iN_Rapport_Jan2018_SA

PATHWAYS TO THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET

FOR INDIGENOUS SCREEN CONTENT:

SucceSS StorieS, LeSSonS Learned

From SeLected JuriSdictionS

and a Strategy For growth

Jan. 31

, 2019

PREPARED FOR

imagineNATIVE

401 Richmond St. West, Suite 446

Toronto, Ontario

M5V 3A8

SUBMITTED BY

Maria De Rosa

Marilyn Burgess

www.communicationsmdr.com

CONTENTS

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

P. 6

FOREWORD

P. 8

INTRODUCTION

P. 10

I. THE NEW CONTEXT:

A RISING TIDE OF INDIGENOUS PRODUCTION

P. 12

II. SUCCESS STORIES: CASE STUDIES OF CANADIAN

AND INTERNATIONAL FILMS, TELEVISION PROGRAMS

AND DIGITAL MEDIA

P. 22

III. LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE SUCCESS OF INTERNATIONAL

INDIGENOUS SCREEN CONTENT

P. 42

IV. PATHWAYS TO THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET FOR

CONSIDERATION BY THE INDIGENOUS SCREEN SECTOR

IN CANADA

P. 56

ANNEX 1: SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

P. 72

ANNEX 2: SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF ON-LINE QUESTIONNAIRE

WITH FESTIVALS

P. 78

ANNEX 3: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES

P. 90

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

WE WISH TO THANK ADRIANA CHARTRAND, INSTITUTE

COORDINATOR FOR IMAGINENATIVE FOR HER CONTRIBUTION

TO THIS REPORT. AS AN INTERN ON THE CONSULTING TEAM,

ADRIANA’S PROFESSIONALISM, DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE

INDIGENOUS SCREENBASED SECTOR AND HER DEDICATION

WERE INSTRUMENTAL TO THE SUCCESS OF THIS REPORT. SHE

CONTRIBUTED TO THE RESEARCH AND WRITING OF THE CASE

STUDY ANALYSIS OF THE SUCCESS STORIES FEATURED IN THIS

REPORT, PROFILES OF CANADIAN CREATORS, THE ANALYSIS OF THE

ONLINE SURVEY, AS WELL AS GENERAL OTHER RESEARCH.

IMAGINENATIVE ACKNOWLEDGES THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF

THE FOLLOWING FUNDERS IN THE RESEARCH AND WRITING OF

THIS REPORT: THE INDIGENOUS SCREEN OFFICE, THE CANADA

MEDIA FUND CMF, ONTARIO CREATES, TELEFILM CANADA, AND

THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA NFB.

ANY OPINIONS, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS

EXPRESSED IN THIS MATERIAL ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND

DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE INDIGENOUS

SCREEN OFFICE, THE CANADA MEDIA FUND CMF, ONTARIO

CREATES, TELEFILM CANADA, AND THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF

CANADA NFB. THE FUNDERS, THE GOVERNMENTS OF ONTARIO

AND CANADA AND THEIR AGENCIES ARE IN NO WAY BOUND BY ANY

RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT.

FOREWORD

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

On behalf of imagineNATIVE, I am pleased to present this report on the ﬁ ndings of a major examination of

Indigenous screen-based content internationally, the factors contributing to its success and lessons for the

Canadian context.

As the largest Indigenous screen festival in the world, imagineNATIVE is committed to supporting the

development of our talented Indigenous creators and promoting their work to audiences at home and abroad.

The results of the consultation with our fellow festivals around the world reveal a growing demand for

Indigenous screen content. Last year over 400,000 people around the world attended festivals that featured

Indigenous screen stories and the number of festivals dedicated to Indigenous content is growing.

As this report shows, festivals are the leading promoters, exhibitors and celebrators of Indigenous screen

productions, and imagineNATIVE has played a key role as a global leader in providing opportunities for

international gatherings, dialogues and events for the screen-based production sector. This work is achieved in

collaboration with our many friends and partners worldwide: artists, buyers, decision-makers and audiences.

There are a growing number of international festivals dedicated, as we are, to growing our industry.

Indigenous stories are being told in ways that resonate with audiences everywhere, at deep human levels,

and the opportunities for these works will continue to grow in the international market for years to come. We

believe there are numerous opportunities for promoting Canadian Indigenous screen content internationally

and connecting our creators to wider audiences everywhere. However, there remains much to be done. The

imagineNATIVE Institute is excited to be supporting the development of talented Indigenous creators through

this study, which provides potential pathways for consideration by our industry, based on the success stories

and lessons learned from other jurisdictions examined for this report.

Jason Ryle,

Artistic & Managing Director,

imagineNATIVE

INTRODUCTION

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

1. The Overall Context

Within the context of the increasing appeal of Indigenous screen-based content worldwide, imagineNATIVE,

with funding from the Indigenous Screen Oice, Ontario Creates, Teleﬁlm Canada the National Film Board

and the Canada Media Fund, commissioned Communications MDR to develop lessons learned from the

successes of the Indigenous screen-based sector internationally to support the growth of Canada’s Indigenous

screen sector. It has been noted that the industry is “evolving worldwide and gaining recognition and

appreciation. Along with New Zealand, Australia and the United States, Canada is considered one of the key

sources of Indigenous screen-based media.”

The report that follows is aimed at furthering the growth of the Indigenous screen-based sector internationally,

stimulating production, fostering innovation and promoting collaboration.

2. Approach and Methodology

A review of selected national and international literature on the state of screen-based media created by

Indigenous people was conducted in order to proﬁle the success of Indigenous screen-based content. Case

studies were conducted of popular productions drawn from both Canadian and international examples. Where

possible, data on box oice receipts, audience reach, sales and awards were included in these case analyses.

Brief proﬁles were also developed of productions and initiatives to illustrate the vitality of the sector. Please

see Annex 1 for the study’s bibliography.

Thirty Indigenous festivals and alternative distribution networks in Canada and abroad were surveyed to

better understand the presentation of Indigenous screen-based content at these events. It is important to

point out that many Indigenous ﬁlms experience success ﬁrst at international ﬁlm festivals and then at the box

oice in their domestic markets. Annex 2 provides a summary of the results of the survey.

Telephone interviews were conducted with thirty-one stakeholders in Canada and internationally to support

the development of a strategy that will expand opportunities for Canadian Indigenous screen-based

productions in the global market. The consultants interviewed producers, broadcasters, and representatives

from festivals, funding agencies and training institutes. Interviews with producers also supported the

development of the case studies Please see Annex 3 for a list of people interviewed.

3. Structure of this Document

This report is divided into the following four sections:

I. The New Context: A Rising Tide of Indigenous Productions

II. Success Stories: Case Studies of Canadian and International Films, Television Programs

and Digital Media

III. Lessons Learned From the Success of International Indigenous Screen Content

IV. Pathways to the International Market for Consideration by the Indigenous Screen Sector

in Canada

I. THE NEW CONTEXT:

A RISING TIDE OF INDIGENOUS PRODUCTION

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

Over the past two decades, international jurisdictions with sustained public investment in Indigenous

production overseen by Indigenous people have given rise to a wide array of work that is immensely popular

with audiences, and ensured an international reputation for Indigenous creators. In recent years, Australia,

New Zealand and the Nordic Region have celebrated a string of box oice and tele-vision hits. These

successes, combined with the growing visibility and appeal of Indigenous content at international festivals are

contributing to what some have called a “rising tide” of Indigenous screen content.

For its part, Canada, too is contributing to this exciting era of opportunity through the creation of the

Indigenous Screen Oice, together with support from its national funders and the leadership provid-ed

by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) as the most important commissioner of award-winning

Indigenous content. The Canada Media Fund is providing about $8M annually on inde-pendently produced

Indigenous language television programs. APTN is accessing a broadcaster envelope of about $7M annually,

also from the Canada Media Fund. Teleﬁlm Canada provides fund-ing for Indigenous ﬁlm development,

production, promotion and marketing. This includes a minimum of $4M per year through its Indigenous

Production Stream which covers all budget levels of produc-tion including the Indigenous components of its

Talent to Watch Program for micro-budget features, shorts and webisodes. There is also a targeted Indigenous

Development envelope for features that contains a mentorship component

. In 2017-2018, a total of $5.1

million was awarded to Indigenous projects (creative docs, short animation and interactive/immersive works)

for development or production

. An additional $2 million in funding was awarded to Indigenous content

involving Indigenous directors

. For its part, the NFB is currently involved in 28 Indigenous-directed projects.

In 2017, In-digenous-directed projects represented 9.5% of the NFB’s overall production spending.

Recently, Canada’s national funders committed to renewed eorts to support Indigenous production. As part

of the historic doubling of the Canada Council’s budget from 2016 to 2020, the Council has tripled resources

available to Indigenous artists, including those working in media

. With this in mind, this study examines

the success factors of international productions, with the aim of providing rele-vant lessons to maintain the

momentum that Indigenous content is building in Canada and spur its success abroad. In 2017 the NFB

launched a three-year Indigenous action plan, committing it to in-crease its spend on Indigenous directed

projects to 15% of global production spending and enhanc-ing access and engagement with its Indigenous

collection. This year, the CMF announced its partnership in the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund, launched at the

International Sami Film Institute. For its part, Teleﬁlm announced a new partnership with the International

Sami Film Institute and the Nu-navut Film Development Corporation to encourage and fund one international

coproduction from the Arctic region.

The vibrancy of the sector is assured thanks to the work of established producers with an impressive track

record of award-winning ﬁlms, television programs, and digital media content made over the last decade,

growing audience awareness and demand for authentic Indigenous screen content, and continual renewal

through opportunities aimed at new generations of Indigenous storytellers created by the CBC, the National

Screen Institute, Telus Storyhive in Western Canada and Indigenous festi-vals across the country.

Clearly, Canada’s Indigenous screen sector is poised for growth. While there is growing support in Canada for

Indigenous production, there is a need to better understand the strategies that have helped create a pathway

in other jurisdictions, to support new opportunities for growth and sustaina-bility of Indigenous screen-based

production in Canada.

1. A DEVELOPED INDIGENOUS INDUSTRY AROUND THE WORLD

In recent years, the number of award-winning and commercially successful Indigenous productions has

exploded, building momentum in the Indigenous production sector and fuelling interest from broadcasters

and distributors. This work garners annual selections and prestigious awards in the world’s top festivals, as

well as commercial success at home. Australia and New Zealand have emerged as leaders in producing a

consistent and growing body of compelling and high-quality In-digenous work.

Maori ﬁlms are said to be the most successful New Zealand ﬁlms, both domestically and internationally

. The

strength of New Zealand’s Maori ﬁlm sector is evident in the number of Māori ﬁlms leading the way at the

New Zealand box oice

. Four of the country’s top ten box oice earners of all time are Maori productions,

featuring Maori stories.

In Australia, Indigenous ﬁlms have led the box oice repeatedly, while breakthrough drama series

continue to capture signiﬁcant audience shares. Indigenous creators feature amongst the country’s most

high lauded artists.

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE NEW ZEALAND 2016

 •HighestgrossingdomesticlmofalltimeinNewZealand

 •$10,455,593CADdomesticboxoice

 •$4,077,690CADforeignboxoice

 •EdinburghInternationalFilmFestival,AudienceAward

 •SundanceFilmFestival,AudienceAward

 •AudienceAwardBestNarrativeFea-ture,MontclairFilmFestival

Source: Case Study

TOP NINE BOX OFFICE HITS FROM AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Title Domestic Gross Sales Foreign Gross Sales Total

Gross Sales in Canadian Dollars, Not Adjusted for Inﬂation

Boy (New Zealand, 2010) $8,818,952 $11,305,777 $20,124,729

The Sapphires (Australia, 2012) $13,500,188 $4,852,882 $18,353,070

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (New Zea-land, 2016) $10,455,593 $4,077,690 $14,533,283

What We Do in the Shadows (New Zea-land, 2014) $2,639,116 $5,619,790 $8,258,906

Once Were Warriors (New Zealand, 1994) $5,828,571 $2,118,788 $7,947,359

Bran Nue Dae (Australia, 2009) $7,280,640 n/a $7,280,640

Samson and Delilah (Australia, 2009) $4,00,000 n/a $4,000,000

Sweet Country (Australia, 2016) $1,902,896 n/a $1,902,896

Data drawn from case studies developed for this report.

POPULAR AUSTRALIAN TV SHOWS  SEASON ONE AVERAGE VIEWERSHIP AND BUYERS

Main Broadcaster Second Broad-caster/Platform All Platforms Buyers

Redfern Now (2012) 1,050,000 n/a 1,050,000 France TV

Mystery Road (2018) 846,000 246,000 1,092,000 Acorn TV, USA

Cleverman (2016) 300,000 69,000 369,000 BBC3

Data drawn from case studies developed for this report.

2. GROWING POPULARITY OF INDIGENOUS CONTENT AT INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS FESTIVALS

The audiences for Indigenous content at festivals worldwide is signiﬁcant and growing. The festivals surveyed

for this report attract over 400,000 people to their events each year. Indigenous content features prominently

at these festivals and for many, constitutes the primary body of work presented.

Major international festivals now have dedicated Indigenous programming streams, including the Berlinale

(Berlin), the Hawaii International Film Festival (Honolulu), Hot Docs (Toronto), Reel Canada (Toronto/Canada),

the Sundance International Film Festival (Park City, Utah), and the Sydney Film Festival (Sydney, Australia).

The two largest festivals uniquely focused on Indigenous productions, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts

Festival and the Maoriland Film Festival are growing, while other major festivals from Toronto to Sundance to

Berlin are increasing their Indigenous programming. For its part, the NATIVe strand at the Berlinale, and its

presence at the European Film Market are “going from strength to strength.”

Canadians are very engaged with Indigenous screen content. imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

(Toronto) is the largest Indigenous festival worldwide, presenting over 200 Indigenous screen-based

productions to an audience of over 25,000 people. Festivals and screening series dedicated to presenting

Indigenous content exist across Canada, from Vancouver to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and more.

WORLDWIDE REACH OF INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVALS

 •Over400,000festivalattendees

 •6festivalsfeaturingIndigenouscontenthaveareachofover25,000people

 •imagineNATIVE–over25,000festivalattendees

 •MaorilandFilmFestival–over10,000festivalattendees

Source: Survey of Festivals

SHOWCASING CANADIAN INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS

76% of Indigenous festivals worldwide present Canadian productions.

Source: Survey of Festivals

IMAGINENATIVE FELLOWS AT THE 2018 EUROPEAN FILM MARKET IN BERLIN

 •KristyAssu,EdgeoftheKnife(Canada)

 •CiaraLacy,OutofState(USA)

 •MathisStaaleMathisenMyFatherisaDanishCaveman,SurvivingSapmi(Norway)

 •MarcFussingRosbach,Akornatsinniitut-TarrattaNunaanni(AmongUs-IntheLandofOurShadows(Greenland)

 •ArmandoBautistaGarcia,InTimesofRain(Mexico)-

 •KerryWarkia,Vai(NewZealand)

Source: imagineNATIVE

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

3. POPULARITY OF INDIGENOUS SCREEN CONTENT WITH CANADIAN AUDIENCES

Canadians have a long-standing interest in Indigenous content on many platforms.

Indigenous programming aired by APTN appeals to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences, reaching

an estimated 1.9 million viewers each week, and 5 million viewers monthly.

Overall, APTN has a total reach

that is greater than the Indigenous population in Canada. This is also true for other Indigenous broadcasters,

such as Maori TV in New Zealand and NITV (National Indigenous TV) in Australia.

APTN plays a major role in supporting the growth and development of Canada’s Indigenous screen production

sector, as the main commissioner of Indigenous television production in Canada. The broadcaster has

reportedly partnered or co-ﬁnanced productions with 23 dierent broadcasters in recent years on a total of 39

productions. This level of co-ﬁnancing speaks to the interest that other broadcasters have in airing Indigenous

content.

Programs produced by APTN, particularly where other broadcasters have been involved, have proven highly

successful. The true crime series Taken, which aired on APTN and CBC reached a total of 2.3 million viewers

in its debut season (2016-2017), including over half a million viewers in a single week. Focused on solving the

mysteries behind Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women, the popular series was renewed for a

third season before the second season had even launched.

Mohawk Girls reached a total of 2.6 million viewers on APTN and OMNI1 in 2016, including up to 178,000

viewers during a single week. The critically acclaimed program ran for ﬁve seasons and in the current climate

of interest in Indigenous content has potential to sell internationally.

APTN’s signature programs are also popular with audiences. Cashing In, which ran for four seasons from 2009

to 2014 attracted almost 2 million viewers on APTN during its ﬁnal season (2014-2015). In its ﬁnal season in

2015-2016, Blackstone attracted 2.2 million viewers, with up to 172,000 viewers reached during one week. The

hit drama has had a second life on the CBC and Netﬂix.

The new eight-part docu-drama 1491: The Untold

Story of the Americas Before Columbus (2017-2018) reached 1.6 million viewers in its ﬁrst season (2017-2018).

The program also has a following on its own subscription VOD channel on the Vimeo platform.

INDIGENOUS BROADCASTERS REACH BEYOND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

Total Reach Indigenous population

APTN - Canada 1.9 million weekly/ 5 million monthly 1.7 million

Maori TV - New Zealand 1.2 million 600K

NITV - Australia 2.2 million 670K

Sources: CMF, Maori TV and NITV

MOHAWK GIRLS, CANADA, 20102017

 •5seasons

 •AiredonAPTNandShowcase

 •TotalReachof2.2millionviewers

 •SoldtoAustralia,NewZealandandtheUS

Blackstone has been sold internationally, and has aired on Hulu and HuluPlus (US), on Maori TV (New Zealand) and SBS/NITV

(Australia). It was also acquired by CBC for a second run on its television and digital service. Canadian viewers can also access the

production on Netﬂix.

Sources: CMF, Maori TV and NITV

Canada’s top Indigenous programs have sold well internationally.

Blackstone has had an international career,

airing in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

For its part, 1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before

Columbus was sold to Australia, Germany, Czechoslovakia and China. Cashing In has also done well selling

around the world.

In its most recent license renewal application, APTN describes its vision for a sister network in the United

States (US) to reach a broader international audience.

Such a development would represent a signiﬁcant

opportunity for the production sector.

The number of documentaries involving Indigenous people in key creative capacities that are airing on

CBC is increasing. In the past three years (2015-2016 to 2017-2018), six Indigenous documentaries aired

nationally on CBC Docs POV. These included ﬁlms by Drew Hayden Taylor (Searching for Winnetou), by

Lisa Jackson and Shane Belcourt (Indictment: The Crimes of Shelly Chartier), by Tasha Hubbard (Birth

ofaFamily)andbySoniaBonspilleBoileau(TheOkaLegacy).AlsoairedwereColonizationRoadby

Michelle St. John and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s award-winning Angry Inuk, which proﬁles the devastating

eect misleading protests of Inuit seal hunting have on Inuit economies, communities, and their

traditional way of life.

Inthethreeyearssinceitslaunch,overonethird(35%)ofdocumentaryshortspresentedonCBCShortDocs

have been by Indigenous creators.

In2002,Atanarjuat–TheFastRunner,almshotentirelyinInuktitut,wasthetopgrossingCanadianlmat

Canadian and American cinemas, attracting $4.9 million in ticket sales, and an estimated theatrical audience

ANGRY INUK, CANADA, 2016

•Winnerof20awards,includingAudienceChoiceAwardatCanada’sTopTenFilmFestival(TIFF)andAudienceAward,HotDocs

 •336screeningsinCanada

 •101internationalscreenings

 •Theatricalreleasein14Canadiancities

 •AiredonCBCandAPTN

 •Participationat72festivalsinCanadaandabroad

 •InternationalsalestoNHK(Japan),BigRights(Spain,Chile,Colombia),CNXStudio(Taiwan),BilliBili(China),MaoriTV

(New Zealand), Bond (USA), SBS (Australia), iTunes

TOTAL REACH OF MOST POPULAR INDIGENOUS PROGRAMS PRODUCED IN CANADA

Program Total Reach (Total viewers) Highest Weekly Reach Broadcaster (s) Year

Taken 2.316 M 547,000 APTN / CBC 2016-2017

Mohawk Girls 2.619 M 178,000 APTN / OMNI 2015-2016

Blackstone 2.211 M 172,000 APTN / Showcase 2015-2016

Cashing In 1.975 M 136,000 APTN 2014-2015

1491: The Untold 1.608 M 134,000 APTN 2017-2018

Story of the

Americas Before

Columbus

Sources: CMF, Maori TV and NITV

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

of 380,000 Canadians.

