From The Hollywood Reporter · Etan Vlessing · · 1m
Indigenous filmmakers take over TIFF
A quiet funding push in Canada put eight First Nations directors on the Toronto Film Festival lineup at once.
In brief
A quiet funding push in Canada put eight First Nations directors on the Toronto Film Festival lineup at once. Money, not goodwill, is what put Indigenous directors on the festival's biggest stage. Originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
A historic close-up
Indigenous filmmakers are getting their biggest showing yet at the Toronto Film Festival this year.
Years in the making
This did not happen by accident. The Canadian government and industry financiers built the initiative behind it over several years.
Eight films, one office
The Indigenous Film Office helped finance eight First Nations filmmakers whose movies are premiering at TIFF.
Bigger budgets, bigger swings
The films arriving are not small side projects. Indigenous directors are working at budget levels that let the craft show.
Momentum, not a moment
ISO chief executive Kerri Swanson says the gains keep compounding, across both the range of stories told and the careers behind them.
“continued momentum that is real and is only increasing in the diversity of filmmaking and the success of (indigenous) filmmakers themselves”
What matters most
Money, not goodwill, is what put Indigenous directors on the festival's biggest stage.
