Toronto (Tkaronto) November 20, 2024 — The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) has selected five Indigenous producers to attend Content London 2024, a premier international gathering bringing together industry professionals to explore the latest trends, innovations, and opportunities in the entertainment sector. Content London will take place from December 2 to December 5, 2024 in London, UK.
“We are proud to support five well established Indigenous producers in accessing the global market and exploring new avenues for collaboration with international broadcasters, distributors and buyers. ISO remains committed to creating global business opportunities for Indigenous storytellers.” said Kerry Swanson, Chief Executive Officer of ISO.
The five ISO delegates attending Content London are Marie Clements (MCM2 Productions Inc.), Zoe Hopkins, (Forest Light Films Ltd.), Tania Koenig-Gauchier, (Wapanatahk Media Inc.), Alexander Lasheras (Soler Pictures Inc.), and Ernest Webb (Rezolution Pictures International Inc.). The delegation will be led by Kerry Sugiyama, ISO’s Senior Manager of International Market Development.
Prior to Content London, the delegation will receive comprehensive support from ISO to maximize their participation in Content London. They will connect with potential international networks, streaming services, buyers, distributors, and broadcasters.
In partnership with the Canadian Media Producers’ Association (CMPA), the ISO delegates will be participating in various events such as panels, masterclasses, networking events and the Canada/ UK co-production forum.
2024 Delegate Bios
Marie Clements – MCM2 Productions Inc.
A renowned writer, director and producer whose decorated career has spanned film, TV, radio, and live performance. As a writer, director and producer, her feature film Bones of Crows premiered at TIFF 2022, opened VIFF, and has screened at over 34 film festivals worldwide garnering over 72 nominations and 39 awards. The release of her mini-series by the same name on CBC/SRC and APTN was the highest watched dramatic premiere last fall and won Best International Series at Seriesfest in Denver and has recently won Best Direction and Best Production Design at the 2024 DGC Awards, and Best Screenwriting at the 2024 WGC Awards. Her dramatic feature debut Red Snow received numerous awards including Most Popular Canadian Feature at VIFF, Best Canadian Feature at EIFF, Best Achievement in Film at LA Skins Fest in Los Angeles and Best Director at the American Indian Film Festival and Best Production, Best Director, and Best Writer at the Women in Film & TV Festival. Marie’s 2017 feature music documentary The Road Forward, produced by the NFB, premiered at Hot Docs, opened the DOXA Documentary Film Festival, closed the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival, and received multiple awards for production, directing, and screenwriting. She is also a recipient of the WFF Women on Top Award, the WIFTV Spotlight Impact Award, the 2019 Telefilm Canada Birks Diamond Tribute the DGC Impact Award 2023 and the APTN filmmaker Award 2023 and has been nominated for two Governor General’s Awards ( Burning Vision/Copper Thunderbird).
Zoe Hopkins – Forest Light Films Ltd.
Zoe Hopkins is a Heiltsuk and Mohawk woman, born in her mother’s community of Bella Bella, a fishing village on the coast of BC. She is now based in her father’s community of Six Nations, Ontario, where she learned to speak and teach Kanyen’kéha (the Mohawk language).
Zoe has made a feature film in each of her home communities. Kayak to Klemtu is a love letter to her coastal roots, and her second feature Run Woman Run was shot in Six Nations. Both had successful theatrical releases in Canada and won many awards on the festival circuit, including Audience Awards at imagineNATIVE, the largest Indigenous Film Festival in the world.
From features to TV, Zoe works in both comedy and drama as both a writer and director. She is a two-time DGC Nominee, and a WGC Award Winning writer for her final episode of Little Bird. At the 2024 CSA Awards, Little Bird swept, and took hom 13 awards, making Zoe a Canadian Screen Award Winner for Best Dramatic Series, the most awarded series in CSA history.
Other credits include Trickster, Run the Burbs, Don’t Even, North of North, and Small Achievable Goals. She is a member of the Writers Guild of Canada, the Director’s Guild of Canada, and loves making her sets a relaxed and fun space to work.
Tania Koenig-Gauchier – Wapanatahk Media Inc.