Awarded the Camera d’Or at Cannes, the ﬁlm was an international success, earning

another $1.8 million in markets outside of North America. The popularity of Canadian indigenous screen

content continues to grow.

160,000 Canadians and counting have watched Indigenous ﬁlms during the NFB’s cross-country

AabiziingwashiWideAwakeTour. 1000 screenings have so far been held in 190 communities in every province

and territory in Canada, with additional screenings in the United States, the United Kingdom and Finland.

Earlierthisyear,about35,000viewersvisitedtheNFB’snewlylaunchedIndigenousCinemaonlinescreening

room, sixty percent of them Canadian.

The online platform features an extensive library of over 200 short

and feature-length ﬁlms by Indigenous directors. These attracted over 100,000 views in the platform’s ﬁrst

four months.

We note the continued popularity of Alanis Obomsawin’s Kanehsatake:270YearsofResistance, one of the

most viewed titles on nb.ca. The ﬁlm brought Indigenous stories to the mainstream, with a theatrical run and

television screenings in Canada and around the world. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the ﬁlm continues to

be screened in Canada and internationally.

ATANARJUAT  THE FAST RUNNER, CANADA 2002

•VotedBestCanadianFilmofAllTime(2014)

 •FirstfeaturelmshotentirelyinInuktitut

 •$4,895,860CADNorthAmerican(NA)boxoice

 •$1,806,371CADforeign(nonNA)boxoice

 •CameraD’Or,CannesInternationalFilmFestival

 •“Amasterpiece”(NewYorkTimes)

Source: Case Study

AABIZIINGWASHI  WIDE AWAKE TOUR, 20172018

• 700 screenings of Indigenous content

 •190communitiesacrossCanadahostedscreenings

 •160,000peopleattendedthescreenings

 •Duetodemand,thetourwasextendedtotheUnitedStates,theUnitedKingdomandFinland

Source: NFB

INDIGENOUS CINEMA SCREENING ROOM AT NFB.CA

•35,000visitorsintherstfourmonths

 •60%ofviewerswereCanadian

 •Themostpopulartitleswere:

 •Nunavut Animation Lab: Lumaajuuq (Alethea Arnaquq-Baril)

 •Kanehsatake:270YearsofResistance(AlanisObomsawin)

 •WeWereChildren(TimWolochatiuk,coproducedwithEagleVision)

Source: NFB

Marcia Nickerson, Supporting and Developing the Indigenous Screen-

Based Industry in Canada. Canada Media Fund, 2016.

Information provided by Teleﬁlm Canada.

Source: Teleﬁlm Canada. As noted in its 2016-2017 Annual Report, page

30, “Teleﬁlm is transitioning from con-tent-focused tracking, to talent-

focused reporting with a particular emphasis on the roles of producer,

director and writer.”

Two projects were identiﬁed as Indigenous by the consultants: Blood

Quantum, by Je Barnaby, and One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk,

by Zacharias Kunuk, OC. Sources: Prospector Films website: https://

www.prospectorﬁlms.com/blog/2018/4/5/principal-photography-to-

commence-on-je-barnabys-blood-quantum; Jeremy Warren, “Reel Big

Year,” Up Here Magazine, September 27, 2018, retrieved from https://

uphere.ca/articles/reel-big-year.

Amounts of funding provided by Teleﬁlm Canada.

Interview.

Tui Ruwhiu, Executive Director, Directors and Editors Guild of New

Zealand, Blog Entry, May 4, 2018, retrieved from https://www.degnz.

co.nz/tag/nz-ﬁlm-commission/.

New Zealand Film Commission, 2018, Op. Cit.

NATIVe program curator Maryanne Redpath, quoted in Wendy Mitchell,

“What’s Driving the New Wave of In-digenous Filmmaking?” Screen

Daily, 29 Mar. 2018, retrieved from www.screendaily.com/features/

whats-driving-the-new-wave-of-indigenous-ﬁlmmaking/5127820.

article.

Source: Canada Media Fund.

APTN, Op. Cit.

Jordan Pinto, “Indigenous Voices Rising: Eagle Vision, Playback

Online,” September 19, 2017, retrieved from http://playbackonline.

ca/2017/09/19/indigenous-voices-on-the-rise-eagle-

vision/#ixzz5Q5kc6QX8.

Greg David, “The Fifth and Final Season of APTN’s Blackstone

Premieres on Nov. 3.” TV, Eh?, 5 Oct. 2015, re-trieved from www.tv-eh.

com/2015/10/05/the-ﬁfth-and-ﬁnal-season-of-aptns-blackstone-

premieres-on-nov-3; “Is Blackstone (2011) On Netﬂix Canada?” What’s

New on Netﬂix Canada, retrieved from https://whatsnewonnetﬂix.com/

canada/m/blackstone-season-2.

Source: Canada Media Fund.

IBID, retrieved from http://1491tvseries.com/buy-dvd/.

Source: CMF.

Greg David, “The Fifth and Final Season of APTN’s Blackstone

Premieres on Nov. 3.” TV, Eh?, 5 Oct. 2015, re-trieved from www.tv-eh.

com/2015/10/05/the-ﬁfth-and-ﬁnal-season-of-aptns-blackstone-

premieres-on-nov-3; “Is Blackstone (2011) On Netﬂix Canada?” What’s

New on Netﬂix Canada, retrieved from https://whatsnewonnetﬂix.com/

canada/m/blackstone-season-2.

Program website, retrieved from http://1491tvseries.com/page/.

Source: CMF.

Martin Cash, “Aboriginal TV Network Seeks US Expansion,” Winnipeg

Free Press, November 19, 2016; APTN Application for License Renewal to

the CRTC, Supplementary Brief, 2017.

“How one documentary is changing people’s minds about the Inuit

seal hunt,” CBC.ca website: https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/

how-one-documentary-is-changing-peoples-minds-about-the-inuit-

seal-hunt.

Based on estimated average movie ticket price of $10.

Viewership data covers the period from the launch of the platform in

March to July 24, 2018.

Source: National Film Board

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

II. SUCCESS STORIES: CASE STUDIES OF CANADIAN AND

INTERNATIONAL FILMS, TELEVISION PROGRAMS AND DIGITAL MEDIA

ATANARJUAT, THE FAST RUNNER, CANADA 2001

  •FirstfeaturelmintheInuktitutlanguage

  •$4,895,860CADNorthAmericanboxoice

  •$1,806,371CADforeignboxoice

  •CameraD’Or,CannesInternationalFilmFestival,2001

  •GrandPrix,GhentInternationalFilmFestival,2001

  •LuminariaAward,BestFeatureFilm,SantaFeInternationalFilmFestival,2001

  •BestCanadianFeatureFilm,TorontoInternationalFilmFestival,2001

  •SixGenieawardsincludingBestMotionPictureandBestDirector,2001

  •VotedBestCanadianFilmofAllTime(2014)

  •“Amasterpiece”(NewYorkTimes)

Few Canadian ﬁlms have made such a profound impact on cinema as an Inuit production company’s

collaborative vision of an ancient Inuit legend, set some 2,000 years ago in the Nunavut Arctic and entirely,

written, directed and acted in the Inuktitut language. Fourteen years after its release, Atanarjuat, The Fast

Runner was voted the greatest Canadian ﬁlm of all time by international ﬁlmmakers and critics at TIFF (2015).

The ﬁlm was shot with a $1.96 million budget that included the National Film Board of Canada as a

coproducing partner, whose support introduced funding for an Inuktitut language feature for the ﬁrst time, as

well as Teleﬁlm Canada, the Canadian Television Fund, the Canadian Film and Video Pro duction Tax Credit,

and a cohort of broadcasters and production companies, including the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network,

Channel 24 Igloolik, and Igloolik Isuma Productions, Inc.

Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001, the ﬁlm was awarded the prestigious Camera D’or, the only

Canadian ﬁlm to ever do so. Atanarjuat was Canada’s top grossing ﬁlm of 2002.

Its commercial release ran

for an impressive 42-week release and unprecedented for an Indigenous ﬁlm.

Earning almost $7 million

worldwide

, it is one of the most successful Canadian ﬁlms to date. The ﬁlm earned a total of $4,895,860 at

the North American box oice, and a further $1,806,371 in other jurisdictions, including commercial releases in

France and the U.S.

The ﬁlm tells an old Inuit story, a cautionary tale of evil spirits, love, and betrayal set on the vast and beautiful

tundra that encourages individuals to act in the greater good of the community. The story was told to the

writers by eight Elders and then shaped into a ‘master narrative’ by the writing team, who consulted with the

Elders on each new draft of the script, though in the end they chose to give the ﬁlm a slightly more uplifting

ending than the traditional bloodbath.

Following the ﬁlm’s triumphant success, Isuma Productions was awarded a 3-year funding envelope from

Teleﬁlm Canada that enabled the company to begin working on seven new scripts

and to continue to

generate employment opportunities in the isolated Igloolik community.

Zacharias Kunuk (O.C.), Norman Cohn, Paul Apak, and Elder Pauloosie Qulitalik incorporated their

production company, Igloolik Isuma Productions, Inc. in 1990, Canada’s ﬁrst entirely Inuit production

company. Isuma’s early videos focused on dramatic recreations of traditional Inuit life in the 1930s and

40s

, merging cultural preservation, education, and ﬁlm, in a distinctly Inuit fashion. Atanarjuat was their

ﬁrst feature ﬁlm, and the ﬁrst feature ﬁlm produced in an Indigenous language. As Inuk ﬁlmmaker Nyla

Innuksuk says, “Atanarjuat reminds me that there is an alternative to allowing others to tell your truth. For

that, I’m grateful.”

The ﬁlm also demonstrates the appeal of Atanarjuat’s distinct storytelling style with

audiences around the world.

MOHAWK GIRLS CANADA, 20102017

 •Airedfor5seasonsonAPTNandOMNI1

 •Totalreachof2.6millionviewers

 •Nominatedfor7awards

 •$23.6millionCADproductionexpendituresintheprovinceofQuebec

Mohawk Girls was the ﬁrst TV comedy series ever set and ﬁlmed in the territory of Kahnawake, Quebec and

follows “four young women ﬁguring out how to be Mohawk in the 21st century.”

Created by Tracey Deer and Cynthia Knight and produced by Aboriginal-owned Rezolution Pictures, the

show’s impressive list of writing credits includes Adam Garnet Jones (Fire Song), Catherine Bainbridge of

Rezolution Pictures (RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World) and Canadian Screen Award-winning

writer Shannon Masters (Empire of Dirt). The series was nominated for several Canadian Screen Awards over

the course of its ﬁve seasons, including Best Comedy Series, Best Writing and Best Direction in a Comedy

Program or Series.

The series was inspired by Deer’s 2005 award-winning documentary Mohawk Girls, produced by Rezolution

Pictures and the National Film Board of Canada, which followed three teenage girls de

bating whether to stay on reserve or leave giving up their legal rights as Mohawks.

The ﬁlm was awarded the

Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Broadcast on APTN and OMNI 1, Mohawk Girls reached a total of 2.6 million viewers on APTN and OMNI1

in 2016, including up to 178,000 viewers during a single week. The critically acclaimed program ran for ﬁve

seasons and in the current climate of interest in Indigenous content has potential to sell internationally

In addition to its ground-breaking portrayal of Indigenous women, the production of Mohawk Girls had an

important economic impact on the province of Quebec, with production expenditures over the course of its

ﬁve seasons totalling approximately $23.6 million, equivalent to the revenues and employment generated by

110,000 overnight visitors to Montreal. The production hired many local community members as cast and

crew and rented numerous local facilities as ﬁlming locations, such as restaurants, community halls and

private residences.

Mohawk Girls the series was produced with funding from the Canada Media Fund with the participation

of the Bell Fund. The series’ talent and producers were featured at 2017’s MIPCOM showcase, “Indigenous

Content Speaks to the World,” presented by the Canada Media Fund and Teleﬁlm Canada.

BLACKSTONE CANADA, 2010  2015

•AiredonAPTNandShowcase

 •Renewedfor5seasons(APTN)

 •TotalReachof2.2millionviewers

 •SoldtoAustralia,NewZealandandtheUS

 •86awardnominations

Blackstone (Canada, 2010-2015), APTN’s signature prime time drama that aired for ﬁve seasons, demonstrates

the power and broad appeal of Indigenous storytelling in a series format. Written and directed by Ron E.

Scott, the idea for Blackstone was originally developed by the late documentary ﬁlmmaker Gil Cardinal, who

wrote a number of the series’ episodes.

Set on a ﬁctional reservation and featuring a largely Indigenous

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

cast, Blackstone presents an unﬂinching look at dramatized, contemporary Indigenous communities that has

proven popular with audiences.

In its ﬁnal season in 2015-2016, Blackstone attracted 2.2 million viewers, with up to 172,000 viewers reached

during one week. All ﬁve seasons were acquired by CBC for a second run on its television and digital services.

The show is also available on Netﬂix.

The series has also had wide international appeal, airing on Hulu and HuluPlus in the US, on New Zealand’s

Maori Television, and on Australia’s SBS/NITV. Originally produced for APTN and Showcase, the show has

been characterized as “Canada’s Sopranos” and “a step in the evolution of TV.”

Over the course of its career, Blackstone was nominated for multiple awards including Best Dramatic Series,

and Best Dramatic Writing at the Canadian Screen Awards.

DIGITAL INNOVATION

From creating ground breaking digital platforms to advancing and challenging virtual reality, Indigenous

ﬁlmmakers and organizations across Canada are at the forefront of digital innovation, productions and

initiatives. The ﬁrst Indigenous VR lab in Canada is about to be launched at Emily Carr University this year, as

a three-year program overseen by ﬁlmmaker Loretta Todd (Coyote’s Crazy Smart Science Show), that will aim

to produce four VR projects a year and will also oer augmented reality (AR)/VR workshops.

Inuk ﬁlmmaker and producer Nyla Innuksuk is the founder and CEO of the VR production company Mixtape

VR, that has produced projects for CBC Short Docs and A Tribe Called Red. She has also worked with Marvel

Comics to develop their ﬁrst Inuk superhero.

2167, four VR works by Danis Goulet, Kent Monkman, Scott Benesiinaabandan and the collective

Postcommodity, imagines Indigenous futures 150 years from now. The production has been shown during

the European Film Market in Berlin, programmed at international festivals and galleries, and has toured to

Indigenous communities across Canada as part of imagineNATIVE’s 2018 Film + Video Tour.

Montreal-based Minority Media famously developed the new genre of “empathy games” including the 2012

game Papo&Yo. Based on co-founder Vander Cabellero’s experience growing up with an alcoholic father, the

game follows a young South American boy named Quico who must prevent his friend, Monster, from eating

frogs and becoming a killing machine. Papo&Yo won prestigious

awards including the Editor’s Choice Award for PSN Stores (2012), the Herman Melville Award for Best

Writing in a Game (New York Videogame Critics Circle Awards, 2012) and the Best Narrative and Audience

Award at the Brazilian International Game Festival (2012). The game was launched on PS3 in 2013 and was a

top seller upon its release and later became available on Steam along with its original soundtrack.

Launched in 2008, Isuma.TV is a multimedia online platform for Indigenous ﬁlmmakers and organizations

that provides content in 80 languages, including Inuktitut, and currently has over 6000 videos. Anyone with

an Internet connection can log on and access Isuma.TV’s backend structure, and the platform actively seeks to

implement resources in isolated Indigenous communities.

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE, NEW ZEALAND 2016

 •Highestgrossingdomesticlmofalltime,NewZealand

 •$10,455,593CADdomesticboxoice

 •$4,077,690CADforeignboxoice

 •BestComedyFilm,PhoenixCriticsCircle,2016

 •AudienceAward,EdinburghInternationalFilmFestival,2016

 •AudienceAward,SundanceFilmFestival2016

 •NarrativeFeatureAudienceAward,MontclairFilmFestival2016

Upon its release in 2016, Taika Waititi’s third feature, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, became the highest grossing

domestic ﬁlm of all time in New Zealand, knocking Waititi’s previous feature, Boy (2010) from its position as

top box oice performer. The ﬁlm tells the story of Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison), a Maori foster child, who,

with his reluctant foster father (Sam Neill) attempts to escape the authorities via a madcap ﬂight through the

New Zealand wilderness.

Produced by Defender Films with Waititi’s company Piki Films and post production house Curious

Productions, the ﬁlm had a budget of US $2.5M, funded from the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ on Air,

Indigenous production company Piki Films and Defender Films,

Distributed domestically by Madman Entertainment with Piki Films (co-led by director Taika Waititi and the

ﬁlm’s producer, Carthew Neal), the ﬁlm made $1.2 million CAD in its ﬁrst weekend, and its Saturday box oice

was the highest grossing single-day box oice in New Zealand ever.

With a 95 screen theatrical release

in New Zealand, the ﬁlm grossed $10,455,593 CAD domestically and a further $4,077,690 CAD in other

territories and won numerous awards including the Sundance Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film

Festival Audience Award, and was named Best Comedy Film of 2016 by the Phoenix Critics Circle.

Internationally, the ﬁlm was sold to Vertigo Films (UK), Film1 (Netherlands), and Front Row Filmed

Entertainment (Middle East, North Africa and Iran), as well to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The

Orchard (US) and Signature Entertainment for the international home video market.

Adapted from the classic New Zealand novel Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump, Waititi ﬁrst began

working on the project in 2005 and returned to the script after a 2013 meeting with the Crump family,

bringing New Zealand production company Piki Films on board.

Waititi says of the ﬁlm: ‘We got to shoot in some places that no one else has ever ﬁlmed in before. I think

it’s probably the most fun I’ve had on a shoot [...]”

Shooting over a 5-week period in 2015, cast and crew

ﬁlmed outdoors in locations including Piha, Horopito, and the Kaimanawa Plains,

capturing the country’s

astounding natural beauty on screen.

Unknown prior to Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Julian Dennison (Ricky Baker) was cast in the Hollywood

blockbuster Deadpool 2 (2017) after star Ryan Reynolds saw his performance.

BOY, NEW ZEALAND 2010

 •SecondhighestgrossingNewZealandlmofalltime

 •$8,818,952CADdomesticboxoice

 •$11,305,777CADforeignboxoice

 •BestFeatureFilm,GenerationKPlus,BerlinInternationalFilmFestival,2010

 •BestFeatureFilm,SydneyFilmFestival,2010

 •BestDramaticFeature,imagineNATIVEFilm+MediaArtsFestival,2010

Distributed in New Zealand by Transmission Films, Boy is New Zealand’s second-highest grossing ﬁlm of all

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

time, having earned over $8.8 million domestically and a further $11.3 million worldwide. Charming audiences

with a blend of humour and poignancy, Boy earned almost a million dollars in its ﬁrst seven days

, topping out

with a domestic box oice total of $8,818,952 CAD and worldwide earnings of $11,305,777 CAD.

“Boy was also a festival favourite screening at more than 50 international ﬁlm festivals. NZFC’s sales arm, NZ

Film, negotiated sales of Boy to distributors in the US, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Iceland, Poland, Turkey,

Israel and Spain.”

Boy was numerous years in development. Under the working title Choice it was accepted into the Sundance

Writer’s Lab in 2005. Taika Waititi proceeded to make Eagle vs. Shark with Jemaine Clement and Loren

Horlsey, and produced by Cli Curtis and Ainsley Gardiner, and continued to develop Boy over the next three

years, where the story evolved from dark to humorous.

Set in 1984 in Waititi’s home community of Waihau Bay, Boy tells the story of an eleven-year-old Maori child,

known as Boy, who attempts to navigate a relationship with the absentee father he idolizes, who is fresh out of

prison for robbery and has returned to his old stomping grounds. His fantasy father soon comes up against the

reality of his comically awful, weed-growing, wannabe-gangster dad, Alamein (Taika Waititi).

Of the $5.6 million NZD

($4.8 million CAD) budget, about $5 million NZD ($4.3 million CAD) came from

public sources, including major investments by the New Zealand Film Commission, as well as funding from

New Zealand On Air and Maori TV.

The production also raised over $100,000 CAD through crowdfunding

to support its U.S. release

. Produced by Ainsley Gardiner of Whenua Films with Unison Films (US), the ﬁlm

has a majority cast of Maori non-actors. The producer consulted throughout the production with tribal Elders

to ensure Maori tradition was incorporated into all aspects of the shoot.

