Bretten Hannam is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

screenwriter and film director.Jordan Parker
"Two-Spirit filmmaker puts queer representation first in films"
''Halifax Today'', June 12, 2018. A Two-Spirit, non-binary

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

person, Hannam was born and raised in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Educated at the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The uni ...

and

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

, they made a number of short films in their early career; the most noted of these, '' Deep End'', premiered at the Atlantic Film Festival in 2011 and was included in the short film compilation '' Boys on Film 9: Youth in Trouble''. Their 2015 feature film, '' North Mountain'', premiered at the

Atlantic Film Festival FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival (known as The Atlantic International Film Festival until 2017) is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. FIN is the largest Canadian film festival eas ...

in 2015 before going into limited commercial release in 2018. In 2018, they participated in ''Now and Then'', an exhibition of works by

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

artists in conjunction with the

Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, formerly known as the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1973 as the Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives. The ArQuives acquires, preserves, and pro ...

.Peter Knegt
"What is queer identity in 2018? These artists are looking to the past to understand the present"

CBC Arts CBC Arts (french: Radio-Canada Arts) is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's div ...

, March 21, 2018. Their contribution was the short film ''Elmiteskuatl'', an interrogation of the complex relationship between

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

peoples and colonialist conceptions of archives and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

s. Their most recent short film, ''Wildfire'', was produced with the assistance of the

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

's Aboriginal Filmmaker Fellowship, and premiered at BFI Flare in 2019. A feature film expansion of ''Wildfire'', titled ''

Wildhood ''Wildhood'' is a 2021 Canadian coming-of-age romantic drama film, written, produced, and directed by Bretten Hannam.Steve Gow"Nova Scotia's film industry restarts with 'Wildhood'" ''Halifax Today'', August 25, 2020. An expansion of Hannam's ear ...

'', was funded by

Telefilm Canada Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...

in June 2019, and premiered at the

2021 Toronto International Film Festival The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021.Barry Hertz"TIFF planning ‘substantially bigger’ 2021 film festival compared to last year’ ...

. The film received six

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

nominations at the

10th Canadian Screen Awards The 10th Canadian Screen Awards were held on April 10, 2022, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television and digital media production in 2021.Etan Vlessing"Maitreyi Ramakrishnan to Receive Canadian Screen Awards Special Honor" ''The Hollyw ...

in 2022, including nods for Hannam in both

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

and

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...

. In 2020, Hannam received a grant from the

Inside Out Film and Video Festival Inside may refer to: * Insider, a member of any group of people of limited number and generally restricted access Film * ''Inside'' (1996 film), an American television film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Eric Stoltz * ''Inside'' (2002 f ...

's Re:Focus Emergency Relief Fund for the completion of a short documentary film titled ''Walqwin'', about two-spirit culture in the

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...

. Hannam was named the winner of the

Toronto Film Critics Association The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is an organization of film critics from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is a member of the FIPRESCI. History The Toronto Film Critics Association is the official organization of Toront ...

Jay Scott Prize The Jay Scott Prize is an annual film award presented by the Toronto Film Critics Association, in conjunction with commercial sponsor Stella Artois, to an emerging talent in the Canadian film industry. First presented in 2009, the award was named ...

for emerging filmmakers in February 2022.

Filmography

*''New Skin'' (2008) *''Puppy'' (2010) *''Deep End'' (2011) *'' North Mountain'' (2015) *''Elmiteskuatl'' (2018) *''Wildfire'' (2019) *''

'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannam, Bretten 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century First Nations writers First Nations filmmakers First Nations screenwriters Film directors from Nova Scotia Canadian non-binary writers LGBT First Nations people LGBT film directors Canadian LGBT screenwriters Dalhousie University alumni NSCAD University alumni Mi'kmaq people Writers from Nova Scotia Living people Two-spirit people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century LGBT people Non-binary screenwriters