The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples from around the world. The festival includes screenings, parties, panel discussions, and cultural events. As an organization, imagineNATIVE supports the creation of new works through their commissioning program, and national outreach to and for Indigenous communities through various off-site programs throughout the year. imagineNATIVE also commissions industry reports on the status of Indigenous film production in Canada. Held in October each year for most of its history, in February 2024 the festival announced that it would not be held that year, and will shift to June in 2025.

History

The festival was founded in 1998 by Cynthia Lickers-Sage in her capacity as the Aboriginal outreach coordinator for Vtape as a venue for the exhibition of short film and video work by Aboriginal artists. While initially operated through Vtape, the festival subsequently became an independent organization. An early programmer for the festival was

Ojibway The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

critic and journalist Jesse Wente, who continued in his role as programmer through 2010. In 2010, Jason Ryle took on the role of the festival's executive director; he was succeeded in 2020 by Naomi Johnson. Ryle was subsequently 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 Toro ...

's Clyde Gilmour Award for his contributions to the Canadian film industry, and joined the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

as lead programmer for Indigenous films. In May 2023, Lindsay Monture was named the new festival director.

Awards

The 2001 winner for Best Film went to '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'' by

Inuk Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labr ...

filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk. This film was the first feature dramatic film in an Indigenous language by an Inuk director. The 2016 festival focused on

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

and northern films, with a special focus on films from

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. Award winners for that year included ''Bonfire'', a film by Russian Sakha director Dmitry Davydov, for Best Dramatic Feature; '' Searchers (Maliglutit)'' by Zacharias Kunuk for Best Indigenous Language Production; and '' Angry Inuk'', directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, which won Best Documentary Feature.

Audience Choice Award

Best Dramatic Feature

Best Short Drama

Best Canadian Short Drama (2006–2016)

Best Short Work (Cynthia Lickers-Sage Award, 2017–Present)

Best Indigenous Language Production

Kent Monkman Kent Monkman (born 13 November 1965) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations artist of Cree ancestry. He is a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation, Fisher River nation situated in Manitoba's Interlake Region. Monkman lives and works betwe ...
Award: Best Experimental/Innovation in Storytelling

Best Documentary - Short Format

Best Documentary - Long Format (
Alanis Obomsawin Alanis Obomsawin, (born August 31, 1932) is an Abenaki people, Abenaki American Canadian, American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised prima ...
Award)

After Dark Award

Award for speculative fiction films in memory of Jeff Barnaby.

Best Music Video (2000–2016)

Best Radio (2000–2013)

Best Television (2000–2004)

Best New Media (2000–2014)

Best Audio Work (since 2014)

Narrative Audio

Experimental Audio

Best Digital Media Work (since 2015)

Best Interactive Work (since 2018)

Digital & Interactive

New Artist in Digital and Interactive

Emerging Talent (Cynthia Lickers-Sage & Jane Glassco Awards)

Best Youth (Ellen Monague Award)

New Voice in Storytelling

Outstanding performance in a feature film

Outstanding performance in a short film

Sun & Moon Jury Prizes

August Schellenberg Award of Excellence

Named in memory of actor August Schellenberg, the August Schellenberg Award of Excellence is a lifetime achievement award honoring indigenous actors. The award was presented for the first time in 2015. *2015 - Tantoo Cardinal *2016 - Tom Jackson *2017 - Tina Keeper *2018 - Michael Greyeyes *2019 - Michelle Thrush *2020 - Lorne Cardinal *2021 - Shirley Cheechoo *2022 - Gary Farmer *2023 - Jennifer Podemski *2025 -

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

Commissions

NFB/imagineNATIVE Interactive Partnership

NFB/imagineNATIVE Interactive Partnership was started in 2012 for the commissioning and production of new digital and interactive works by established Indigenous artists. Works produced through this program include ''De Nort'' (2012) by the ITWE Collective, ''Similkameen Crossroads'' (2013) by Tyler Hagan, ''Ice Fishing'' (2014) by Jordan Bennett and ''Red Card'' (2016) by Cara Mumford. Ice Fishing was subsequently selected to represent Canada at the 2015

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative

The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) was a 2012 imagineNATIVE artistic commission and national exhibition of four, one-minute digital works by award-winning Canadian Indigenous filmmakers. The commissioned works were created to reflect and respond to the Stolen Sisters, a term adopted by the Aboriginal community and larger social justice organizations of the struggle to find answers for the hundreds of unsolved cases of

missing and murdered Indigenous women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First Nations in Canada and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples s ...

across Canada. The four commissioned works were: * ''Like it Was Yesterday'' by Calgary-based artists Jesse Gouchey and Xstine Cook * ''Snare'' by Vancouver-based

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

artist Lisa Jackson * ''When it Rains'' by the

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

/ Chippewa Cree filmmaker Cara Mumford * ''Your Courage Will Not Go Unnoticed'' by the

Gitxsan Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan and Kitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory enco ...