Gardiner also produced Waititi’s

Oscar© winning short, Two Cars, One Night (2004).

The ﬁlm won numerous prestigious awards, including the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk Grand Prix (Best Feature

Film, Generation K Plus) at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Based on the strength of Boy, Waititi was hired to direct the Hollywood blockbuster Thor: Ragnorok (2017)

and bring to it an “emotional resonance”. As Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, said: “Boy is hilariously

audacious in its comedy, but it’s also deeply moving and deeply emotional.”

In 2017, following the success of Thor: Ragnarok, and seven years after its initial release in New Zealand, Boy

had a limited theatrical release in the UK, followed by a digital and DVD release, with distributor Vertigo.

The

ﬁlm was also released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011 by Paramount Home Media Distribution.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS NEW ZEALAND, 2014

•$2,639,116 CAD DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE

•$5,619,790 CAD FOREIGN BOX OFFICE

•BEST FEATURE, SHEFFIELD HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

•PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD TIFF 2014

•ONE FILM SEQUEL, TWO TV SERIES SPINOFFS

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clements’ low-budget award-winning vampire mockumentary, What We Do In The

Shadows (New Zealand, 2014) is the eighth highest earning ﬁlm at the New Zealand box oice, capturing a

total of $8.3 million CAD worldwide. Starring Waititi and Clements, What We Do in the Shadows, chronicles

the modern day antics of a household of ancient vampires, mockumentary-style.

The ﬁlm, which was loosely based on a 2005 short ﬁlm by Waititi and Clements,

was shot with funding

from the Defender Films (Taika Waititi), Unison Films (U.S.), Funny or Die (U.S.)

and Resnick Interactive

Development (U.S.), and from The New Zealand Film Commission, which came on board in post-production.

With a budget of NZD $1.6 million (CAD $1.4 million), What We Do in the Shadows earned CAD $2,639,116

domestically

and CAD $5,619,790 around the world. It screened at SXSW, Sundance, and the Berlin

International Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Award at TIFF 2014 and Best Feature Award at the

Sheield Horror Film Festival.

Distributed in New Zealand by Madman NZ Ltd, the US distribution rights were acquired by The Orchard, in

partnership with Unison Films and Funny of Die. Orchard acquired the rights for the digital, broadcast and

DVD market, while producer Unison handled theatrical distribution. Funny or Die promoted the ﬁlm through

social media and other initiatives.

The ﬁlm has recently been spun o by Waititi and Clements into a 10-part, half-hour comedy series produced

in association with the Scott Rudin company that is set to debut on the American broadcaster FX in Spring

2019. The two directors are also developing the ﬁlm’s sequel We’re Wolves, which will focus on a pack of

werewolves from the ﬁrst ﬁlm.

A second spin-o series called Wellington Paranormal has just launched on

TVNZ2 in New Zealand.

ONCE WERE WARRIORS, NEW ZEALAND, 1994

•$2,118,788CADforeignboxoice

 •VotedBestNewZealandFilmofAllTimein2014

The now classic Once Were Warriors (1994) by Lee Tamahori, is New Zealand’s fourth-highest grossing ﬁlm

of all time. In the year of its release, the ﬁlm beat out Jurassic Park (1993) to become the highest grossing ﬁlm

of the year and surpassed The Piano (1993) to become the highest-grossing ﬁlm of all time, earning almost

$8millionCAD–therstNewZealandlmtoearnmorethan$6million(NZD)atthedomesticboxoice.

One in three New Zealanders are said to have seen the ﬁlm.

Director Lee Tamahori remembers, “It was a

genuine word-of-mouth phenomenon. It was the ﬁrst ﬁlm in New Zealand to have that sort of momentum. It

was a New Zealand ﬁlm that created such a buzz that people had to go and see it.”

Showered with over sixty awards at festivals around the world, the ﬁlm was voted the best New Zealand ﬁlm

of all time in a 2014 survey that included many representatives of the New Zealand industry and ﬁlm critics.

It currently has a rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes

. Director Lee Tamahori went on to direct the commercial

blockbuster thrillers Along Came a Spider (2001) and the James Bond franchise Die Another Day (2002).

THE SAPPHIRES, AUSTRALIA 2012

•Highest grossing Australian ﬁlm at the Australian box oice in 2012

•$13,500,188 CAD domestic box oice

•$4,852,882 CAD foreign box oice

•Sold to every international territory and 5th highest level of post-ﬁnancing sales of

all time in Australia

•Best Narrative Feature Audience Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival, 2013

•Best Narrative Feature Audience Award, Portland International Film Festival, 2013

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

•Australian Writer’s Guild Major Award, 2012

•Best Film, Australian Academy of Cinema and Television (AACTA) Awards, 2013

Often described as a “feel good ﬁlm”, the Australian musical The Sapphires was a runaway

hit in its year of release, earning almost $27 million CAD. Written by Tony Briggs and

directed by Wayne Blair, the ﬁlm was the highest grossing ﬁlm at the Australian box oice

of 2012, earning over $19 million domestically and a further $7.5 million worldwide.

The ﬁlm had an estimated budget of between $7.5 million CAD and $9.4 million CAD,

and was ﬁnanced with funding from Screen Australia, Screen NSW, and a loan from the

country’s Export Finance and Insurance Corporation.

Sales and distribution were handled by producer Goalpost Films with Quickﬁre Film and

Hopscotch Films. Sales were also handled by Entertainment One and Hopscotch Films

(Australia), while Goalpost Film handled international sales.

The sale of The Sapphires

to E1 Entertainment in the UK ranks amongst the top ten ﬁlms to attract revenues in that

market. The ﬁlm was also sold in France, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Switzerland,

India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Taiwan.

Prior to the ﬁlm’s Cannes premiere and based solely o the strength of a teaser trailer

screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, the North American and international

distribution rights (with limited exceptions, including airlines) were sold to the Weinstein

Company

. Following its Cannes premiere, it received a 10-minute standing ovation

, and

was later declared Best Film of 2013 by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television

and won the audience awards at two major US festivals.

Distributed in Australia by UK producer-distributor Hopscotch Films, the movie’s atypical

wide release counted an unheard of 270 Australian cinemas, and was the highest-earning

Australian ﬁlm on its opening weekend.

The Sapphires is one of only a few Australian

domestic ﬁlms to turn a proﬁt, achieving the ﬁfth-highest level of post-ﬁnancing amongst

the most successful ﬁlms in Australia of all time.

Its certiﬁed double platinum soundtrack

reached number one in Australia and number ﬁfteen in New Zealand.

Set in 1969, the ﬁlm tells the real-life inspired story of a four-woman band of Indigenous

singers, played by four Aboriginal Australian actresses, who travelled from a reserve in the

Australian Outback to Vietnam with their manager, played by Irish actor Chris O’Dowd, to

entertain the troops. Writer Tony Briggs is the son of real-life Sapphire Laurel Robinson,

and used his mother’s stories as inspiration for both the original play (The Sapphires), which

debuted at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2004

, and the feature ﬁlm.

Dedication to authenticity, an Indigenous story from an Indigenous source, is what allowed

the ﬁlm to resonate so profoundly with audiences, both at home in Australia and abroad.

Following the success of the stage play of the same name, writer Tony Briggs worked

with experienced screenwriter Keith Thompson to craft the screenplay for the ﬁlm. The

Sapphires was Wayne Blair’s ﬁrst feature ﬁlm production as a director. Cinematographer

Warwick Thornton is an accomplished director in his own right, winner of the Camera

D’or for Samson & Delilah (2009) and more recently winning accolades for his critically

acclaimed Sweet Country (2017).

It was important to Briggs to tell his mother’s, and an Australian Aboriginal story, as

authentically as possible. Shari Sebbens, who plays Sapphire Kay in the ﬁlm, noted that:

“It’s the ﬁrst time that Indigenous Australians [like us] - or one of the few times - have really

been able to deﬁne our identity by ourselves.”

Producer Rosemary Blight and Goalpost Pictures is currently producing the hit Indigenous

superhero show, Cleverman, which premiered in June 2016 in Australia and the U.S. and

ﬁnished its second season in 2017.

SWEET COUNTRY, AUSTRALIA 2017

•1,902,896 CAD domestic box oice in ﬁrst four months of release this year

•Special Jury Prize, Venice International Film Festival

•Platform Prize, TIFF

•Amongst the most highly lauded ﬁlm in Screen Australia’s history

•Sold to over 250 territories around the world

•Currently launching in 20 countries

In 2009 Warwick Thornton won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes for his ﬁrst feature ﬁlm,

Samson and Delilah (2009), which grossed $4 million domestically. Warwick Thornton’s

second feature, Sweet Country is arguably one of the most highly acclaimed Australian

ﬁlms. Amongst its many awards, the ﬁlm won the prestigious Special Jury Prize at the

Venice International Film Festival (2017) and the TIFF Platform Prize, which rewards

cinematic risk-taking (2017).

Sweet Country was produced by Bunya Productions, founded by award-winning Aboriginal

ﬁlmmaker Ivan Sen (Mystery Road, Goldstone) and producer David Jowsey (Mystery Road,

Goldstone), with funding from the Adelaide International Film Festival, Screen Australia,

Screen NSW, Screen Territory and the South Australian Film Corporation.

The ﬁlm is distributed in Australia by Transmission Films and represented by international

sales agent Memento Films. It has sold to over 250 territories and will soon be launching in

20 countries, with Samuel Goldwyn Films owning the North American distribution rights.

Domestically, it earned $ 2 million AUD ($1.9 million CAD) in its ﬁrst four months since

being released earlier this year.

Sweet Country tells the story of an Aboriginal farmhand who goes on the run from the law

afterkillingawhitemaninself-defence.Thelmusesitssubjectmatterandstunning

setting to draw on and subvert tropes of the classic Western, reimagining the genre

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

through an Indigenous perspective. The ﬁlm’s sweeping landscapes and visual beauty are

the work of Thornton himself, who wrote, directed and shot the ﬁlm. An accomplished

cinematographer and winner of the Camera d’Or for his ﬁrst feature, Thornton served as

DOP for the hit musical The Sapphires (2014).

Thornton was born and raised in Alice Springs in the Northern Territories of Australia, where

both his feature ﬁlms were shot. After directing several successful shorts including Nana

(2007) and Green Bush (2005) that both premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival,

Thornton directed the ﬁrst feature ﬁlm from the Indigenous Department of Screen Australia,

co-funded by a special initiative between the department and ABC, Samson & Delilah

(2009). That ﬁlm grossed a respectable $4 million AUD ($3.8 million CAD) in Australia.

BRAN NUE DAE, AUSTRALIA 2009

•$7,323,912 CAD domestic box oice

•Seen by one quarter of all Australians

•Viewed by Australians 7.4 million times

•Most Popular Feature Film, Melbourne International Film Festival 2009

•Best Music Score, Film Critics Circle of Australia 2011

•Adapted from a successful 1990 stage musical of the same name

Bran Nue Dae (2009) is a feature ﬁlm adaptation of the popular Indigenous Australian

musical of the same name written by Jimmy Chi. Produced by Robyn Kershaw Productions

and directed by Rachel Perkins, the ﬁlm closed the Melbourne International Film Festival,

where it was voted Most Popular Feature Film. It premiered internationally at TIFF, going on

to become one of only two Australian features that screened at the Berlin International Film

Festival in 2010.

The ﬁlm was released in Australia by Roadshow Films, an ailiate of Village Roadshow

Pictures, in December 2009. In 2010, Bran Nue Dae took second spot in the year’s box oice

earnings, at tracting $3.7 million in its ﬁrst two weeks and eventually breaking even on its

$7 million budget. Overall, the ﬁlm eventually went on to become one of the Top 50 ﬁlms of

all time at the Australian box oice, was seen by one quarter of the Australian population,

and attracted 7.4 million views on all platforms. As the distributor notes, “the outstanding

success of … Bran Nue Dae conﬁrmed the potential of locally produced ﬁlms to perform in

[the local Australian] market, particularly when the product has clear marketable elements.

Bran Nue Dae’s upbeat soundtrack was also a hit, reaching number 29 on the Australian

ARIA Albums Chart, while its colourful look is courtesy of Oscar-winning cinematographer

Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings).

Set in 1969 in Broome, Australia, Bran Nue Dae is a road-movie musical that tells the story

of Aboriginal teen Willie (Rocky McKenzie) who escapes an abusive boarding school and

sets o for home, meeting a cast of oddball characters along the way, and attempting to win

back the love of his life, aspiring singer Rosie (Jessica Mauboy).

Directed by Rachel Perkins (Redfern Now, Mystery Road) and written by Perkins, Reg Cribb,

and Jimmy Chi (Bran Nue Dae, the musical) the musical comedy/drama was ﬁnanced in

part by the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Premiere Fund, one of ﬁve features to

receive the inaugural funding, and by Screen Australia.

Represented by UK-based international sales agent Bankside Films, Bran Neu Dae is

distributed in the US by Cinemart and Freestyle Releasing, and was sold to television in the

Netherlands and Lebanon.

MYSTERY ROAD, AUSTRALIA, 2018

•First season on ABC

•846,000 viewers per episode on ABC

•246,000 online views per episode on ABC’s iview platform

•Most watched non-children’s series on ABC’s online platform

•Second property spun o acclaimed ﬁlm Mystery Road (2013)

•Sold to Acorn Media Enterprises

Mystery Road: The Series (Australia, 2018), currently airing on ABC, is a six-part crime

drama spun o the critically acclaimed ﬁlm Mystery Road (Australia, 2013) and its sequel

Goldstone (Australia, 2016), both by Ivan Sen. On air, the show has attracted an average

audience of 846,000 viewers. In addition to this sizable broadcast audience, the show ranks

as the most watched non-children’s series on the ABC’s iview platform, averaging 246,000

viewers per episode.

The original feature drama, Mystery Road (2013), about an Indigenous detective (Aaron

Pederson) investigating a crime in the outback, won the Australian Film Critics Association

Awards for Best Film and Best Director, screened in the Special Presentation section at TIFF.

The series has been compared to True Detective and Fargo and, like Warwick Thornton’s

Sweet Country, draws on and subverts tropes of the classic Western while developing the

notion of ‘outback noir.’

The ﬁlm spawned a sequel, Goldstone (2016), also starring Pederson investigating another

crime, that was nominated for TIFF’s 2016 Platform Prize. Goldstone premiered as the

opening night ﬁlm at the Sydney Film Festival and earned over $750,000 CAD worldwide

at the box oice. Bunya Productions (Sweet Country) produced both ﬁlms and Mystery

Road: The Series, with funding support from Screenwest, Screen Australia, and the Western

Australian Regional Film Fund supported by Royalties for Regions and Create NSW.

Mystery Road: The Series is distributed by All3Media and has screened at the 2018 Ban

World Media Festival, France’s 2018 Series Mania, the Munich Film Festival, and the

Saint-Tropez Film Festival. Starring Aaron Pedersen and Judy Davis, the show has the

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

potential to appeal to international audiences and has been picked up for North American

distribution online by the streaming service Acorn TV. Acorn Media Enterprises (the

service’s UK-based development division) is retaining secondary rights for the UK, Ireland,

Australia, and New Zealand.

AME managing director Shane Murphy said of the series: “AME and Acorn TV are thrilled

to partner again with our friends at All3media International on another high-quality

international production. With its remote landscape, intriguing mystery and award-winning

cast led by Aaron Pedersen and Judy Davis, Mystery Road is right in line with the ﬁrst-rate

international dramas we’re bringing to our subscribers every month.”

REDFERN NOW AUSTRALIA, 2012  2015

•Aired on ABC1

•Renewed for two seasons and spun o to a feature-length television movie

•Over 1 million viewers per episode in Season 1

•Sold to Vibrant TV Network and Netﬂix in the US and to France TV

•First drama series written, directed and produced by Indigenous Australians

•Two Logie Awards for Most Outstanding Drama

•AACTA Award for Best Drama Series

•Ranked among the top ten Australian cultural TV shows

Set in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern, the smash hit Redfern Now (2012) was the

ﬁrst dramatic series ever to be written, directed, and produced by Indigenous Australians.

Produced by Blackfella Films, in association with ABC TV, Screen Australia and Screen

NSW, the development of the series was funded by a special initiative between Screen

Australia’s Indigenous Department and ABC. It was the ﬁrst production of a new ABC

Indigenous Department, with a new focus on drama and comedy and with an initiative

budget of $5 million AUD per year.

The series was produced on a budget of $6.5 million AUD for six one-hour episodes. ABC

provided a license fee, complemented by equity ﬁnancing from Screen Australia. Funding in

development was provided by Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department. The development

of the series provided opportunities for talented emerging Indigenous writers, who worked

with seasoned, non-Indigenous story producer Jimmy McGovern.

The series aired on ABC1 in Australia for two seasons and on the Vibrant TV Network and

Netﬂix in the US. The critically acclaimed true-to-life drama resonated with audiences. The

show averaged 1.05 million viewers and was ranked amongst the top ten Australian cultural

programs in its ﬁrst season. 604,000 viewers tuned in to the Season 2 launch.

On the announcement of Redfern Now’s renewal for a second season, Blackfella Films’

producer Miranda Dear commented that, “Films like Samson & Delilah, Bran Nu Day and

The Sapphires proved that there was a real hunger for Indigenous stories, and it was a

natural evolution for television to pick up that banner.” Redfern Now came to a rousing

feature-length conclusion in the television ﬁlm Promise Me (2015).

Distributed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the series was sold to the Vibrant

TV Network and Netﬂix in the USA and to France’s national public broadcaster, France TV.

The two seasons were recently sold to France TV.

With episodes directed by Rachel Perkins (Bran Nue Dae, Mystery Road), Wayne Blair

(The Sapphires) and Leah Purcell (Cleverman) the show is a tour-de-force of Indigenous

Australian talent. Redfern Now won AACTA awards for both seasons, including Best

Screenplay in Television (2013) and Best Television Drama Series (2014).

CLEVERMAN AUSTRALIA, 2016  2018

•Two seasons on ABC and Sundance TV

•452,000 viewers for Australian launch

•300,000 viewers per episode on ABC

•69,000 viewers per episode on Sundance TV in the US

•Sold to BB3

•International coproduction between Australia, New Zealand and in partnership

with the US

•92% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

•Comic book based on the property sold out its initial run

Now in its second season on ABC in Australia and Sundance TV in the US, Cleverman is an

international coproduction between Goalpost Pictures Australia and New Zealand’s Pekeko

Films. This higher budget television series was produced with funding from Screen Australia,

the New Zealand Film Commission and is distributed internationally by German distributor

Red Arrow Studios International, and by Entertainment One Australia within the country.

Created by Ryan Grien and Jon Bell, the critically acclaimed superhero/sci-ﬁ drama series

launched to 452,000 Australian viewers in its ﬁrst season, and averaging 300,000 viewers

per episode. In the US, the show averaged 69,000 viewers per episode on Sundance TV.

Produced for ABC in Australia, the series was eight years in the making, beginning with an

internship for series creator Ryan Griin with Goalpost Pictures funded by Screen Australia’s

Indigenous Department following his participation in a producer mentoring program.

Development funding was also provided by Screen Australia and “the process of gathering

up stories from traditional communities took Grien over ﬁve years, requiring delicate

diplomacy and cultural sensitivity to protocols in communities across NSW, from his home

townofGunnedahtotheNorthernRiversandtheNorthernTerritory”.WithSundanceTV

on board as a partner and Red Arrow Studios International as international sales rep, the

international Australia-New Zealand coproduction was approved by Screen Australia in 2014

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

It was the ﬁrst Australian TV show ever to be invited to the Berlinale, where it screened in

2018 as part of the Berlinale Special Series showcase and in the industry-only Drama Series

Days in the European Film Market. The series features special eects by the renowned

Weta Workshop (Lord of the Rings) and won AACTA awards for Best Hair and Makeup in

both 2016 and 2017.

This “landmark” show is said to have set the bar for diversity on screen in Australia. Set

in the dystopian near-future the series features an Indigenous Cleverman who ﬁghts the

deeply racist status quo. Its cast is 80% Indigenous, and its Aboriginal characters speak

the real-life languages Gumbaynggir and Bundjalung. The show also provides internship

opportunities for Indigenous interns.

Appealing to audiences in search of darker truths, the show is said to be “on par with

theHandmaid’sTale.”

The series has also been made into a comic book, the ﬁrst issue of which sold out its

initial run.

