Standing Tall and Proud: A Conversation with Filmmakers Tracey Deer and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers

Maple Popcorn

In this episode, we are joined by two impressive filmmakers, Tracey Deer and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers. This conversation has them bravely sharing their vulnerabilities, addressing both their careers and the personal struggles they continue to experience as Indigenous women in Canada. Tracey was born and raised in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Quebec. She is an award-winning television director and filmmaker, and her television show Mohawk Girls was nominated for four Canadian Screen Awards. Her recent coming-of-age feature-length film Beans debuted at TIFF and screened at the Berlin Film Festival, and picked up the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award and Best Motion Picture at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards. Elle-Máijá is a member of the Kainai First Nation (Blood Tribe, Blackfoot Confederacy) as well as Sámi from Norway. In 2020, Elle-Máijá and co-director Katherine Hepburn won the Canadian Screen Award for Directorial Achievement and Best Original Screenplay for The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open. Her recent documentary Kímmapiiyipitssini – the Meaning of Empathy, won her the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director. Tune in to this episode and hear the duo discuss the importance of truth in their filmmaking, and the duty they feel they have to tell stories that reflect their communities’ unique experiences.

Trigger warning: this episode was recorded just a few days after the tragic discovery of a mass grave containing children’s remains at the site of a former Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia.

A podcast hosted by Marriska Fernandes, produced by The Brand is Female and powered by Telefilm Canada.

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