Indigenous Feature Film Production In Canada: A National And International Perspective

Context Summary: Aboriginal stories are a fundamental part of our shared history and our collective identity and offer all Canadians an opportunity to engage in what defines us as a nation. A thriving screen-based sector requires distinct and innovative content. Canada’s screen industry has yet to fully leverage one of the richest cultural resources this country has to offer — the stories of Aboriginal people. The rapidly evolving Aboriginal screen-based sector has been on the rise in Canada, situated within a growing international Indigenous cinema network. A boost in Aboriginal feature film production would increase and diversify Canada’s cultural offerings to domestic and international markets, and also create a new national legacy of inclusion and recognition for the incredible value of Aboriginal film and media makers to our nation’s identity and cultural landscape.

This report also examines the barriers to feature film production for Aboriginal content creators in Canada, and suggests areas of opportunity that can be targeted in order to boost production in this sector.

Research Firm: This report was commissioned by the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (imagineNATIVE).

Study Funding: Funding was provided by the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s (OMDC) Research Grant Program and Telefilm Canada (Telefilm).