SAMI BLOOD SWEDENNORWAYDENMARK, 2016

 •$2,729,715CADestimateddomesticboxoiceinSweden

 •Screenedin130cinemasinSweden

 •181,981theatricalticketssold

 •Soldto250countries

 •FirstlmshotintheSouthernSamilanguage,spokenby500people

 •DragonAwardforBestNordicFeatureatGoteborgFilmFestival

 •FedeoraAwardforBestDirectorialDebutFilm,VeniceFilmFestival

 •BestDirectorTokyoInternationalFilmFestival

The Nordic Region has an international hit in the debut feature ﬁlm by Amanda Kernell.

Sami Blood (2016) opened in 130 theatres in Sweden, achieving the third highest number of

admissions in 2017, with 181,981 tickets sold, for an estimated domestic gross box oice take

equivalent to $2.7 million CAD. Popular with international audiences too, Sami Blood has a

96% rating on the critical website Rotten Tomatoes. The ﬁlm won one of the most lucrative

international festival awards, the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Feature at Goteborg and

has sold well internationally, turning a proﬁt for investors. Remarkably, the ﬁlm was shot in

the Sami language, said to be spoken ﬂuently by only 500 people across the north.

Produced as an international coproduction by Nordisk Film Production (Norway, Sweden

and Denmark) and Bautaﬁlm (Sweden) the ﬁlm had a budget of $3.5 million CAD and

received support from the Swedish and Danish Film Institutes, Eurimages, and the

International Sami Film Institute (ISFI), which supported the hiring of Sami technical

positions for the production.. Non-Indigenous Nordisk Film Production is the majority

producer and distributor of the ﬁlm.

Sami Blood is the story of an elderly Sami woman who is confronted with the Indigenous

identity she tried hard to forget when she returns to her hometown for a funeral. Through

ﬂashbacks to her time spent at a government boarding school in the 1930s, the racism and

discrimination that she faced as a Sami comes to light.

The real-life sisters that appear in the ﬁlm (Lene Cecilia Sparrok, Mai Erika Sparrok) are

native South Sami speakers, one of the most threatened languages according to the United

Nations with approximately 500 speakers. Lene Cecilia Sparrok won Best Actress at the

Tokyo International Film Festival (2016) and the Seattle International Film Festival (2017)

and Sami Blood has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Kernell’s short, Northern Great Mountain, was a pilot for the feature made with funding from

the Swedish Film Institute and the International Sami Film Institute, who also encouraged

Kernell to tell a Sami story. The short won Best Short Film at the Goteborg Film Festival

(2015), the Jury Award for Best Short Drama at imagineNATIVE (2015) and whose success

enabled the feature to be made.

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner Voted No. 1 Canadian Film of All Time |

CBC News.” CBC News. April 24, 2015. Accessed August 2018. http://

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/atanarjuat-voted-no-1-canadian-ﬁlm-

of-all-time-1.3047162

Isuma.” Hosted on IsumaTV. Accessed August 2018. www.isuma.tv/

isuma. See also Garrett Chain-Quiray, “At-anarjuat: The Fast Runner:

Native Canadians and a Glimpse in the Mirror,” Brightlights Film Journal,

October 31, 2003, retrieved from http://brightlightsﬁlm.com/atanarjuat-

the-fast-runner-native-canadians-and-a-glimpse-in-the-mirror/#.

W1nFCthJFTY.

Wyndham Wise (March–May 2003). “2002 Survey of Canadian

Cinema”. Take One. p. 50.

The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) (2002).” Box Oice Mojo.

Accessed August 2018. http://www.boxoicemojo.com/

movies/?id=fastrunneratanarjual.htm

“The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) (2002),” Box Oice Mojo, retrieved from

www.boxoicemojo.com/movies/?id=fastrunneratanarjual.htm.

Garrett Chain-Quiray. “Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner: Native

Canadians and a Glimpse in the Mirror.” Bright Lights Film Journal.

December 19, 2014. Accessed August 2018. https://brightlightsﬁlm.

com/atanarjuat-the-fast-runner-native-canadians-and-a-glimpse-in-

the-mirror/

Isuma.” Hosted on IsumaTV. Accessed August 2018. www.isuma.tv/

isuma

Isuma.” Hosted on IsumaTV. Accessed August 2018. www.isuma.tv/

isuma

Nyla Innuksuk. “How ‘Atanarjuat’ Taught a New Generation of

Inuk Filmmakers about Possibility - and Respon-sibility | CBC Arts.”

CBCnews. September 20, 2017. Accessed August 2018.

“Mohawk Girls (TV Series 2010–2017).” IMDb. Accessed August 2018.

www.imdb.com/title/tt1755606/

“Tracey Deer.” Wikiwand, Accessed August 2018. www.wikiwand.com/

en/Tracey_Deer

“Economic Impacts of Mohawk Girls.” Accessed August 2018. https://

cmpa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MNP-2017-Economic-Impacts-

of-Mohawk-Girls-Report-Nov-2017.pdf

Indigenous Content Speaks to the World at MIPCOM.” Canada Media

Fund. Accessed August 2018. https://www.cmf-fmc.ca/en-ca/news-

events/news/october-2017/indigenous-content-speaks-to-the-world-at-

mipcom

James Cullingham, “Gil Cardinal: Canadian documentarian found his

identity in ﬁlm,” Obituary, Globe and Mail, December 18, 2015, retrieved

from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/ﬁlm/gil-cardinal-

canadian-documentarian-found-his-identity-in-ﬁlm/article27873055/.

Greg David. “CBC Acquires Broadcast Rights to Seasons 3-5

of Blackstone.” TV, Eh?, Accessed August 2018. www.tv-eh.

com/2016/03/29/cbc-acquires-broadcast-rights-to-seasons-3-5-of-

blackstone/

Blackstone, Season 2.” What’s New on Netﬂix Canada Today |

WhatsNewOnNetﬂix.com, 1 Jan. 1970, whatsne-wonnetﬂix.com/

canada/m/blackstone-season-2

Greg David. “The Fifth and Final Season of APTN’s Blackstone

Premieres on Nov. 3.” TV, Eh? Accessed August 2018. www.tv-eh.

com/2015/10/05/the-ﬁfth-and-ﬁnal-season-of-aptns-blackstone-

premieres-on-nov-3/

Hunt for the Wilderpeople Sets New Box Oice Record.” NZ Herald.

April 04, 2016. Accessed September 2018. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/

entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11616556

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt4698684/.

IMDb website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4698684/

companycredits.

Hunt For the Wilderpeople.” New Zealand Film Commission. Accessed

August 2018. http://www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/ﬁlms/hunt-wilderpeople.

Clarisse Loughrey. “Director Taika Waititi on Hunt for the Wilderpeople

and the Creative Journey.” The Inde-pendent. September 14, 2016.

Accessed August 2018. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-

entertainment/ﬁlms/features/taika-waititi-interview-on-hunt-for-the-

wilderpeople-thor-ragnarok-new-zealand-a7307336.html.

Hunt For the Wilderpeople.” New Zealand Film Commission. Accessed

August 2018. http://www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/ﬁlms/hunt-wilderpeople.

Sophie Barker. “Ryan Reynolds Reveals Why He Cast Julian Dennison

AKA Ricky Baker In Deadpool 2.” MTV. August 20, 2017. Accessed

August 2018. http://www.mtv.com.au/deadpool/news/ryan-reynolds-

reveals-why-he-cast-hunt-for-the-wilderpeoples-julian-dennison-in-

deadpool-2.

1“Home Boy Hit Helps Keep Local Cameras Rolling.” Stu, www.stu.

co.nz/business/industries/3618619/Home-Boy-hit-helps-keep-local-

cameras-rolling.

“Boy (2012) (2012).” Box Oice Mojo, www.boxoicemojo.com/

movies/?id=boy2012.htm.

New Zealand Film Commission, Annual Report 2010-2011, retrieved

from https://www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/sites/default/ﬁles/NZFC_Annual_

Report_2010-11.pdf.

New Zealand Film Commission website: https://www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/

ﬁlms/boy.; Taika Waititi’s Inner Child.” Interview Magazine, 29 Feb. 2012,

www.interviewmagazine.com/ﬁlm/taika-waititi-boy.

From an interview with producer Ainsley Gardiner, August 2018

Argelia Munoz Larroa and Natalia Ferrer-Roca, “Film Distribution in

New Zealand: Industrial Organization, Poer Relations and Market Failure,

Media Industries, Volume 4, Issue 2, 2017 , retrieved from https://quod.

lib.umich.edu/m/mij/15031809.0004.201/--ﬁlm-distribution-in-new-

zealand-industrial-organization?rgn=main;view=fulltext.

“‘Boy’ Takes New York.” The National Business Review, 17 Mar. 2012,

www.nbr.co.nz/boy.

Rebecca Barry Share- NZ Herald- Facebook Share on Twitter Show-

Facebook- Google - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/

article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10633570

“‘Boy’ Convinced Marvel to Hire Taika Waititi for Thor: Ragnarok.”

Stu, www.stu.co.nz/entertainment/ﬁlm/101697654/boy-convinced-

marvel-to-hire-taika-waititi-for-thor-ragnarok.

Simon Brew, “Taika Waititi’s Boy is Finally Getting a UK DVD Release,”

Den of Geek, January 31, 2018 https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/

boy/52239/taika-waititi-s-boy-is-ﬁnally-getting-a-uk-release.

Wipedia entry for Boy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_(2010_ﬁlm).

J.R. Jones. “Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi Want to Suck

Your Blood.” Chicago Reader. Accessed August 2018. http://www.

chicagoreader.com/chicago/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-jemaine-

clement-taika-waititi-horror-comedy/Content?oid=16676536.

“What We Do in The Shadows.” New Zealand Film Commission.

Accessed August 2018. www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/ﬁlms/what-we-do-shadows.

“What We Do in The Shadows.” Imdb.com Accessed August 2018.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3416742/

Interview.

Lesley Goldberg. “’What We Do in the Shadows’ TV Series From

Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi a Go at FX.” The Hollywood Reporter. May

03, 2018. Accessed August 2018. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

live-feed/what-we-do-shadows-tv-series-jemaine-clement-taika-waititi-

a-go-at-fx-1108435

Shipra Harbola Gupta, “Jemaine Clements’ What We Do In the

Shadows Acquired by the Orchard,” IndieWire, Sept 5, 2014, retrieved

from https://www.indiewire.com/2014/09/jemaine-clements-what-we-

do-in-the-shadows-acquired-by-the-orchard-22540/.

Joe Otterson. “’What We Do in The Shadows’ Series Lands at FX With

Pilot Production Commitment.” Variety. January 22, 2018. Accessed

August 05, 2018. https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/what-we-do-in-the-

shadows-series-fx-pilot-1202672581/.

Otterson, Joe. “‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Scores Series Order at

FX,” Variety, 3 May 2018, retrieved from variety.com/2018/tv/news/

what-we-do-in-the-shadows-series-fx-1202797592/; Otterson, Joe.

“‘What We Do in The Shadows’ Series Lands at FX With Pilot Production

Commitment.” Variety, 22 Jan. 2018, retrieved from varie-ty.com/2018/

tv/news/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-series-fx-pilot-1202672581/.

Kirsten Moana Thompson, “Once Were Warriors: New Zealand’s

ﬁrst indigenous blockbuster,” in Julian Stringer, Movie Blockbusters,

Taylor & Francis, 2003, retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/

books/e/9781136408212/chapters/10.4324%2F9781315012919-26

Kathryn Quirk, “The New Zealand TV Shows We Loved the Most,”

Stu, 3 July 2017; Kirsten Moana Thomp-son, Op. Cit.

Charlie Gates, “Kiwis Pick Their Favourite Movie,” Stu, January

25, 2014 retrieved from http://www.stu.co.nz/entertainment/

ﬁlm/9642284/Kiwis-pick-their-favourite-movie.

IBID

“Once Were Warriors, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved from https://www.

rottentomatoes.com/m/once_were_warriors/.

Screen Australia, retrieved from https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/

fact-ﬁnders/cinema/australian-ﬁlms/top-ﬁlms-at-the-box-oice/top-5-

each-year.

Screen Australia, “Part 2: International Performance,” 94 Films: A

Commercial Analysis, March 15, 2017, re-trieved from https://www.

screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2017/02-28-94-ﬁlms-a-

commercial-analysis/part-2-international-performance.

“The Sapphires.” IMDb.com. Accessed August 2018. pro.imdb.com/

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

title/tt1673697/details.

Garry Maddox. “Diamond Deals Put Sparkle in Film Industry.” The

Sydney Morning Herald. August 10, 2012. Accessed August 2018.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/diamond-deals-put-sparkle-in-ﬁlm-

industry-20120810-23zdi.html

Screen Australia, “Part 2: International Performance,” 94 Films: A

Commercial Analysis, Op. Cit.; IMDb websie: https://www.imdb.com/

title/tt1673697/companycredits.

Miguel Gonzalez, “Funding for Sapphires and New De Heer Film,”

Mumbrella, December 2, 2010, retrieved from https://mumbrella.com.

au/funding-for-sapphires-and-new-de-heer-ﬁlm-6142.

Screen Australia website: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-

screen-guide/t/the-sapphires-2012/21553/.

Screen Australia, “Part 2: International Performance,” 94 Films: A

Commercial Analysis, Op. Cit.

The Numbers website: https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/

Sapphires-The#tab=summary.

Colin Delaney. “Aussie Film The Sapphires Sells International

Distribution Rights.” Mumbrella. May 16, 2012. Accessed August

2018. https://mumbrella.com.au/aussie-ﬁlm-the-sapphires-sells-

international-distribution-rights-92247

Helen Pow. “Glittering Sapphires: The Incredible Story of an Aboriginal

Band Who Overcame Racism to Become Australia’s Supremes.”

Daily Mail Online. October 14, 2012. Accessed August 2018. http://

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2214063/Glittering-Sapphires-

The-incredible-story-Aboriginal-band-overcame-racism-Australias-

Supremes.html.

Maddox, Gary, “Sapphires proves an Aussie Box oice gem,” Sydney

Morning Herald, 13 August 2012.

Screen Australia, “Part 2: International Performance,” Op. Cit.

Ryan Gavin, “The Sapphires Becomes First Album Since Mamma Mia

to Reach Number 1, Noise 11, August 19, 2012; Charts Accreditations –

2013 Albums, retrieved from http://www.aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.

aria.com.aupagesaria-charts-accreditations-albums-2013.htm;

Wikipedia entry, The_Sapphires: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack,

retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sapphires:_Original_

Motion_Picture_Soundtrack

The Sapphires (Play).” Wikipedia. Accessed on August 24, 2018.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sapphires_(play). See also Ashley Calabria,

“Australia’s export credit agency helps ﬁnance The Sapphires”, Dynamic

Export, Sep-tember 19, 2012, retrieved from https://www.dynamicexport.

com.au/articles/ﬁnance/australias-export-credit-agency-helps-ﬁnance-

the-sapphires-190912/.

The Sapphires: Education Resource, Australian Centre for the Moving

Image, retrieved from https://2015.acmi.net.au/media/2053151/the-

sapphires-education-resource.pdf.

The Sapphires: Education Resource, Op. Cit.

Rachel Curtis. “The Sapphires Shines Light on Aboriginal Australia.”

BBC News. November 06, 2012. Accessed August 2018. http://www.bbc.

com/news/entertainment-arts-20209414

“Cleverman.” Wikipedia. Accessed August 2018. en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Cleverman.

Danis Goulet and Kerry Swanson, Indigenous Feature Film Production

In Canada: A National And International Perspective, report prepared for

imagineNATIVE, October 2013, page 31.

Screen Australia, “Celebrating 25 Years of Indigenous Screen Stories,”

Media Release, February 28, 2018, re-trieved from www.screenaustralia.

gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2018/02-28-25-years-of-indigenous-

screen-stories.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6958212/companycredits

IMDb website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1673697/

companycredits.

Interview.

“Australian Films Box Oice May Scorecard: A Solid Start to the

Year, 1 June 2018, Veerhuis Pictures website, retrieved from http://

veerhuispictures.com/2018/06/01/australian-ﬁlms-may-scorecard/.

Filming Aboriginal Australia, ﬁlmingaboriginaltourism.com/the-

directors/warwick-thornton/.

Filming Aboriginal Australia, ﬁlmingaboriginaltourism.com/the-

directors/warwick-thornton/.

ABCTV Blog.” Polybius at The Clickto Network, Fox News, web.archive.

org/web/20120528103315/http://blogs.abc.net.au/abc_tv/2010/09/

abc-tv-announces-redfern-now-a-drama-series-collaboration-with-

jimmy-mcgovern.html.

100

Berlin International Film Festival Selector Returns to Australia

This Month.” Screen Australia. Accessed August 2018. http://www.

screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2010/ia_100908_berlin

101

Screen forever website: http://screenforever.org.au/2013/program/

seph-mckenna/.

102

Screen Australia, “Top 100 Australian Feature Films of All Time,”

Screen Australia website, retrieved from https://www.screenaustralia.

gov.au/fact-ﬁnders/cinema/australian-ﬁlms/top-ﬁlms-at-the-box-oice;

Ada Tseng, “Starting Up a Bran Neu Dae: Interview with Director Rachel

Perkins,” Asia Paciﬁc Arts, September 11, 2010, re-trieved from

http://www.asiapaciﬁcarts.usc.edu/w_apa/showarticle.

aspx?articleID=15634&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.

103

Screen Australia website.

104

Miguel Gonzalez, “I haven’t seen a cent out of Bran Nue Dae: Perkins,”

Mumbrella, May 3, 2011, retrieved from https://mumbrella.com.au/i-

havent-seen-a-cent-out-of-bran-nue-dae-perkins-8040.

105

Village Roadshow Limited, Annual Report 2010, retrieved from http://

villageroadshow.com.au/-/media/VRL-Corporate-Media-Library/

Documents/Annual-Reports/2010/Searchable-VRL-AR10-Editorial.pdf

106

Bran Nue Dae (ﬁlm).” Wikipedia. Accessed August 2018. https://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_Nue_Dae_(ﬁlm)

107

Sandy George. “Melbourne Premiere Fund Awards Docs, Bran Nue

Dae.” Screen Daily. November 09, 2007. Accessed August 2018. http://

www.screendaily.com/melbourne-premiere-fund-awards-docs-bran-

nue-dae/4035819.article

108

“Bran Nue Dae Company Credits.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/

title/tt1148165/companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co.

109

Screen Australia Directory of International Sales Agents, retrieved

from https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/49bb8d7-51f8-

4d60-a67d-d93996fdc14c/SalesAgentDirectory.pdf

110

IMDb website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148165/

companycredits.

111

“Goldstone Awards.” IMDb. Accessed August 2018. www.imdb.com/

title/tt2236054/awards?ref_=tt_awd

112

John Hopewell. “Series Mania: Rachel Perkins, Greer Simpkin Talk

‘Mystery Road,’ Creating a Sense of Place.” Variety. May 02, 2018.

Accessed August 2018. https://variety.com/2018/tv/festivals/series-

mania-rachel-perkins-greer-simpkin-mystery-road-1202794296/.

113

Blake Howard. “‘Mystery Road’ Is Australia’s Answer To ‘True

Detective’.” June 06, 2018. Accessed August 2018. junkee.com/mystery-

road-series-abc/161864

114

“Goldstone (Film).” Wikipedia. Accessed August 2018. en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Goldstone_(ﬁlm)

115

“Goldstone - Financial Information Australia.” The Numbers - Where

Data and Movies Meet. Accessed August 2018. http://www.the-

numbers.com/movie/Goldstone-(Oz)/Australia#tab=international

116

John Hazelton. “Acorn TV Picks up Australian Crime Series ‘Mystery

Road’.” Screen Daily. June 19, 2018. Ac-cessed August 2018. http://

www.screendaily.com/news/acorn-tv-picks-up-australian-crime-series-

mystery-road/5130242.article

117

John Hazelton. “Acorn TV Picks up Australian Crime Series ‘Mystery

Road’.” Screen Daily. June 19, 2018. Ac-cessed August 2018. http://

www.screendaily.com/news/acorn-tv-picks-up-australian-crime-series-

mystery-road/5130242.article

118

John Hazelton, “Acorn TV Picks up Australian Crime Series ‘Mystery

Road’,” Screen Daily, 19 June 2018, re-trieved from www.screendaily.

com/news/acorn-tv-picks-up-australian-crime-series-mystery-

road/5130242.article.; Stewart Clarke, “Mystery Road, Judy Davis and

Aaron Pederson drama series, heads to Acorn TV in the US,” Variety,

June 19, 2018, retrieved from https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/

mystery-road-to-acorn-in-the-us-1202850680/.

