Marjorie Beaucage (born 1947) is a Canadian
Métis activist filmmaker and teacher from
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
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.
Early life and education
Beaucage was born in
Vassar, Manitoba Vassar is a community located in southeastern Manitoba. It is located in the Rural Municipality of Piney, approximately north of the Canada–United States border with Minnesota.
History
Vassar's first inhabitants settled in 1896 with the railr ...
in 1947.
She obtained a degree in education from the
University of Brandon and studied film at
Ryerson University
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Tor ...
.
Career
Beaucage spent 25 years in adult education and community organizing before turning to film in her 40s.
Her documentary films are often collaborative in nature and have reflected the participation of Indigenous peoples in political forums, conferences, local activism, and community events. Her 1997 film ''Ntapueu... i am telling the truth'' followed the environmental impact work of the
Innu Nation
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
regarding a
mining project in
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
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, subdivision_name = Canada
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's
Voisey's Bay. She was invited by the Innu to capture their work following her documentation of the efforts of elders in northern Saskatchewan during a 1992 Wiggins Bay blockage in opposition to the province's
clearcutting policies
In 2017 Beaucage released ''Coming In Stories: Two Spirit in Saskatchewan'' in an attempt to raise awareness about the experiences of
two-spirit
Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...
individuals in Saskatchewan.
The coordinator of OUTSaskatoon and a two-spirit person herself, Beaucage explained in an interview with the ''Saskatoon StarPhoenix'' that she made the film because of the number of people who don't understand the role and experiences of two spirit individuals: "there are really young people that have lived experiences and need support, so the film was created to be intimate face-to-face storytelling that opens people's hearts and helps them to understand in a way they didn't before."
Beaucage is the co-founder of the Aboriginal Film and Video Art Alliance.
Films
*''Bingo'' (1991)
*''Good Grief'' (1993)
*''China... Through One Woman’s Eyes'' (1996)
*''Ntapueu... i am telling the truth'' (1997)
*''Proz Anthology'' (2000)
*''Coming In Stories: Two Spirit in Saskatchewan'' (2017)
Awards
References
External links
Métis filmmakers
Two-spirit people
1947 births
Living people
Canadian documentary film directors
LGBT film directors
LGBT First Nations people
Canadian women film directors
Canadian women documentary filmmakers
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