Tania is a Métis (Cree) television producer with more than 20 years of experience in broadcasting and independent production. She has worked as a producer for CTV, CBC, and APTN, and has a background in business management, as well as marketing and promotions for television. She also spent five years in the position of Manager of Programming for the Western Region, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
Tania started a production company called Wapanatahk (‘morning star’ in Plains Cree) Media and she has a service partnership in place with Great Pacific Media, a subsidiary of Thunderbird Entertainment. The vision of the production company is to be a top-tier media company in Canada that is known for creating original, dynamic, and compelling content that is sold around the world.
Tania is the Executive Producer and Producer of Wild Rose Vets, a series currently in its fourth season that follows Indigenous veterinarians for APTN and Cottage Life (Blue Ant Media). The show has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards including Best Photography, Lifestyle or Reality/Competition, Best Lifestyle Program or Series in 2023 and Best Direction in 2024 amongst others.
Tania is extremely proud of her Indigenous heritage which originates from Northern Alberta (ties to Peavine Métis Settlement). She is also a descendant of Louis Karakontie, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec that settled in Alberta during the Canadian fur trade. She is the proud mother of two teenagers who are members of the Nisga’a Nation (Village of Laxgalts’ap) in northern British Columbia.
Alexander Lasheras – Soler Pictures Inc.
Alexander Lasheras, Red River Métis, is a filmmaker with a passion for exploring complex narratives through innovative storytelling. His recent projects have received support from APTN, CMF, and CBC, and his work spans multiple genres, including psychological horror and sci-fi thrillers. Alexander is thrilled to join the ISO delegation at Content London, where he will continue to develop his groundbreaking stories for a global audience.
Ernest Webb – Rezolution Pictures International Inc.
Ernest Webb is a world-renowned Indigenous producer, executive producer, director and storyteller. His most recent work was one of the executive producers on the CRAVE original series Little Bird. He was born in James Bay, Ontario and raised in the Cree community of Chisasibi, Quebec. In 2001 Ernest co-founded Rezolution Pictures, the award-winning Indigenous production company, with Catherine Bainbridge – a move that not only launched his career creating ground-breaking documentaries about the cultures, issues, and stories of Indigenous people across Canada, but also changed the landscape of Indigenous representation and story-telling in mainstream media. The success of the company is in large part thanks to Ernest and Catherine’s ability to operate and execute projects strategically, in a way that aligns with their values. Ernest’s reputation for authentic storytelling is a result of the time and effort he puts into cultivating relationships and building a vast network around him. In his nearly 20 years at the helm of Rezolution Pictures, he has formed relationships and built trust with several First Nations communities, in ways that have led them to welcome and entrust him to share their stories with the world.
Ernest’s success came swiftly, achieving awards and critical acclaim for his co-direction and starring roles in some of Rezolution’s biggest hits. This includes his role as executive producer of Sundance and the 3-time Canadian Screen Award winning feature documentary, Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, as well as the 4-time Canadian Screen Awards nominated dramatic comedy series, Mohawk Girls. His talents also translate seamlessly on-screen where his charisma and passion for storytelling has led the popular rise of shows such as the documentary series Indians and Aliens, which he directs and hosts.
With the creation of Meta4 in 2010, Webb brought his passion for Indigenous storytelling to the world of gaming. Ernest co-created Spirits of Spring, an empathy game that creatively deals with both Indigenous culture and the traumas of bullying. No matter the medium, Ernest continually strives to bring meaningful Indigenous stories to mainstream audiences, honouring past and future generations and creating awareness of the crucial Indigenous culture that makes up our society.
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For more information or to book an interview:
Jean-François D. O’Bomsawin
Director of Communications and Francophone Initiatives, ISO
jfobomsawin@iso-bea.ca
About Indigenous Screen Office
The Indigenous Screen Office is an independent national advocacy and funding organization serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis creators of screen content in Canada. The ISO’s mandate is to foster and support narrative sovereignty and cultural revitalization by increasing Indigenous storytelling on screens and promoting Indigenous values and participation across the sector.