119

John Hazelton. “Acorn TV Picks up Australian Crime Series ‘Mystery

Road’.” Screen Daily. June 19, 2018. Ac-cessed August 2018. http://

www.screendaily.com/news/acorn-tv-picks-up-australian-crime-series-

mystery-road/5130242.article

120

“Indigenous Programs Special Initiatives.” Screen Australia.

Accessed August 2018. web.archive.org/web/20110422134105/http://

www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding/indigenous/SpecInit_RedfernNow.

aspx.

121

Karl Quinn, “Getting Aboriginal Stories Out of the Ghetto,” The Sydney

Morning Herald, October 28 2012, re-trieved from https://www.smh.com.

au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/getting-aboriginal-stories-out-of-the-

ghetto-20121027-28c5m.html.

122

Interview. Karl Quinn, Op. Cit.

123

Olsberg, SPI, Measuring the Cultural Value of Australia’s Screen Sector,

for Screen Australia, 2016, page 35.

124

“Redfern Now Season Two Not Hitting Ratings Mark,” Sydney Morning

Herald, 16 November 2013.

125

Sandra Beeston, “Redfern Now – Again!,” The Sydney Herald,

September 30, 2013, retrieved from http://www.southsydneyherald.com.

au/redfern-now-again/#.W3yu1X4naV4.

126

Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redfern_Now.

127

“ABC Commercial Sells Award-winning Drama Redfern Now to

France.” Mediaweek. June 27, 2018. Accessed August 2018. https://

mediaweek.com.au/redfern-now-sale-france-televisions-abc-

commercial-2018/

128

“ABC Commercial sells award-winning drama Redfern Now to France,”

Mediaweek, 27 Jun3, 2018.

129

Redfern Now (TV Series 2012–2013).” IMDb. Accessed August 2018,

from www.imdb.com/title/tt2274800/?ref_=nv_sr_1.

130

Screen Australia website: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-

screen-guide/t/cleverman-series-1-2016/28737.

131

Andy Fry, Op. Cit.; David Knox, “151,000: Cleverman stumbles in

second season launch,” TV Tonight, 30 June 2017, retrieved from https://

tvtonight.com.au/2017/06/151000-cleverman-stumbles-in-second-

season-launch.html.

132

“Cleverman: Season Two Ratings, TV Series Finale, Op. Cit.

133

Screen Australia, Annual Report 2015-2016, retrieved from https://

www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/ed3c7529-70d1-499b-bbc9-

63b4659d514e/SA-Annual-Report-2015-2016.pdf?ext=.pdf

134

Screen Australia website: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/

screen-news/2016/02-10-a-new-kind-of-tv-cleverman.

135

Meghan Spencer. “With 80% Indigenous Cast Cleverman Becomes

First Australian Show to Premiere at Ber-linale.” The Guardian. February

18, 2016. Accessed August 2018. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-

radio/2016/feb/18/with-80-indigenous-cast-cleverman-becomes-ﬁrst-

australian-show-at-berlinale

136

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649420/companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_

137

Cleverman, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved from https://www.

rottentomatoes.com/tv/cleverman/s01/. Mat White-head, Op. Cit.

138

Liz Keen, Op. Cit.

139

Screen Australia, “Cleverman Series 2: Call Out for Indigenous Talent,”

July 28, 2016, retrieved from https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/

screen-news/2016/07-28-cleverman-series-2-talent-call-out.

140

Noah Berlatsky. “Cleverman’s Racial Daring Gives It an Edge Most

Superhero Stories Can’t Match.” The Verge. July 12, 2017. Accessed

August 2018. http://www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15960338/

cleverman-sundance-tv-racism-superheroes-hunter-page-lochard

141

“Cleverman #1, Gestalt ComicsI, retrieved from http://www.

gestaltcomics.com/shelf/comic-books/cleverman-1-international-

edition/.

142

Based on average movie ticket price of $15 (108 Swedish

Kroner). Source: Statista, retrieved from https://www.statista.com/

statistics/441837/average-cinema-ticket-price-in-sweden/.

143

Sami Blood, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved from https://www.

rottentomatoes.com/m/sami_blood/

144

Alissa Simon, “‘Sámi Blood’ Tops 40th Goteborg Film Festival,”

Variety, 6 February, 2017, retrieved from va-riety.com/2017/ﬁlm/news/

sami-blood-2017-40th-goteborg-ﬁlm-fest-1201978308/. https://

variety.com/2017/ﬁlm/news/sami-blood-2017-40th-goteborg-ﬁlm-

fest-1201978308/.

145

Interview.

146

From an interview with ISFI director Anne Lajla, 2018

147

Emily Bruder. “Sami Blood’: Why Amanda Kernell Broke All 3 Rules

for Making a Feature Debut.” No Film School. June 12, 2017. Accessed

August 2018. www.noﬁlmschool.com/2017/06/sami-blood-amanda-

kernell

148

“Sami Blood Awards.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/

nm7803801/awards?ref_=nm_awd.

149

Sta. “Sami Blood.” Rotten Tomatoes. Accessed August 2018. www.

rottentomatoes.com/m/sami_blood/

150

Emily Bruder. “Sami Blood’: Why Amanda Kernell Broke All 3 Rules

for Making a Feature Debut.” No Film School. June 12, 2017. Accessed

August 2018. www.noﬁlmschool.com/2017/06/sami-blood-amanda-

kernell

151

Northern Great Mountain (2015).” IMDb, IMDb.com. Accessed August

2018. www.imdb.com/title/tt4214924/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

III. LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE SUCCESS OF INTERNATIONAL

INDIGENOUS SCREEN CONTENT

PREAMBLE

In Canada, the Indigenous screen sector is poised to seize the international stage. The sector has a long

history of successes, including the ﬁrst feature ﬁlm and box oice hit to be produced in an Indigenous

language (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner), the world’s largest Indigenous media festival (imagineNATIVE), and

the world’s ﬁrst national Indigenous television broadcaster (APTN) and the successful productions it has

commissioned.

Canada’s national funding agencies have over the years developed innovative programs and strategies in

support of Indigenous content production, including the National Film Board, the Canada Council for the Arts,

the Canada Media Fund and Teleﬁlm Canada. As mentioned in this report, Canada’s national funders provide

support for the development, production and promotion of Indigenous screen content. The Canada Media

Fund and Teleﬁlm Canada have featured Indigenous talent at major international markets such as Cannes.

For its part, Teleﬁlm has made an ongoing commitment to spotlight talent and production to audiences

and international markets and buyers. The Canada Council for the Arts has supported imagineNATIVE’s

Indigenous Market Stand at the European Film Market, While the NFB’s international online platform provides

exposure to Indigenous productions the world over, while its international distribution arm is active in

promoting Indigenous productions to buyers around the world.

While there is growing support in Canada for Indigenous production, there is a need to adopt a strategy

that will help clarify a pathway to the international market with the view of aligning current eorts to

leverage international opportunities for growth and sustainability. This section draws lessons from the

success of international productions proﬁled in this report and identiﬁes the success factors that could be

applied in Canada.

1. Sustained Public Investment Has Built a Robust Industry

1.1 SUCCESS FOUNDED ON LONGTERM INVESTMENT AND INDIGENOUS GOVERNANCE AND

MANAGEMENT

A key factor in the success of Indigenous content is the highly sophisticated, and authentic storytelling

evident in the work of talented Indigenous creators who are said to be at the peak of their careers, the result

of decades of targeted public investment. Interviews with international stakeholders reveal that high quality

content requires strategic, sustained investments in development and production to ensure a continuous cycle

for growth.

The strategies implemented by Australia, New Zealand and the Nordic Region provide a whole sector

approach and consistent levels of support to Indigenous production over the long term, which have over

time helped to build a robust production sector. Common to all of these initiatives is the recognition of the

importance to Indigenous creators to own and tell their own stories and to participate in the burgeoning

creative economy.

Films and television programs emerging from Australia and New Zealand, where there have been repeated

investments in the most talented artists, speak to increasingly wider audiences. In these countries Indigenous

voices have been nurtured. Trailblazing ﬁlmmakers in Australia and New Zealand received early recognition

and public funders committed to structured and sustained support. Through the decades these creators

have become leaders, mentors and auteurs in the ﬁeld of independent cinema and television production.

This support is ongoing. The Indigenous Department of Screen Australia is celebrating its 25th anniversary,

and continues to invest about $3 million CAD in Indigenous productions each year, with additional funding

available through the agency’s other departments. The New Zealand Film Commission has just launched a

new Maori Strategy, with a budget of $4.5 NZD ($3.9 million CAD).

Other international initiatives of the past decade, including the founding of the International Sami Film

Institute in Norway, the development of the Native Program at the Sundance Institute, have further galvanized

the Indigenous screen production sector. These initiatives achieve greater impact through partnerships. The

Native Program of the Sundance Institute leverages the larger context of the Sundance Festival as well as

other departments of the Institute to increase its impact. As discussed below, the International Sami Film

Institute has announced a series of new initiatives with international partners, including the Canada Media

Fund and Teleﬁlm Canada, to support Indigenous production.

1.1.1 TWENTYFIVE YEARS OF INVESTMENT IN THE INDIGENOUS DEPARTMENT OF SCREEN

AUSTRALIA

The Indigenous Department of Screen Australia was launched in 1993 as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander Programme. The department, which has over its history been directed by Indigenous professionals,

controls its own budget, (currently $3 million CAD) and initiatives and can support certain projects to gain

access to the wider agency’s resources. In its twenty-ﬁve year history the Department has supported over 160

Indigenous productions in all media.

Through successive initiatives Screen Australia has been instrumental in the advancement of the careers

of talented Indigenous storytellers, allowing emerging ﬁlmmakers to gain experience on well-funded shorts

created with professional casts and crews, and mentored by seasoned executive producers, and oering

support to enable Indigenous writers and directors to gain experience on feature ﬁlms and television dramas.

Over the years, a number of highly seasoned Indigenous production companies have emerged, including

Whenoa Films, Bunya Productions and Blackfella Films. The latter has operated for over twenty years, and

has many production credits in both television and ﬁlm. In its most recent round of funding, Screen Australia

provided support to Indigenous companies, “to strengthen Indigenous business planning as well as assist slate

development through the employment of key business personnel.”

The success of the Indigenous Department is noted by current Head Penny Smallacombe: “Twenty-ﬁve

years of work by our Indigenous Department has not only given Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

a voice, but has given our industry some of the most distinct and acclaimed storytellers in our history…Our

faces are now routinely seen on television. Our languages are heard at the cinema. Our stories are now shared

online with people around the world. Our work is celebrated at internationals festivals, treasured at home and

has become a cultural and commercial resource for our people.”

1.1.2 FIFTEEN YEARS OF TARGETED SUPPORT AND PARTNERSHIP WITH MAORI INDUSTRY BY THE

NEW ZEALAND FILM COMMISSION

“Films like Samson & Delilah, Bran Neu Dae and The Sapphires proved that there was a real hunger for Indigenous stories, and it was a

naturalevolutionfortelevisiontopickupthatbanner.”

- Miranda Dear

“Twenty-ﬁve years of work by our Indigenous Department has not only given Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples a voice, but has

givenourindustrysomeofthemostdistinctandacclaimedstorytellersinourhistory.”

- Penny Smallacombe

Source: Screen Australia

Over the past decade and a half New Zealand has made successive strategic investments in Maori television

production and feature ﬁlm development. The Maori Television Service (MTS) was launched in March 2004,

with a resultant “exponential growth in the Maori production and broadcast sector, together with successive

strategies to support the growth of the Indigenous television sector.”

The founding principles of the New Zealand Film Commission support Maori film. Through special

initiatives and targeted support for well-funded and professionally produced shorts, and for feature film

development, contributed to the development of talented Maori storytellers and the advancement of

their careers.

In November 2007, the New Zealand Film Commission, working with the Maori screen industry and

national association Nga Aho Whakaari, launched Te Paepae Ataata, an autonomous charitable trust

providing “an alterna tive ‘pathway’ for developing Maori ﬁlm scripts”, “The goal was to “identify and

develop Māori writers for feature ﬁlms that [would] eventually receive signiﬁcant industry funding and be

released to the public.” Fully 20% of the agency’s development funding was devolved to this independent

Maori body.

Through this Maori-governed initiative, senior Maori industry practitioners mentor and fund the development

of Maori ﬁlms (written, produced and directed by Maori), and recommend projects for production funding

from the NZFC.

This year, the NZFC launched its new Maori Strategy (2018-2021), which commits new funding of $3.9

million CAD for the production of Maori ﬁlms and recognition through a new annual award for Maori Screen

Excellence. Support provided by the NZFC, combined with successful development of the Maori television

industry, has resulted in a “thriving Indigenous ﬁlm sector with the capacity to successfully take on all stages

of feature ﬁlmmaking.”

Boy

NewZealand(2010)

Second highest grossing New Zealand ﬁlm of all time

$8,818,952CADdomesticboxoice

$11,305,777CADforeignboxoice

Best Feature Film, Berlin International Film Festival

Best Dramatic Feature, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

Best Feature Film, Sydney Film Festival

Source: Case Study

ONCE WERE WARRIORS

NEW ZEALAND, 1994

 •$5,828,571CADdomesticboxoice

 •$2,118,788CADforeignboxoice

 •VotedBestNewZealandFilmofAllTimein2014

Source: Case Study

1.1.3 TEN YEARS SINCE THE CREATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL SAMI FILM INSTITUTE BY THE SAMI

PARLIAMENT IN NORWAY

The creation of the International Sami Film Institute by the Sami Parliament in Norway a decade ago has

galvanized Sami ﬁlm production, providing funding and professional development opportunities for Sami

writers, directors and producers across the Nordic Region.

Said to represent a watershed in Sami ﬁlm production, the Centre has been instrumental in the creation of

targeted academic training programs, as well as professional mentorship and internship opportunities. The

ISFI also encourages the development of emerging Sami talent by providing them with opportunities to work

on well-funded short ﬁlms. The ISFI also supported the early development and production of Sami Blood.

This past year, the ISFI was instrumental in the creation of the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund (AIFF), a collaboration

between several international partners including the Nunavut Film Corporation and the Canada Media Fund.

1.2 THE IMPORTANCE OF INVESTMENTS IN DEVELOPMENT

Interviews with producers stressed the importance of a good script as a critical factor in the success of any

project. The stories that succeed are uncompromisingly authentic and resonate with audiences emotionally.

Stories are also “fresh” and appeal to people’s appetite for something new.

Many of the successful projects discussed above were lauded for the strength of their writing. Redfern Now

won AACTA awards for both seasons, including Best Screenplay in Television (2013) and Best Television

Drama Series (2014) for its powerful inner-city stories. Riwia Brown’s emotionally powerful script for Once

Were Warriors won Best Screenplay at the 1994 New Zealand Film and TV Awards.

The Indigenous Department at Screen Australia has supported the development of talent through targeted

initiatives, many of which begin with a focus on development. In Australia, the television drama series Redfern

Now was developed through a special initiative funded by Screen Australia to support the development of a

television drama series intended for airing in prime time on ABC.

ARCTIC INDIGENOUS FILM FUND

International Fund to support, promote, and unify Indigenous ﬁlmmakers living in the Arctic regions of Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Russia,

and Sapmi.

Five funding partners:

 •TheInternationalSamiFilmInstitute(Norway)

 •CanadaMediaFund(Canada)

 •NunavutFilmDevelopmentCorporation(Canada)

 •GreenlandFilmMakers(Greenland)

 •Archy(Russia)

AIFF will build a sustainable ﬁlm industry in the Arctic, give a platform to Indigenous voices in isolated regions disproportionately aected

by climate change.

Source:CMFPressRelease.

The writing room for Redfern Now provided opportunities for emerging Indigenous writers to gain experience working alongside more

experienced writers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

Source:Interviews.

The New Zealand Film Commission provides another example of targeted and sustained support for

development for Maori projects. As noted above, the Maori industry initiative Te Paepae Ataata was

established in 2008 with funding from the NZFC. In 2014, the NZFC launched the He Ara Maori development

fund which provides slate funding in the form of grants of $50K NZD (approximately $43K CAD) and up to

$100K NZD (approximately $86K CAD).

Similarly, the International Sami Film Institute has targeted script development and the development of

talented writers. In 2011, the ISFI created the “Indigenous Film Fellowship” (IFF), which partnered emerging

indigenous ﬁlm talent with notable and distinguished ﬁlmmakers worldwide (the “Indigenous Film Circle”)

in a two year program aimed at developing strong and compelling scripts and preparing solid marketing and

ﬁnancing plans before going into production.

1.3 FLEXIBLE FUNDING THAT ENCOURAGES MENTORING AND COLLABORATION

One of the characteristics of public funding in Australia and New Zealand has been ﬂexibility to allow non-

Indigenous professionals, such as producers and writers, to mentor talented Indigenous creators. Support for

shorts in Australia and New Zealand allows emerging professionals to work with experienced professional

executive producers, cast and crews. Over the years, the role of executive producer on short ﬁlms funded

in Australia and New Zealand was ﬁlled by both non-Indigenous and Indigenous professionals, allowing

emerging ﬁlmmakers to learn from experienced mentors. Funding for television drama through Screen

Australia supports projects with mixed teams of Indigenous and non-Indigenous writers. The agency is

currently supporting Indigenous interns on the high value television series Cleverman.

2. WELL FINANCED INDIGENOUS STORIES, FEATURING INDIGENOUS ACTORS AND LANGUAGES

ARE SUCCESSFUL

2.1 WELLFUNDED PROJECTS WITH HIGHER BUDGETS HAVE A GREATER ABILITY TO SUCCEED

The musical comedies Bran Neu Dae and The Sapphires had budgets of about $8 million AUD ($7.5 million

CAD) and $10 million AUD ($9.4 million CAD), respectively. In the New Zealand context, Boy had a “massive”

budget of $5.6 million ($4.8 million CAD).

THE SAPPHIRES, AUSTRALIA 2012

 •HighestgrossingAustralianlmatdomesticboxoicein2012

 •$13,500,188CADdomesticboxoice

 •$4,852,882CADforeignboxoice

 •Soldaroundtheworld-5thhighestlevelofsalesofalltimeinAustralia

 •AudienceAwardBestNarrativeFeature,PalmSpringsInternationalFilmFestival

 •AudienceAwardBestNarrativeFeature,PortlandInternationalFilmFestival

 •AustralianWriter’sGuildMajorAward

 •BestFilm,AustralianAcademyofCinemaandTelevision(AACTA)Awards

Source: Case Study

In2008theMaoriindustryinitiativeTePaepaeAtaatawasestablishedwithfundingfromtheNZFC“tonurtureandcelebrateaMāori

cinematicvoiceandtoprovideanalternativedevelopmentpathwayforMaorilmmakers.”

Source: New Zealand Film Commission

Higher budgets allow the casting of well-known actors: Sam Neill in Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Sweet

Country, Irish actor Chris O’Dowd in The Sapphires, Georey Rush in Bran Neu Dae, Aaron Pedersen and Judy

Davis in Mystery Road: The Series. Producers interviewed stressed the importance of casting some known

actors in order to attract investment.

The higher budget television series Cleverman features special eects by the renowned Weta Workshop (Lord

of the Rings). The series won AACTA awards for Best Hair and Makeup in both 2016 and 2017.

The ﬁrst series of six one-hour episodes of Redfern Now had a budget of about $1 million AUD ($939K CAD)

per episode, comparable to many non-Indigenous productions. With episodes directed by Rachel Perkins

(Bran Nue Dae, Mystery Road), Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) and Leah Purcell (Cleverman) Redfern Now was

a tour-de-force of Indigenous Australian talent and provided valuable opportunities to emerging writers to join

the writers’ room.

At over $2 million NZD ($1.7 million CAD), Once Were Warriors was well funded for a debut feature in 1994,

allowing for a polished script and outstanding performances by rising stars Temuera Morrison, Rena Owen

and Chris Curtis.

Films that have had success with audiences have also beneﬁtted from signiﬁcant marketing budgets based

on the potential for wide appeal of the ﬁnished productions.

