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Mentorship Recipients Announced for 2013

imagineNATIVE ‘s annual Commissioning Series Expands

Toronto, March 12, 2013 – imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2013 mentorships, presented.in partnership with Charles Street Video (CSV), the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), and the New Brunswick Filmmakers Co-operative (NBFC). Each year, imagineNATIVE and its valued partners commission an Indigenous artist to create a new short work that will premiere at the annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. These partnerships provide the artists with access to their respective centre’s resources, including camera equipment, workshops, and post-production facilities.

“Our annual short film and video commissioning series is an integral part of imagineNATIVE that could only be achieved through our important partnerships with CSV, LIFT and the NBFC,” says Jason Ryle, imagineNATIVE’s Executive Director. “Together we remain committed to developing the careers of Indigenous artists and I congratulate this year’s recipients.”  

imagineNATIVE and Charles Street Video are pleased to announce photographer and video artist Keesic Douglas (Ojibway) as the recipient of the 3^rd annual CSV/imagineNATIVE Residency. This unique opportunity offers the recipient access to state of the art equipment and training. Keesic’s work has been exhibited and screened at imagineNATIVE, across Canada and internationally. In 2009 his video War Pony screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany and in 2007 his video The Vanishing Trace won imagineNATIVE’s Best Short Documentary award.

imagineNATIVE’s first collaborative commissioning mentorship was presented in partnership with the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. Almost a decade later, imagineNATIVE and LIFT have the pleasure of announcing Toronto-based Kelabit artist Adrienne Marcus Raja as the recipient of our ninth annual mentorship. The LIFT/imagineNATIVE Mentorship offers an Indigenous artist living in the GTA the opportunity to expand their practice into the realm of film. Adrienne will be enrolled in LIFT’s seasonal workshops, be paired with a suitable mentor, be provided with access to LIFT’s production and post-production equipment, and receive additional financial and resource support from imagineNATIVE and mentorship partners, Kodak (www.kodak.ca) and Technicolor (www.technicolor.com), to complete a film for premiere at the 2013 Festival.

“LIFT is pleased to be working with Adrienne on a film for imagineNATIVE 2013,” says Chris Kennedy, LIFT’s Executive Director. “Adrienne's practice incorporates a broad range of contemporary art-making, but carries a unique and engaging voice. We're excited to see how she translates her vision to the film medium. We're expecting an exciting project and look forward to working with her in its realization.”

Finally, imagineNATIVE is incredibly thrilled to announce the Festival’s first partnership with the New Brunswick Filmmakers Co-operative, our first out-of-province mentorship partner of its kind. For this first year, imagineNATIVE and the NBFC are pleased to announce Fredericton-based Maliseet artist John David Thornton as the recipient of the first NBFC/imagineNATIVE Mentorship.

This inaugural mentorship was developed to offer an Indigenous person living in New Brunswick the opportunity to expand their artistic practice in videomaking. John will be enrolled in NBFC’s seasonal workshops, be paired with a suitable mentor, be provided with access to NBFC’s production and post-production equipment, and receive additional financial and resource support from NBFC and imagineNATIVE to complete a short video for premiere at imagineNATIVE 2013 followed by a screening at the 2013 Silver Wave Festival.

“imagineNATIVE is incredibly pleased to partner with the NBFC on this mentorship program,” says Jason Ryle, imagineNATIVE’s Executive Director. “We are committed to extending our support and outreach to Indigenous artists living in Canada’s Atlantic region. We want to see more Indigenous media arts production in the East and this partnership with NBFC is a significant step in that direction.”  

Congratulations once again to all recipients and thank you to all of this year’s incredible applicants. Be sure to check out the completed works which will have their World Premieres at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 16-20, 2013 in Toronto, Canada.

www.imaginenative.org