/ Lax Gibu artist and journalist Angela Sterritt This was the first time the Festival partnered to present a simultaneous national exhibition. Working with

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Canada and Pattison Onestop, a national media company, the short videos were exhibited throughout Toronto's subway system, on display screens in 33 shopping centres across Canada, at the Calgary International Airport, and at the

TIFF Bell Lightbox TIFF Lightbox is a cultural centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the first five floors of the Lightbox and Festival Tower on the northwest corner of King Street and John Street. TIFF Lightbox features five cinemas, two restaurants, ma ...

leading up to and during the 2012 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Zwei Indianer Aus Winnipeg

In 2009, the festival commissioned ''Zwei Indianer Aus Winnipeg'', a short film by

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and Ojibwa ethnonyms, other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations band governm ...

filmmaker Darryl Nepinak. The film subsequently screened at the 2009

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

Embargo Collective

In March 2008, imagineNATIVE formed the Embargo Collective, an international group of seven Indigenous artists for the purposes of collaborating and challenging one another to create seven new films. Collective members included Helen Haig-Brown,

Heiltsuk The Heiltsuk , sometimes historically referred to as ''Bella Bella'', or ''Híɫzaqv'' are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Central Coast Regional District, Central Coast region in British Columbia, ...

/Mohawk filmmaker and actress Zoe Leigh Hopkins and Anishnaabe filmmaker Lisa Jackson. The resulting films were subsequently screened at the 2010 Berlinale. Following this, Brown's '' The Cave'' was awarded a top-ten recognition at the

, and was screened at the 2011 Sundance Festival, while Jackson's '' Savage'' won a 2011 Genie Award for best live action short drama. In 2014, Embargo Collective II focused on women filmmakers. It was curated by Danis Goulet, and included Hopkins, Blackfoot/

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...

filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Caroline Monnet. Among the films produced that year was ''Roberta''.

Other programs

imagineNATIVE Film + Video Tour

The imagineNATIVE Film + Video Tour provides regional and remote communities access to Indigenous-made film and video from Canada and abroad. In addition to bringing a Festival-favourite feature presentation to these communities, the Tour encourages youth to explore the creation of film and video through a Youth-focused film and video program, discussion and hands-on video-making workshops. The video-making workshops assist and lead youth to create and edit short videos using readily-available technology such as cellphones and webcams. The videos are featured on imagineNATIVE's website and open to public voting, sending the winner to Toronto for the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

indigiFLIX Community Screening Series

The indigiFLIX Community Screening Series, presented by imagineNATIVE, is hosted in cultural and community centres to reach a broader

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

and non-Native audience beyond the annual Festival in Toronto. Films are selected from past imagineNATIVE Festivals in an effort to keep these important films alive and accessible to the Indigenous community. imagineNATIVE is committed to supporting artists through payment of industry-standard artist fees for all works presented.

Canadian Indigenous Film Producer Mini-Lab

The Canadian Indigenous Film Producer Mini-Lab was started as a program to develop skills and talent for emerging Indigenous producers. Among its alumni are Cara Mumford, Michelle Latimer and Jeremy Torrie.

Jeff Barnaby Grant

In 2023, imagineNATIVE and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

partnered on the Jeff Barnaby Grant, a granting program for emerging indigenous

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

filmmakers created in memory of film director Jeff Barnaby following his death in 2022. The inaugural recipients, announced in May 2023, were Bronwyn Szabo,

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

, Kristina Fithern-Stiele, Gavin Baird and Tank Standing Buffalo.Oscar Baker III
"5 winners of Jeff Barnaby grants for Indigenous filmmakers announced"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, May 10, 2023.

References

External links

* {{Parades and Festivals in Toronto Film festivals in Toronto Indigenous film festivals in Canada Indigenous organizations in Ontario Film festivals established in 1999 1999 establishments in Ontario Indigenous peoples in Toronto