2.2 CASTING INDIGENOUS ACTORS AND USING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES APPEALS TO AUDIENCES

Productions with primarily Indigenous casts have earned signiﬁcant revenues, indicating that sizeable

audiences are interested in seeing Indigenous people on screen. Bran Neu Dae earned almost $8 million AUD

(A$7.5 million CAD) in domestic box oice sales. The television drama series Cleverman, which features an

Redfern Now, Australia (2012)

 •TwoseasonrunonABC1

 •1.05millionviewersonaverageinSeason1

 •Season2launchedto604,000viewers

 •SoldtoVibrantTVNetworkandNetix

 •Firstdramaserieswritten,directedandproducedbyIndigenousAustralians

 •TwoLogieAwardsforMostOutstandingDrama

 •AACTAAwardforBestDramaSeries

 •Season1rankedamongthetoptenAustralianculturalTVshows

 •SoldtoFranceTV

 •LogieAwardforMostOutstandingDrama

 •Supportedthedevelopmentofemergingwriters

Source: Case Study

BRAN NUE DAE, AUSTRALIA 2009

 •$7,280,640CADdomesticboxoice

 •Viewed7.4milliontimes–seenbyonequarteroftheAustralianpopulation

 •MostPopularFeatureFilm,MelbourneInternationalFilmFestival

 •BestMusicScore,FilmCriticsCircleofAustralia

 •Soundtrackalbumnumber29onthemusicchartsinAustralia

Source: Case Study

80% Indigenous cast, has earned over $1 million AUD ($939K CAD) in gross revenues. Boy features an all

Maori cast and earned a total of $20 million CAD domestically and around the world. Two Cars, One Night

(New Zealand, 2003) was said to have aorded Maori children the ﬁrst ever opportunity to see themselves on

screen as they are in life. Sweet Country features Indigenous actors in leading roles.

A number of productions feature Indigenous languages, which are clearly not a barrier to audience popularity.

Cleverman’s Aboriginal characters speaking the real-life languages Gumbaynggir and Bundjalung. Sami

Blood was shot in South Sami, spoken ﬂuently by about 500 people. Director Amanda Kernell states she “saw

the power in telling a very speciﬁc story in a very small language. You can be so speciﬁc and it’s so universal.”

2.3 WELLFUNDED SHORTS BUILD SKILLS AND ADVANCE THE CAREERS OF TALENTED CREATORS.

Screen Australia, the New Zealand Film Commission and the ISFI provide support signiﬁcant funding for

short ﬁlms, and these have made their mark.

Support for well-funded shorts in both Australia and New Zealand, within a context of sustained professional

development, has had a profound impact on the development of ﬁlm and television in these jurisdictions.

According to interviewees, Australia has historically provided between $80K ($58 CAD) and $160K ($116K

CAD), and in some cases up to $200K ($145K CAD) to produce short ﬁlms, recognizing their important role

in developing talented producers and directors. These investments are styled as competitive programs, which

lead to the production of a small number of excellent productions each year.

Investments in Maori short ﬁlms were referred to as foundational for their role in building the capacity of the

Maori industry in New Zealand. With funding of about $100K from the New Zealand Film Commission, Taika

Waititi’s short ﬁlm, Two Cars, One Night (2004) was nominated for the Oscar® for best short ﬁlm at the 2004

Academy Awards, eectively launching his international career. The director went on to participate in the

Sundance Institute’s Writers’ and Directors’ Labs, which supported two of his features, the lower budget Eagle

vs Shark that played well in Australia, and the highly successful Boy.

Kernell’s short, Northern Great Mountain, established Kernell as a major storyteller. Produced with assistance

from the ISFI, the ﬁlm won numerous awards, including Best Short Film at the Goteborg Film Festival (2015),

the Jury Award for Best Short Drama at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (2015). The ﬁlm’s

success and facilitated the ﬁnancing of Sami Blood, whose story is intertwined with that of Northern Great

Mountain.

A recent trend is the packaging of short ﬁlms together into longer-length works.

In 2015, the ISFI launched the Arctic Film Circle, in partnership with the Nunavut Film Corporation, to create a

bridge between Arctic ﬁlmmakers. The partnership supported the production of The Last Walk. Funded by the

International Sámi Film Institute, with partners that include the Nunavut Film Development Corporation, The

Last Walk is a series of three short ﬁlms created by Indigenous ﬁlmmakers from dierent Arctic regions, each

telling their own interpretation of a story of two sisters dealing with tragedy. While sharing a common thread,

each ﬁlm stands apart and speaks to the immense talent that lays north.

Waru,NewZealand,2017

InNewZealand,eightwomenMaoridirectorsworkedtogethertocreateWaru(2017),whichtellsthestoryofayoungboykilledbyhis

caregiversineightparts,eachsectionbyadierentdirectorbutallcreatingonecohesivenarrative.WaruwontheScreenwritersGuildof

NewZealandawardforBestScreenplayandhasscreenedattheSeattleInternationalFilmFestival.

Source: New Zealand International Film Festival website

The New Zealand Film Commission ﬁnanced the multi-short ﬁlm Waru (2017), which opened the

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival 2017 and won the Screenwriters Guild of New Zealand award for

Best Screenplay.

Directing Labs also support emerging ﬁlmmakers to make short ﬁlms. The Sundance Institute is one of the

better known initiatives, but there are others, such as the directing lab at the Melbourne International Film

Festival, which supported the development of ﬁlmmaker Taika Waititi.

3. FRESH TAKES ON ESTABLISHED GENRES APPEAL TO GENERAL AUDIENCES

3.1 THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FILMS AND TELEVISION SHOWS OF RECENT YEARS HAVE BEEN FRESH

TAKES ON ESTABLISHED GENRES THAT APPEAL TO GENERAL AUDIENCES

Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople are comedies with broad appeal. With fully developed, authentic

characters, these ﬁlms resonate on an emotional level with their audiences. Kevin Feige, President of Marvel

Studios, was quoted as saying that, “Boy is hilariously audacious in its comedy, but it’s also deeply moving and

deeply emotional.” The ﬁlm was named Best Comedy Film of 2016 by the Phoenix Critics Circle.

The mockumentary What We Do in The Shadows is a hilarious send-up of vampires and the horror genre.

As its name implies, Mystery Road is a mystery series. The series has been compared to True Detective

and Fargo, in a style that is being referred to as “outback noir”. Also set in the Australian outback, Warwick

Thornton’s Sweet Country has been praised for its revisionist revival of the western genre.

As its name implies, Mystery Road is a mystery series. The series has been compared to True Detective

and Fargo, in a style that is being referred to as “outback noir”. Also set in the Australian outback, Warwick

Thornton’s Sweet Country has been praised for its revisionist revival of the western genre.

DIRECTING LABS

The Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Film Program facilitates the participation of Native ﬁlmmakers in the

Sundance Film Festival through initiatives like the Native Filmmakers Lab, an opportunity for Native ﬁlmmakers to develop a short ﬁlm

with grants from the Lab and under the guidance and mentorship of a supervising Producer and Director. Alumni of the lab include Taika

Waititi, Ciara Lacy, and Sterlin Harjo.

The Melbourne International Film Festival Accelerator Lab is an emerging director program that helps promising short ﬁlmmakers make

the transition to feature ﬁlms. The Lab is a four-day program of talks, workshops, seminars with Industry leaders and screenings. Past

Indigenous alumni include Taika Waititi.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

NEW ZEALAND, 2014

 •$2,639,116CADdomesticboxoice+

 •$5,619,790CADforeignboxoice

 •People’sChoiceAward,TIFF

 •BestFeature,SheieldHorrorFilmFestival

Source: Case Study

Cleverman is a superhero sci-ﬁ series with a twist that appeals to audiences in search of darker truths. The

show has been called one of the bleakest television shows out there, “on par with the Handmaid’s Tale.

The Sapphires and Bran Neu Dae are feel-good family-friendly musicals. Both ﬁlms are based on pre-

existing properties. The Sapphires is based on the hit play by the same writer, Tony Briggs, which debuted

at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2004. This ﬁlm had the ﬁfth-highest level of sales of all time amongst

Australian. Bran Neu Dae is based on Jimi Chi’s musical for the stage of the same name. Chi also worked on

the screenplay for the ﬁlm version of his show.

A number of other ﬁlms that are doing very well are based on successful novels. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

was adapted from the classic 1986 novel, Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crum. Once Were Warriors is

based on the 1990 controversial and best-selling novel of alcoholism and domestic violence in a Maori family,

based partially on the real life experiences of author Alan Du.

4. PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS HELP DRIVE SUCCESS

4.1 CRITICAL RECOGNITION, PRIZES AND AWARDS BOOST MARKETING EFFORTS, TRANSLATING TO

SALES AND ADVANCING THE CAREERS OF TALENTED CREATORS

Festivals and awards play a signiﬁcant role in promoting Indigenous content and driving its popularity

with audiences. The prizes and awards conferred on the best productions each year help build audience

interest and drive box oice sales. This is the case with many of the successful ﬁlms and television programs

examined here.

The ﬁlms examined here have won some of the most prestigious awards. Sweet Country won the Special

Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival and Best Feature and the Asia Paciﬁc Screen Awards in

2017. Hunt for the Wilderpeople was lauded with Audience awards at Sundance Film Festival and Edinburgh

International Film Festival Audience Award.

196

Boy won major awards at the Berlin International Film Festival

and the AFI Fest in LA.

CLEVERMAN, AUSTRALIA 2016, 2018

 •TheinternationalcoproductionCleverman(Australia,NewZealandandtheUS)isadarksci-seriesthathasbeenfavourably

compared to The Handmaid’s Tale.

Source: The Verge

MYSTERY ROAD: THE SERIES, AUSTRALIA 2018

 •AiringonABC

 •846,000viewersonaverageonABC

 •246,000viewersonaverageonlineonABC’siview

 •SecondpropertytospunoMysteryRoad(2013),featurelmbyacclaimeddirector,IvanSen

 •AcquiredbyAcornTVforUSstreaming

Source: The Verge

As Indigenous producers venture into higher budget television drama, their eorts are also being recognized

internationally. Cleverman was the ﬁrst Australian TV show ever to be invited to the Berlinale.

197

5. BUILDING AND LEVERAGING RELATIONSHIPS LEADS TO DISTRIBUTION SUCCESS

5.1 SUCCESSFUL PRODUCERS HAVE DEVELOPED BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS WITH DISTRIBUTORS

AND SALES AGENTS

The successful productions examined in this report are being distributed by domestic distributors and

international sales agents. They range from small, boutique distributors to major international players. The

most successful Indigenous feature ﬁlms in Australia and New Zealand both beneﬁtted from wide theatrical

releases: 95 screens in New Zealand for Hunt for the Wilderpeople, distributed domestically by Madman

Entertainment, and 270 screens in Australia for The Sapphires (E1 and Hopscotch Films).

Our interviews reveal that successful producers have developed their relationships with distributors and sales

agents over many years. Among the distributors and sales agents attached to the projects, we note major

players such as Red Arrow International (Cleverman), All3Media (Mystery Road), the now defunct Weinstein

Company (The Sapphires), Memento Films (Sweet Country) and Bankside Films (Bran Neu Dae). Other

distributors include Hopscotch Films (The Sapphires) and Orchard (What We Do in the Shadows).

Indigenous broadcasters in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand are commissioning and distributing

Indigenous content, including documentaries, drama and animation. Non-Indigenous broadcasters bring their

considerable reach to drive the success of productions with audiences. The national broadcaster ABC has

played an important role in distributing Indigenous dramatic series in prime time, including Redfern Now and

Cleverman. Interviews with American funders note the importance of the Public Broadcasting Corporation

(PBS) in the US in providing resources for Indigenous productions, many of which are broadcast on its service.

We also note the role being played by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) in New Zealand, in the

domestic and international distribution of ﬁlm. The table below provides an overview of the many relationships

built by producers of successful ﬁlms and television programs, with domestic and international distributors,

including sales agents, broadcasters and funders.

SWEET COUNTRY, AUSTRALIA 2017

 •$1,902,896CADdomesticboxoiceinrstfourmonthsofreleasethisyear

 •SpecialJuryPrize,VeniceInternationalFilmFestival

 •PlatformPrize,TIFF

 •MosthighlylaudedlminScreenAustralia’shistory

 •Soldtoover250territoriesaroundtheworld

 •Currentlylaunchingin20countries.

Source: Case Study

DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS OF SELECTED INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS

INCLUDED IN CASE STUDIES

Source: Case studies.

TITLE PRODUCER DOMESTIC

DISTRIBUTOR

INTERNATIONAL

DISTRIBUTORS

HUNT FOR THE

WILDERPEOPLE

Defender Films, Piki

Films

Madman Entertainment,

Piki Films

Vertigo Films (UK)

Film 1 (Netherlands)

Front Row Entertainment

(Middle East and Africa)

BOY Whenua Films Transmission Film NZ Film (NZFC sales)

WHAT WE DO IN THE

SHADOWS

Defender Films Madman NZ Ltd Orchard (US)

Unison Films (US)

THE SAPPHIRES Goalpost Pictures Goalpost Pictures,

Quickﬁre, E1, Hopscotch

Films

Hopscotch Films

(international)

Weinstein Company

(Assets acquired by Lantern

Entertainment) (US)

Goalpost pictures

SWEET COUNTRY Bunya Productions Transmission Films Memento Films

(international sales agent)

BRAN NEU DAE Robyn Kershaw

Productions

Roadshow Films Bankside Films (UK)

Cinemart (US)

Freestyle Releasing (US)

MYSTERY ROAD Bunya Productions ABC Australia All3Media International

Acorn Media

(UK and online)

REDFERN NOW Blackfella Films ABC Australia ABC Australia

CLEVERMAN Goalpost Pictures

(Australia), Pekeko

Films (New Zealand)

ABC Australia Red Arrow Studios

International

SAMI BLOOD Nordisk Film

Production (Norway,

Sweden and Denmark),

Bautaﬁlm (Sweden)

Nordisk Film Nordisk Film

5.2 RELATIONSHIPS ARE KEY TO INTERNATIONAL COPRODUCTION AND ACCESS

TO FOREIGN MARKETS

International coproduction facilitates access to markets. Two of the productions examined for this report

are international coproductions. The television series Cleverman is an international coproduction between

Australia and New Zealand. Sami Blood is a coproduction between Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Coproduction requires business relationships to harness funding, experience and increase capacity. The

producers of these projects had partnerships with experienced and in some cases, non-Indigenous producers.

Indeed, about half of the successful Indigenous productions examined had the involvement of experienced,

non-Indigenous producers, facilitating their access to the market.

6. SUMMARY OBSERVATIONS

Indigenous screen-based stories have proven their popularity with audiences around the world. This speaks to

the success of sustained support for the Indigenous screen-based sector in securing its place in its respective

domestic markets. At festivals, in theatres, on television and streaming services, audiences are choosing to

watch Indigenous content.

In jurisdictions with the greatest success, Indigenous people are involved in decision-making at the highest

levels, funding is signiﬁcant and sustained over decades, and the most talented creators are supported

through structured opportunities to gain experience, develop their skills, gain international exposure and to

work and learn from the best in the industry.

The lessons aorded by the most successful productions worldwide point to a range of success factors:

 •Sustained,long-termpublicinvestmentsgovernedandmanagedbyIndigenouspeople,including

signiﬁcant investments in ﬁlm and television development to create compelling stories that can move forward

to production; and ﬂexible funding to encourage mentoring and collaboration and create opportunities to build

relationships with more experienced Indigenous and non-Indigenous producers.

 •Wellnancedproductionswithhigherbudgetsandhigher-budgetshortformats,castingIndigenous

actors and integrating Indigenous languages.

 • Embracingpopulargenreslikecomedy,musicals,horrorandsciencectionaswellas

adaptations.

 • Winningprestigiousawardstobuildawarenessandsupportmarketing.

 • Buildingandleveragingrelationshipswithdistributors,salesagentsandwithproducersin

foreign jurisdictions to facilitate distribution, sales and international coproduction.

It is interesting to note that jurisdictions where Indigenous ﬁlms and television programs have had particular

success with audiences, the Indigenous populations are much smaller than in Canada, and yet have enjoyed

more signiﬁcant commercial successes of their Indigenous productions. Indigenous people in Canada account

for almost 5% of the total population (1.7 million). By comparison, Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders

make up 3% of the Australian population (670K people). In New Zealand, Maori account for 15% of the

population (600K people). We also note that in Sweden, where the ﬁrst feature ﬁlm in the Sami language

recently had a box oice success, Sami people account for about 0.4% of the population (estimated to be

between 20K and 40K people).

IV. PATHWAYS TO THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET FOR

CONSIDERATION BY THE INDIGENOUS SCREEN SECTOR IN CANADA

In light of the signiﬁcant opportunities aorded internationally, and signiﬁcant interest in Canada to

strengthen and promote Indigenous screen production, it is timely to consider the lessons learned from the

international Indigenous screen sector in order to leverage the already considerable eorts by the Indigenous

screen sector and its stakeholders to achieve greater success.

This section presents the elements of a strategy - potential pathways - for the continued growth and

international success of Indigenous screen content for consideration by the Indigenous screen sector and its

stakeholders in Canada.

The strategy has the following four goals:

1. Develop Content That Appeals to International Audiences

2. Produce Content That Appeals to International Audiences

3. Build Relationships with Distributors and Sales Agents

4. Increase Exports and Sales in Foreign Markets

For each of these goals, pathways to success have been developed and are discussed below.

Indigenous Leadership At the Highest Levels

To succeed, this strategy assumes Indigenous leadership at the highest levels, including leadership provided by

Indigenous screen organizations and Indigenous decision-makers in non-Indigenous organizations.

It is clear from this study that Indigenous people are best positioned to determine how public resources for

Indigenous productions should be allocated. In the jurisdictions examined, Indigenous people have led the

development of funding for Indigenous content creation. Indigenous organizations and decision-makers have led

the development of critical support initiatives, identiﬁed and nurtured talent, fostered mentoring, collaboration

and the building of critical business relationships and supported the professional development of producers,

directors and writers through the development, production, promotion and exhibition of shorts, features and

series and all budget levels. Indigenous production companies are responsible for the creation of some of the

most successful Indigenous content internationally. For their part, Indigenous festivals have been key to raising

awareness of Indigenous content with audiences, and to supporting networking and relationship building.

The ﬁgure below illustrates the key goals of this strategy and their relationship to Indigenous Leadership. As

can be seen from the ﬁgure, the strategy provides actions to be undertaken by the Indigenous screen sector,

and others to be undertaken in partnership with the sector’s industry and public sector partners.

International Strategy for Indigenous Content

1. DEVELOP CONTENT THAT APPEALS TO INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES

1.1 ENSURE SUSTAINED SUPPORT THROUGH ALL PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT FOR CONTENT WITH

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL

To be competitive internationally, Indigenous producers need opportunities to access support for the

development of a diversity of formats, genres and budget levels, as well as the optioning of Indigenous

content. They need opportunities to fund the most promising projects from idea to ﬁnal draft.

This study shows that there is signiﬁcant interest in a diverse range of Indigenous content in a variety

of formats, including documentaries, animation and drama in short and long-form; in a range of genres,

including musicals, horror, comedy, science ﬁction and literary adaptations; integrating Indigenous actors and

languages, and at dierent budget levels, from $200K for shorts to $12 million for features. There is interest

from audiences in both original intellectual property and adaptations of pre-existing properties.

Indigenous screen content producers are small companies for the most part, with limited capacity to

invest in development. Development includes the evolution of a project from idea to screen and, ultimately,

international markets. It is at the development stage that most fundamentally distinguishes a good

ﬁlm, television drama or digital property, from a bad one. Interviews conducted for this study stress the

importance of a good story and great script to the success of Indigenous content. Producers interviewed

noted that success begins with a well-crafted engaging story. For this reason, development is a costly, high-

risk undertaking, requiring multiple development investments, as only the best scripts will go forward into

production.

Indigenous producers interviewed for this report are interested in undertaking more development with a view

to producing for the international market. They are largely frustrated by a lack of access to public funding,

which would trigger other investments and provide them with opportunities to develop essential business

skills and relationships. Indigenous writers have noted that, “there are few supports for ﬁlmmakers to move

from treatment to outline to ﬁrst and then second draft.”

199

Indigenous producers and writers need opportunities to work and learn from the best in Canada and

the world, either through co-development, mentorships, apprenticeships, partnerships or other forms of

collaboration.

