenous Day Live broadcast this past Sunday.

It was a thrill for us to get the chance to work with up-and-coming actress Kiawentiio, star of Tracey Deer’s Beans, which won Best Picture at the Canadian Screen Awards last month, to produce the broadcast’s opening segment. The opening highlighted the 25th anniversary of National Indigenous People’s Day in Canada and showcased how Indigenous Day has grown from forming small community celebrations to inspiring educational initiatives and large scale events like IDL.

Kiawentiio stars in Beans and CBC / Netflix’s Anne with an E

Wookey Films also had the opportunity to produce a major segment which was aimed at telling a story near and dear to our hearts – the role of the Metis People in the foundation of Manitoba. The team conceptualized a slam-poetry-style treatment and based the poem on Jean Teillet’s The Northwest Is Our Mother, the new definitive history of the Métis. WFI was honoured to have Jean, who is a direct descendant of Louis Riel and works as a lawyer in Métis and First Nation land, harvesting and self-government rights, on board to work with us as a consultant on the script. Her blessing and support are deeply appreciated.

Janelle and Jérémie wish to thank Casey Gibb for his in-depth work on research, Denise Darling for her key role in coming up with the visual concept and overseeing animations, Matt Schween, DP extraordinaire for going above and beyond as always and Jessica Libby of Ubuntu Motion who created some incredible animations for the piece. Special thanks also to the very sweet and talented Hailley Furlako who helped guide preliminary animation work.

This was a huge labour of love for the Wookey team, who so enjoyed working on this piece on a deep personal and creative level.

A huge Maarsii to all of our partners and collaborators and to all those who sent such positive feedback!

Indigenous Day Live 2021 which is also co-hosted by WFI’s Producer, Janelle, will be available to stream for free on APTN Lumi until June 28th.