History of Indigenous Cinema

Indigenous Cinema began during the creation of the first moving pictures (1894, Black Maria Studios). The first Indigenous filmmaker to make a feature film was Merita Mita, a Maori from Aotearoa (New Zealand). Alanis Obomsawin has been a trailblazer in Indigenous cinema with 50 films since she started with NFB. Indigenous people have been taking their rights as traditional oral storytellers on a big screen by sharing their visual stories for social impact, and representation, and for the next generation of Indigenous filmmakers. Indigenous cinema has been reaching people globally, and yet there is still so much more work to do.​There was once a film industry in Saskatchewan that ended almost immediately after the film tax credit cut off. Big Bear was filmed in 1998. This was a prominent mini-series that started many Indigenous actors and filmmakers' careers. Notably, Tasha Hubbard and Danis Goulet, two Indigenous women who have been successful filmmakers started their journeys within Saskatchewan. Since then, a new generation such as our Festival Team Leaders have begun making their careers within Saskatchewan. The need for visual storytellers is there and is necessary for Indigenous people in Treaty 6, Saskatchewan.