The experience of Australia and New Zealand has shown that Indigenous content development needs to be

well-funded, involving Indigenous decision-makers at high levels, and including structured support through

special initiatives, to allow projects to move smoothly and in a timely manner from idea to treatment to

draft and polish. Funding in Australia and New Zealand is being provided through special initiatives that

provide professional development opportunities for producers, access to mentors, and structured support

through multiple drafts of a screenplay with a view to create screen content that can resonate with audiences

domestically and internationally.

WORK WITH PARTNERS TO:

 •EnsureSustainedSupportThroughAllPhasesofDevelopmentforContentwithInternationalAppeal

 •RemoveBarrierstoDevelopment

 •IncreaseDevelopmentforPrimeTimeTelevision

 •LeverageOpportunitiesforIndigenousWriterstoHoneTheirScriptsandCraft

1.2 REMOVE BARRIERS TO FEATURE FILM DEVELOPMENT

It is important for existing funding agencies and organizations to ensure that their respective programs do

not inadvertently create barriers to development activity. It was pointed out that Indigenous companies in

Canada often have no choice but to partner with production companies that have theatrically released a

feature ﬁlm within the last ﬁve years in order to access feature ﬁlm funding. This puts Indigenous companies

at a disadvantage by obliging them to dilute their ownership of their properties, often to non-Indigenous

companies, thus maintaining the legacy of colonial power structures. Interviews with Canadian producers also

revealed that options are expensive to acquire and often Indigenous producers, whose companies are very

small, lose out on options of Indigenous stories to larger, non-Indigenous buyers of rights.

We note that Screen Australia oers Indigenous production companies grants, which are easier to administer,

in the range of $50,000 AUD ($46,700 CAD) to $100,000 AUD ($93,382 CAD) for the development of their

feature ﬁlm slates. Producers can also apply for additional resources.

1.3 INCREASE DEVELOPMENT FOR PRIME TIME TELEVISION

Indigenous producers and writers require access to opportunities to develop television pilots and series for

primetime.

A number of studies, including this one, have found that Indigenous producers continue to experience

signiﬁcant diiculty in attracting investment from Canadian broadcasters, with the exception of APTN.

The CBC has made inroads, particularly in documentary, but that much more could be done, in particular

to support drama. Studies commissioned by the CRTC have found that “on English-language television

Aboriginal Peoples were “severely underrepresented” and that on French-language television Aboriginal

Peoples were “non-existent”.

201

In Australia, the development of television series destined for prime time is being encouraged through

partnerships between Screen Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

1.4 LEVERAGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIGENOUS WRITERS TO HONE THEIR SCRIPTS AND CRAFT

Indigenous writers need access to world-class professional development opportunities.

This study ﬁnds that jurisdictions with successful international productions have invested in the development

of talented writers. A lesson learned from the jurisdictions of Australia and New Zealand is that targeted

investment in talented ﬁlmmakers to hone their projects in development is a necessary element in all success.

The Sundance Institute, too links the success of Indigenous ﬁlmmakers to the investments made at the

development phase.

202

Indigenous-run festivals, artist-run centres and other training institutions in Canada provide excellent

platforms to develop talented writers. Festivals provide opportunities to hone creative skills and attract

attention to talented individuals. The Sundance Festival and imagineNATIVE have grown to include training

institutes that were instrumental in the development of projects that have gone on to have success with

audiences.

Festivals surveyed noted the importance of ongoing professional development opportunities provided by

festivals, including master classes, creative labs and workshops. Writing labs, such as those oered by the

Sundance Institute and the LA Skins Festival, are popular with some ﬁlmmakers and were a factor in the

New opportunities have emerged at international Indigenous ﬁlm festivals. The LA Skins Fest oers two labs

for Native American ﬁlmmakers: a Feature Film Lab and a TV Writers Lab. The TV Writers Lab is for seasoned

writers who have previously written shorts, features, or television scripts, with each writer working with a mentor

over the ﬁve-week program and then having their script read and critiqued by network executives. The 10-week

Feature Film Lab is designed to prepare Native American writers for writing careers at major ﬁlm studios and

production companies. As labs are high proﬁle, they are also said to help ﬁlmmakers get noticed.

203

In Canada, the imagineNATIVE Institute, launched in 2017, is the department of imagineNATIVE that oversees

the Industry Days during the Festival and all year-round professional development activities for Indigenous

creatives. The imagineNATIVE Institute recently launched a Story Editing Mentorship and a Screenwriting

Intensive, with the goal of providing support to four screenwriters to develop option-ready feature-length

scripts. The initiatives are currently seeking funding.

204

2. PRODUCE CONTENT THAT WILL APPEAL TO INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES

2.1 PRODUCE CONTENT IN DIFFERENT GENRES, FORMATS AT INTERNATIONALLY COMPETITIVE

BUDGET LEVELS

Indigenous producers need access to private and public funding channels at levels that allow them to

complete the ﬁnancing of internationally competitive budgets. They need opportunities to produce content

in a range of formats, genres, adaptations and original content. Documentary producers need access to

opportunities to produce high budget documentaries (i.e. $2 million or more) that are more likely to succeed

internationally.

Competitively budgeted productions allow the attachment of marquee elements, such as well-known actors,

as we have seen in other jurisdictions. It also allows for the optimal use of post-production possibilities, critical

to genres such as horror and science ﬁction. Competitively budgeted productions also ensure that talented

Indigenous producers, directors, writers, and directors of photography continue to be attached to Indigenous

content as their own notoriety increases.

2.2 PRODUCE CONTENT FOR PRIMETIME TELEVISION TO BUILD COMPANIES AND DEVELOP

WRITERS

The broadcasting system in Canada should ensure suicient opportunities for Indigenous producers to

produce higher-budget drama series for prime time television.

Experiments in primetime television in Australia have demonstrated that there is an appetite for Indigenous

drama in primetime. The experience of Redfern Now, which averaged over one million viewers a week

on the national broadcasting service ABC, demonstrates the potential appeal of Indigenous drama with

wider audiences. Producers interviewed point to the enormous opportunities aorded in the television and

subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) space, including Netﬂix. SVOD platforms are where demand for

Indigenous content is said to be highest in some markets. Some producers used to working internationally are

selling their television properties to foreign distributors and broadcasters.

WORK WITH PARTNERS TO:

•ProduceContentinDierentGenres,FormatsandatInternationallyCompetitiveBudgetLevels

 •ProduceContentforPrimetimeTelevisiontoBuildCompaniesandDevelopWriters

 •ProduceHigher-BudgetShortstoBuildSkillsandAdvancetheCareersofCreators

Building on this success, it is not a stretch to imagine at least one more well funded Indigenous dramatic

series each year with international appeal. The Indigenous production sector has demonstrated its capacity

to produce content that can appeal to international audiences. Blackstone (2010-2015) has had wide

international appeal, airing on Hulu and HuluPlus in the US, on New Zealand’s Maori Television, and on

Australia’sSpecialBroadcastingService/NationalIndigenousTelevision(SBS/NITV).Originallyproduced

for APTN and Showcase, and referred to as “Canada’s Sopranos” and “a step in the evolution of TV,”

Blackstonewasbeennominatedfor86awardsincludingBestDramaticSeries,andBestDramaticWritingat

the Canadian Screen Awards.

Producing series for prime time, aords producers the opportunity to acquire or hone the full range of

producing skills necessary to increase their capacity for producing more demanding projects. The Indigenous

Strategy commissioned by the CMF notes the need to develop Indigenous producers to increase the

production of Indigenous screen based content. This includes support for the acquisition of the full range of

producer skills.

206

In addition, for television series to be successful, emerging Indigenous writers need to be able to work

alongside experienced non-Indigenous writers to gain experience and hone their skills and ultimately to

expand the pool of experienced Indigenous writers.

2.3 PRODUCE HIGHERBUDGET SHORTS TO BUILD SKILLS AND ADVANCE THE CAREERS OF

CREATORS

Indigenous creators in Canada need opportunities to create high value, higher budget short works that can

help to establish their reputations and launch their careers internationally. Opportunities are needed in all

regions of the country and equally to women and men, and to English- and French-speaking creators.

The talented creators discussed in this report had multiple opportunities to create well-funded short dramas

early in their careers. Screen Australia has invested repeatedly in talented ﬁlmmakers and producers, allowing

them to hone their skills through successive short and feature length productions. Similarly, New Zealand has

supported the development of Maori shorts and features often in partnership with the Maori industry.

Stakeholders interviewed for this report stressed the importance of these experiences for producers and

directors, who beneﬁted immensely from working with experienced executive producers who mentored them,

and with professional casts and crews. Filmmakers need production opportunities, from which to learn. One

producer saluted Teleﬁlm’s microbudget program for providing opportunities for ﬁlmmakers to learn through

experience. Others pointed to the CBC for providing important opportunities for documentarists.

Producers in Australia and New Zealand noted that early in their careers, they had opportunities to produce

short ﬁlms with professional budgets, accessing funds ranging from $80K to $200K. Short ﬁlm productions

were typically shaped through the experience of writing labs and a selective process to produce the best

scripts. Warwick Thornton, director of Sweet Country (2017) and winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes

for his ﬁrst feature, Samson and Delilah (2009), made four short ﬁlms with the support of the Indigenous

Department of Screen Australia before making Samson and Delilah.

207

With international festival recognition, short ﬁlms can become the platform on which successful ﬁlms are

launched. Shorts also have the potential to reach audiences. As noted by one producer, “Today’s audiences

don’t dierentiate between formats. A short ﬁlm can have a million views online.” Short ﬁlms are thus

“incredibly important” to the development of successful feature ﬁlmmakers.

208

Recognizing the importance of

production opportunities, participants in directing and producing labs at the Sundance Institute are provided

with funds to make their ﬁlms.

The Province of Quebec, which has had many feature ﬁlm successes, has for decades provided targeted

support to young ﬁlmmakers. The SODEC currently provides substantial production funding of up to $75,000

for short dramas or animation ﬁlms by young ﬁlmmakers. This support is in the form of a grant. Award-

winning ﬁlmmaker Je Barnaby (RhymesforYoungGhouls, 2013) wrote and directed several professionally

produced short ﬁlms before producing his ﬁrst feature.

209

Je Barnaby’s new ﬁlm, Blood Quantum, recently

received an investment of $1.7 million through Teleﬁlm Canada’s regular program stream. With a total

production budget of $4.5 million

210

, the ﬁlm will have the highest ever production budget for an Indigenous

ﬁlm in Canada.

However, the French-language Indigenous production sector in Canada is said by interviewees to be less well

developed than the English-language sector.

3. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH DISTRIBUTORS AND SALES AGENTS

3.1 LEVERAGE ATTENDANCE AT FESTIVALS AND MARKETS TO BUILD PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS

Indigenous creators need opportunities to attend Indigenous and non-Indigenous festivals and markets to

meet and build relationships with buyers and decision makers from the broadcasting and online sectors.

Our interviews for this study reveal the need for ongoing access to festivals and markets so that Indigenous

creators can build the relationships that will advance their productions into the market.

Indigenous creators face many barriers in attending festivals and markets away from their home communities.

Attending these events builds crucial knowledge of the market and supports the development of industry

relationships. Interviewees noted that Indigenous creators need to attend events more than once in order to

truly leverage the potential opportunities, largely because building relationships of trust takes time.

For most Indigenous ﬁlms and digital media, Indigenous festivals are the ﬁrst and for many the most

important channel to the market. For example, Indigenous broadcasters are present at major Indigenous

festivals in Canada and Australia and provide critical opportunities for sales and production. imagineNATIVE

as well as the Maoriland Festival play a key role in encouraging the sale of Indigenous content to international

buyers, imagineNATIVE hosts a large and rapidly increasing number of decision makers at its festival, each

year, including Indigenous broadcasters and online buyers such as FNX and Shorts TV, resulting in over

$500K CAD of sales and distribution deals.

Roughly half of the festivals surveyed produce industry events. Many collaborate on these initiatives. The

results of our survey also reveal interest from international Indigenous festivals to expand their sales of

Indigenous content. At the same time, Indigenous festivals need to ensure that the buyer experience is

optimized. Interviews revealed that buyers prefer to have advance access to screen content in order to better

prepare their trips to festivals.

There is a need to create structured experiences that will allow producers to build their networks and develop

lasting relationships with potential distributors, sales agents and other business partners. Interviewees

Work With Partners To:

 •LeverageAttendanceatFestivalsandMarketstoBuildProfessionalNetworks

 •LeverageFestivals,AlternativeDistributionNetworksandOnlinePlatformstoPromoteContentand

Build Audiences

point to the need to continue to support attendance at festivals and markets through organized, structured

experiences, such as preparatory bootcamps, delegations, and targeted industry events, as well as informal

attendance

3.2 LEVERAGE FESTIVALS, ALTERNATIVE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS AND ONLINE PLATFORMS TO

PROMOTE CONTENT AND BUILD AUDIENCES

The growing number of Indigenous festivals provides an international circuit for Indigenous content,

connecting Indigenous stories with a large audience of interested viewers around the world. These festivals,

alternative distribution networks and online platforms are critical for promoting and providing access to

Indigenous content, and for supporting the professional development of Indigenous creators. As noted above,

the majority of Indigenous festivals screen Canadian productions.

Success begins at home. Around the country, Indigenous-led and community-based festivals and exhibitors,

often working Indigenous-led circuits or other ﬁlm circuits such as TIFF and Reel Canada, take the best

Indigenous content to communities across the country. The vast majority of festivals surveyed for this report

are showcasing Indigenous content from Canada, including features, shorts and interactive content. Many are

involved in the distribution of Indigenous productions, particularly as regards institutional markets.

211

As noted by festivals and producers surveyed for this report, these networks represent the foundation of

distribution of Indigenous content in Canada and abroad. They increase the visibility and access to Indigenous

content, engage Audiences and raise levels of media literacy. In remote areas these networks may be the

only access that people have to experience Indigenous content. The distribution and promotion taking place

through this activity provides an important complement to commercial marketing and distribution and can

FESTIVALS THAT PRODUCE INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES THAT SUPPORT THE DISTRIBUTION AND SALE

OF INDIGENOUS CONTENT

 •AvailableLightFilmFestival(Canada)

 •Berlinale/BerlinInternationalFilmFestival(Germany)

 •BigSkyDocumentaryFilmFestival(USA)

 •HotDocs(Canada)

 •imagineNATIVEFilm+MediaArtsFestival(Canada)

 •LASkinsFilmFestival(USA)

 •MaorilandFilmFestival(Aotearoa/NewZealand)

 •SolidScreenFestival(UK)

 •SundanceFilmFestival(USA)

 •SydneyInternationalFilmFestival(Australia)

PERCENTAGE OF SURVEY

RESPONDENTS

Festivals that produce industry activities 48 %

Festivals that produce coproduction events 21%

Festivals that produce industry markets 29%

Festivals where programming led to interest from other festivals 79%

Sales facilitated at festivals 36%

Source: Survey of Festivals

help to create buzz and position content for success internationally.

Festivals and community-based screenings play an essential role in promotion and building awareness of

Indigenous screen-based content. For this reason, when public and philanthropic funders and sponsors

measure the performance and impact of Indigenous content with Canadian audiences, free and paid

screenings at all venues, including Indigenous-led festivals and other community organizations, should be

taken into consideration.

4. INCREASE EXPORTS AND SALES IN FOREIGN MARKETS

4.1 ENHANCE THE INDIGENOUS MARKET STAND AT THE EFM TO INCREASE SALES

For Indigenous content producers, participation at major international markets in Berlin, Cannes, Sundance

and TIFF are critical to securing international distribution and sales and to facilitate coproduction

opportunities. Interviewees note the great opportunities aorded in the international market, and laud the

work done by imagineNATIVe to develop an Indigenous market presence at the European Film Market (EFM),

which takes place in conjunction with the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival) in Berlin.

However, in comparison to other Canadian initiatives to promote Canadian content at international markets,

the Indigenous presence at the EFM is modest. More can be done to enhance the experience, beginning

with providing opportunities for a greater number of Indigenous creators to attend the market and Berlinale

each year. The EFM provides an opportunity to host ﬁnancing fora, international coproduction immersions,

networking events as well as workshops and professional development opportunities. Initiatives could be

developed to bring producers and distributors together, such as hosting distributor screenings and facilitating

the organization of meetings. Canadian organizations could also produce market readiness training, or

“bootcamps” to prepare Indigenous producers for their business trips to the EFM. To achieve this, greater

collaboration is needed between imagineNATIVE and its partners at the EFM, Canadian and provincial

funders, and national training organizations.

The Canada Council for the Arts supported imagineNATIVE to lead the organization of the Indigenous market

stand at the European Film Market, in conjunction with the NATIVe program of the Berlinale. This initiative is

continuing for the 2019 EFM with support from international partnerships.

imagineNATIVE could consider collaborating with funders and other organizations that seek a Canadian

presence at markets, to maintain the Indigenous presence at the EFM into future years and to promote

Indigenous ﬁlms at the European Film Market, with a view to securing deals for Indigenous producers. The

EFM is also an opportunity for Indigenous organizations to build their own relationships with non-Indigenous

distributors, sales agents and buyers, with a view to diversifying the types of buyers that attend Indigenous

festivals and other events. The Creative Canada Export Fund may provide opportunities to fund some of

these activities. Collaboration between Indigenous organizations is already taking place in this regard. Greater

involvement by larger organizations with developed expertise in the sector, such as Canadian and provincial

funders, is needed to continue to support imagineNATIVE in creating a world-class destination for a wide

array of international buyers.

Work With Partners To:

 •EnhancetheIndigenousMarketStandattheEFMtoIncreaseSales

 •PromoteIndigenousContenttoBuyersatMajorInternationalMarkets

 •LeverageOnlineOpportunitiestoReachGlobalAudiences

4.2 PROMOTE INDIGENOUS CONTENT TO BUYERS AT MAJOR INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

There is a need to more greatly promote Indigenous content at international markets. The federal

government’s Creative Canada Policy Framework is aimed at creating a favourable environment for Canadian

cultural exports by promoting Canadian creators to international markets.

There is great potential of sales of Indigenous content as evidenced by their enthusiastic reception by

audiences around the world, and closer to home, the NFB’s experience of sales of Indigenous content and

APTN’s intention to expand its distribution arm.

As noted by Teleﬁlm Canada, “markets are important for Canadian production as they stimulate the sale

of Canadian works and facilitate pre-ﬁnancing of productions and partnerships for potential coproduction

projects.”

The Sundance Festival does not have a formal market, however the festival prominently features indigenous

ﬁlms and the event is the most important informal market in the world for independent ﬁlm. Canadian

funders already do an excellent job of promoting the sale of Canadian screen-based content through the

Canada Pavillion at the Cannes Film Market, MIPTV, MIPCOM, Sunny Side of the Doc and MIFA.) There is a

need to organize trade missions with delegations of Indigenous creators to major markets such as TIFF, the

Sundance Festival and at key digital media markets including the Game Developers’ Conference (GDC), E3

and the SXSW Gaming Expo.

4.3 LEVERAGE ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES TO REACH GLOBAL AUDIENCES

Online streaming presents a major opportunity for the distribution of Indigenous screen-based content.

As noted in our interviews, in the US, the market for digital platforms keeps growing, creating many more

opportunities for series and for genre content, which is said to work well.

212

Buyers are interested in a variety

of formats. American Indigenous broadcaster FNX notes that it acquires content in all formats and running

times at ImagineNATIVE. Shorts TV is interested in series and also attend the festival.

213

There is also an

appetite for content produced in Indigenous languages. Versioning them into English aords additional

opportunities. Indigenous-owned streaming platform NativeFlix provides both distribution and production

opportunities.

214

As author Marcia Nickerson points out, digital distribution models have the potential to leverage global

audiences’ demand for niche programming. “If this proves to be the case, Indigenous ﬁlms will have the

potential to reach a global niche market of Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences seeking this content.”

215

Many interviewees are of the view that a dedicated platform could provide a second life for many productions

that are not distributed beyond the festival market, as well as older ﬁlms currently out of distribution, but with

ongoing interest to niche audiences. Such a platform could provide an added revenue stream for producers.

APTN is an important commissioner of convergent content. However, Indigenous content has diiculty ﬁnding

its place on the VOD platforms of Canadian broadcasters. A study of the Indigenous Screen sector in Canada

notes that access to online distribution channels

THREE OF THE NFB’S TOP 10 SELLING TITLES OF 20172018

 •OurPeopleWillbeHealed(2017)byAlanisObomsawin

 •AngryInuk/InukenColère(2016)byAletheaArnaquq-Baril

 •BirthofaFamily(TashaHubbard,2016).

Source: NFB

for Indigenous content is a key challenge. To maximize opportunities to reach audiences, Indigenous content

needs to be available and accessible on multiple platforms.

216



4.3.1 BUILD DIGITAL SKILLS

To strengthen Indigenous-led convergent content production, Indigenous creators need opportunities to

develop their interactive digital media skills and stay abreast of developments in this area. Doing so allows

producers to better understand their online audience, and readies them to exploit commercial opportunities.

A number of festivals surveyed for this report, including imagineNATIVE and Hot Docs indicated that they

present online or interactive digital media productions by Indigenous artists at their events. It is important

to support experimentation in interactive digital media to build skills amongst Indigenous storytellers and

expand the career opportunities of talented creators. The Canada Council for the Arts supports media arts

experimentation, including Canadian festivals and media arts organizations that provide opportunities for the

creation and presentation of interactive experiences. This support ensures that Indigenous creators in all parts

of the country have opportunities to produce and exhibition interactive productions.

FESTIVALS PRESENTING INNOVATIVE DIGITAL PROJECTS, SUCH AS EXPERIENCES IN VR OR AR

 •imagineNATIVEFilm+MediaArtsFestival(Canada)

 •IndianerInuit:NorthAmericanNativeFilmFestival(Germany)

 •MaorilandFilmFestival((Aotearoa/NewZealand)

 •SolidScreenFestival(Australia)

 •TampereInternationalShortFilmFestival(Finland)

 •VisionMakerFilmFestival(USA)

 •WindaFilmFestival(Australia)

SOURCE: SURVEY OF FESTIVALS

FESTIVALS PRESENTING CONTENT ONLINE

 •AugsbergCollegeNativeAmericanFilmSeries(USA)

 •HotDocs(Canada)

 •imagineNATIVEFilm+MediaArtsFestival(Canada)

 •LaSkinsFilmFestival(USA)

 •NativeSpiritFilmFestival(UK)

 •SolidScreenFestival(Australia)

 •WairoaMaoriFilmFestival(Aotearoa/NewZealand)

 •WinnipegFilmGroup/Cinémathèque

SOURCE: SURVEY OF FESTIVALS

DIGITAL INNOVATION AT INDIGENOUS FESTIVALS PERCENTAGE OF SURVEY

RESPONDENTS

Augsberg College Native American Film Series (USA) 28%

Hot Docs (Canada) 28%

Source: Survey of Festivals

4.3.2 ENCOURAGE THE CREATION OF A SHARED COMMERCIAL VOD PLATFORM FOR INDIGENOUS

CONTENT

It has been suggested that the “NFB, CBC and APTN could assist in supporting a new system that includes

an online Indigenous movie channel or channels where Indigenous children can watch programming in their

own languages.”

217

APTN’s online programming could be enhanced with greater resources, particularly with

programming aimed at children, youth and young adults, the largest segment of the Indigenous population

in Canada. It is anticipated that the NFB Indigenous Cinema online screening platform will continue to be

enhanced with new productions.

A number of online initiatives have proven the popularity of streamed Indigenous content with audiences in

Canada and worldwide. The Indigenous news platform of the CBC

218

is one of the public broadcasters’ most

popular online destinations. Programming from the platform is also available on social media, which are

followed by over 1.2 million users.

NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS TO CBC NEWS  INDIGENOUS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Isuma.TV (Igloolik Isuma Productions) is the ﬁrst international online platform for Indigenous audiovisual

productions from around the world. Modeled on other video sharing platforms, the site “currently carries

over 6000 videos in more than 80 languages on over 800 user-controlled channels created by producers in

Canada, the U.S.A., Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and all over Latin America.”

219

The CMF has invested in the development of isuma.tv.

The Telus Storyhive platform has encouraged many Indigenous ﬁlmmakers to make their ﬁrst professional

ﬁlms. Other platforms are also being developed, notably by the LA Skins Festival and the International Sami

Film Institute. The Canada Council for the Arts, which has invested in VUCAVU, an online platform for the

distribution of independent artists’ media projects, could take a similar approach to promoting Indigenous

content online destined for these platforms.

CONCLUSION

In implementing this Strategy, the Indigenous screen sector will need to work with a range of part-ners

and collaborator, including: federal, provincial and territorial funders, private sector ﬁnanciers including

distributors, sales agents, philanthropic organizations and other private investors, national and regional

public broadcasters, Indigenous and non-Indigenous online distribution platforms, In-digenous and non-

Indigenous training institutes, and international funders, festivals and markets. Many of these have been

identiﬁed throughout this report. Collaboration will involve the full breadth of the Indigenous screen-based

production sector, which is comprised of production companies, the Alliance of Aboriginal Media Producers

(AAMP), festivals, artist-run centres, training institutes and the Indigenous Screen Oice. The ﬁgure below

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS

1. Youtube 898,000)

2. Facebook 208,842

3. Twitter 77,700

4. Instagram 19,400

Total 1,203,942

Sources: CBC Indigenous Platforms on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

provides a summary view of the types of collabora-tors that can assist the Indigenous Screen Sector to

realize its goals for international success, as presented in this strategy.

152

Tanui Stephens, “What Makes a Maori Film,” NZT Echo, Issue 76,

Automn 2018, page 14.

153

Interviews.

154

SPI Olsberg, Building Sustainable Film Businesses: The Challenges for

Industry and Government, Independent Research report sponsored by

Film i Vast, PACT and the Swedish Film Institute, June 2012.

155

Screen Australia, Annual Report 2016-2017; New Zealand Film

Commission, Te Rautaki Maori Strategy, 2018.

156

Dov Kornits, “Penny Smallacombe: It’s 2018 and it’s OUR TIME,” Film

Ink, August 10, 2018, retrieved from https://www.ﬁlmink.com.au/penny-

smallacombe-2018-time/.

157

Screen Australia, February 28, 2018, Op. Cit.

158

SPI Olsberg, 2012, Op. Cit.

159

Screen Australia, August 1, 2018, Op. Cit.

160

Screen Australia, February 28, 2018, Op. Cit.

161

Maori Television, “Maori Television Marks Fifth On-Air Anniversary,”

March 26, 2009, retrieved from http://www.throng.co.nz/2009/03/

maori-television-marks-ﬁfth-on-air-anniversary/.

162

Danis Goulet et al, Op. Cit., page 38.

163

Interviews.

164

Robert Everett-Green, “Maori movies in the spotlight at Toronto’s

ImagineNATIVE Festival,” Globe and Mail, October 15, 2013, retrieved

from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/ﬁlm/maori-movies-in-the-

spotlight-at-torontos-imaginative-festival/article14859145/; Nga Aho

Whakaari, NAW and Te Paepae – Statement, 31 March, 2014, retrieved

from https://ngaahowhakaari.co.nz/naw-and-te-paepae-statement-2/.

165

“New Film Development Fund Opens,” Maori TV, April 10, 2008,

retrieved from https://maoritv.wordpress.com/category/feature-ﬁlm/.

166

Nga Aho Whakaari, 2014, Op. Cit.; New Zealand Film Commission,

“New Initiative for Maori Filmmakers,” Media Release, 9 November

2007, retrieved from https://www.if.com.au/new-initiative-for-maori-

ﬁlmmakers/; Dan-is Goulet et al, Op. Cit., page 39.

167

New Zealand Film Commission, 2018, Op. Cit.

168

Marcia Nickerson, Op. Cit.

169

“International Sami Film Institute, imagineNATIVE website, retrieved

from http://www.imaginenative.org/intl-sami-ﬁlm-institute/.

170

International Sami Film Institute, brochure, retrieved from https://

www.isﬁ.no/en/resources/pdf/International_Sami_Film_Institute.pdf

171

CMF, “Arctic Indigenous Film Fund announced,” Press Release, March

8, 2018, retrieved from Source: Case Study.

172

“Redfern Now,” IMDb, retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/

tt2274800/?ref_=nv_sr_1.

173

Roger Ebert cited in “Once Were Warriors,” Revolvy, 11 August 2015,

retrieved from https://www.revolvy.com/page/Once-Were-Warriors-

%28ﬁlm%29.

174

“Indigenous Programs Special Initiatives – Redfern Now,”

Screen Australia Website, retrieved from https://web.archive.org/

web/20110422134105/http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding/

indigenous/SpecInit_RedfernNow.aspx.

175

He Ara Development Fund, New Zealand Film Commission, retrieved

from https://www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/funds/he-ara-development-fund.

176 International Sami Film Institute (ISFI), “Indigenous Film Circle,

ISFI website, retrieved from https://www.isﬁ.no/activities/archive/

ﬁlmcircle/.

177

Interviews.

178

Screen Australia, “Cleverman Series 2: Call Out for Indigenous Talent,”

July 28, 2016, retrieved from https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/

screen-news/2016/07-28-cleverman-series-2-talent-call-out.

179

Interview.

180

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4649420/companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_

181

Keen, Liz, “Cleverman Showcases Revived Indigenous Languages,”

ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corpo-ration, 3 July 2016, retrieved

from www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-04/cleverman-showcases-revival-

of-indigenous-languages/7561842; Screen Australia, “TV Drama

Abroad: Part 1 - When do Sales Become Proﬁts?,” Screen Aus-tralia

website, retrieved from https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-

news/2016/06-28-tv-drama-abroad/part-1-when-do-tv-sales-become-

proﬁts.

182

Interview.

183

Liz Keen, Op. Cit.

184

Wendy Mitchell, Op. Cit.

185

Interviews.

186

Interview.

187

“Northern Great Mountain,” IMDb, retrieved from https://www.imdb.

com/title/tt4214924/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.

188

Emily Buder, “‘Sami Blood’: Why Amanda Kernell Broke All 3 Rules for

Making a Feature Debut,” No Film School, 12 June 2017, retrieved from

noﬁlmschool.com/2017/06/sami-blood-amanda-kernell.

189

https://www.isﬁ.no/en/?post=arctic-ﬁlm-circle

190

“Boy convinced Marvel to hire Taika Waititi for Thor: Ragnarok,”

Stu, February 23, 2018, retrieved from https://www.stu.co.nz/

entertainment/ﬁlm/101697654/boy-convinced-marvel-to-hire-taika-

waititi-for-thor-ragnarok.

191

IMDb Pro, retrieved from https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt4698684/.

192

Blake Howard, “‘Mystery Road’ Is Australia’s Answer To ‘True

Detective’.” Junkee, 6 June 2018, retrieved from junkee.com/mystery-

road-series-abc/161864.

193

Berlatsky, Noah. “Cleverman’s Racial Daring Gives It an Edge Most

Superhero Stories Can’t Match.” The Verge, 12 July 2017, retrieved from

www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15960338/cleverman-sundance-tv-

racism-superheroes-hunter-page-lochard.

194

Michael Boland, “Second Life for Acclaimed Show,” The Australian,

19 January 2010, cited in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sapphires_

(play).

195

Screen Australia, “Part 2: International Performance,” 94 Films: A

Commercial Analysis, March 15, 2017, re-trieved from https://www.

screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2017/02-28-94-ﬁlms-a-

commercial-analysis/part-2-international-performance.

196

IMDb Pro, retrieved from https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt4698684/.

197

Megan Spencer, “With 80% Indigenous Cast Cleverman Becomes

First Australian Show to Premiere at Ber-linale,” The Guardian, 18 Feb.

2016, retrieved from www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/feb/18/

with-80-indigenous-cast-cleverman-becomes-ﬁrst-australian-show-at-

berlinale.

198

Dawn C. Chmielewski, “Lantern Entertainment Closes $289 Million

Acquisition of The Weinstein Co.’s Assets,” Deadline Hollywood,

July 16, 2018, retrieved from https://deadline.com/2018/07/lantern-

entertainment-closes-289-million-acquisition-weinstein-co-s-

assets-1202427141/.

199

Marcia Nickerson, Op. Cit., page 31.

200

Danis Goulet et al, Op. Cit., page 4.

201

APTN, Licence Renewal Application 2017-0641-7, Appendix 1 -

Supplementary Brief, 2017, page 7, retrieved from https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/

archive/2017/2017-365.htm#bm7.

202

Source: interviews.

203

Interviews.

204

imagineNATIVE, “Inaugural 2018 imagineNATIVE Institute Program

Recipients Announced, Media Release, imagineNATIVE website,

retrieved from http://www.imaginenative.org/inaugural-imaginenative-

institute-program-recipients-announced.

205

Greg David, “The Fifth and Final Season of APTN’s Blackstone

Premieres on Nov. 3,” TV, Eh, 5 October, 2015, retrieved from www.tv-eh.

com/2015/10/05/the-ﬁfth-and-ﬁnal-season-of-aptns-blackstone-

premieres-on-nov-3/; Colleen Simard, “Blackstone is a Big Step,”

Winnipeg Free Press – Print Edition, May 2, 2011.

206

Marcia Nickerson, Op. Cit., page 30.

207

Danis Goulet et al, Op. Cit., page 31.

208

Interview.

209

Interview.

210

Chantal Guy, “Blood Quantum – un genre de combat,” La Presse, 28

may, 2018, retrieved from http://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/d1412e61-

15e9-405a-b672-eb46655e9e94__7C___0.html.

211

Survey results; Maria De Rosa, Op. Cit.

212

Interviews.

213

Interviews.

214

Knoll Global Business Partners, “Indigenous Media Group Engages

Knoll Global Business Partners to Grow Nativeﬂix Value and Market

Share,” Press Release, July 16, 2018, retrieved from https://www.pr.com/

press-release/759237.

215

Danis Goulet, Op. Cit, page 13.

216

Interview.

217

Marcia Nickerson, Op. Cit, page 23/

218

CBC News - Indigenous: https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous.

219 Isuma.TV, cited in Marcia Nickerson, Op. Cit.

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

ANNEX 1: SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt4698684/.

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt1673697/boxoice.

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt1673697/details.

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, elle-maija-tailfeathers.com/.

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt7093470/boxoice.

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt0107305/details.

MIFF Industry | MIFF Accelerator Lab, miindustry.com/accelerator.

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt4698684/companycredits.

Peephole Journal, peepholejournal.tv/issue/07/08-warren/.

IMDb, IMDb.com, pro.imdb.com/title/tt3416742/companycredits.

“5 Indigenous Films That Changed the National Conversation.”

SBS PopAsia, SBS News, 18 July 2017, www.sbs.com.au/nitv/

article/2017/07/18/5-indigenous-ﬁlms-changed-national-conversation.

“ANewKindofTV:Cleverman|ScreenNews–ScreenAustralia.”Screen

Australia, www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2016/02-10-a-

new-kind-of-tv-cleverman.

“ABC Commercial sells award-winning drama Redfern Now to France,”

Mediaweek, 27 Jun3, 2018.

“ABCTV Blog.” Polybius at The Clickto Network, Fox News, web.archive.

org/web/20120528103315/http://blogs.abc.net.au/abc_tv/2010/09/abc-

tv-announces-redfern-now-a-drama-series-collaboration-with-jimmy-

mcgovern.html.

“About Us.” Hosted on IsumaTV, www.isuma.tv/about-us.

/bent. “Adam Garnet Jones on His Feature Film Debut ‘Fire Song,’

Premiering In Toronto This Weekend.” IndieWire, Indiewire, 11 Sept. 2015,

www.indiewire.com/2015/09/adam-garnet-jones-on-his-feature-ﬁlm-

debut-ﬁre-song-premiering-in-toronto-this-weekend-213823/.

“Alanis Obomsawin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alanis_Obomsawin.

“Alethea Arnaquq-Baril.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alethea_Arnaquq-Baril.

Anderson, Doug. “Warwick Thornton’s Samson & Delilah Is Both Tragedy

and Love Story.” The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sydney Morning

Herald, 19 July 2017, www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/

warwick-thorntons-samson--delilah-is-both-tragedy-and-love-story-

20170714-gxb1e1.html.

APTN Application for License Renewal to the CRTC, Supplementary Brief,

2017.

“Arctic Indigenous Film Fund.” Arctic Indigenous Film Fund, ai.no/.

“Asia Paciﬁc Arts Archive Site (2004-2018).” Asia Paciﬁc

Arts: An Update on Chinese Dissent Artist Ai Weiwei’s Latest

Protests, www.asiapaciﬁcarts.usc.edu/w_apa/showarticle.

aspx?articleID=15634&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.

“Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner: Native Canadians and a Glimpse in the

Mirror.” Bright Lights Film Journal, 19 Dec. 2014, brightlightsﬁlm.com/

atanarjuat-the-fast-runner-native-canadians-and-a-glimpse-in-the-

mirror/#.W1nFCthJFTY.

“Auraeus Solito.” Auraeus Solito About Auraeus Solito Comments,

auraeussolito.com/about-auraeu/.

“Award-Winning Australian Film Sweet Country Is a Must-See.” Telstra

Exchange, 20 June 2018, exchange.telstra.com.au/the-award-winning-

australian-ﬁlm-you-need-to-watch-on-telstra-tv/.

“Awards.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt2236054/

awards?ref_=tt_awd.

“Awards.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm7803801/

awards?ref_=nm_awd.

“Awards.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt6850078/

awards?ref_=tt_awd.

“BBC Three Acquires International Drama Cleverman - Media Centre.”

BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/cleverman.

Behrendt,Larissa.“MysteryRoadReview–TVSpin-oUnearths

Ambitious Tale of Small-Town Secrets.” The Guardian, Guardian News

and Media, 3 June 2018, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/

jun/03/mystery-road-review-tv-spin-o-unearths-ambitious-tale-of-

small-town-secrets.

Berlatsky, Noah. “Cleverman’s Racial Daring Gives It an Edge Most

Superhero Stories Can’t Match.” The Verge, The Verge, 12 July 2017, www.

theverge.com/2017/7/12/15960338/cleverman-sundance-tv-racism-

superheroes-hunter-page-lochard.

“Berlin International Film Festival Selector Returns to Australia This

Month.” Screen Australia, www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/

news/2010/ia_100908_berlin.

“Big Soul Productions.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Soul_Productions.

“Blackstone, Season 2.” What’s New on Netﬂix Canada Today |

WhatsNewOnNetﬂix.com, 1 Jan. 1970, whatsnewonnetﬂix.com/

canada/m/blackstone-season-2.

“‘Boy’ Convinced Marvel to Hire Taika Waititi for Thor: Ragnarok.” Stu,

www.stu.co.nz/entertainment/ﬁlm/101697654/boy-convinced-marvel-

to-hire-taika-waititi-for-thor-ragnarok.

“‘Boy’ Takes New York.” The National Business Review, 17 Mar. 2012,

www.nbr.co.nz/boy.

“BOY.” Two Cars, One Night | New Zealand Film Commission, www.

nzﬁlm.co.nz/ﬁlms/boy.

“Boy (2012) (2012).” Box Oice Mojo, www.boxoicemojo.com/

movies/?id=boy2012.htm.

“Bran Nue Dae (Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_Nue_Dae_(ﬁlm).

“Bran Nue Dae | Australia Explained.” Post-War Migration | Australia

Explained, australia-explained.com.au/ﬁlms/bran-nue-dae.

Buckmaster,Luke.“BranNueDaeRewatched–aSoulfulandSpritzy

Crowd-Pleaser.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 30 May 2015,

www.theguardian.com/ﬁlm/2015/may/31/bran-nue-dae-rewatched-a-

soulful-and-spritzy-crowdpleaser.

Buckmaster,Luke.“ClevermanFirstLook–IndigenousSuperhero

Show Returns with Political Punch.” The Guardian, Guardian News and

Media, 27 June 2017, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jun/27/

cleverman-ﬁrst-look-indigenous-superhero-show-returns-with-political-

punch.

Buder, Emily. “‘Sami Blood’: Why Amanda Kernell Broke All 3 Rules for

Making a Feature Debut.” No Film School, 12 June 2017, noﬁlmschool.

com/2017/06/sami-blood-amanda-kernell.

BWW News Desk. “Sundance Institute Selects Erica Tremblay and

MorningStar Angeline Wilson For 2018 Native Filmmakers Lab.”

Broadway World - #1 for Broadway Shows, Theatre, Entertainment,

Tickets & More!, BroadwayWorld.com, 9 May 2018, www.

broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Sundance-Institute-Selects-

Erica-Tremblay-and-MorningStar-Angeline-Wilson-For-2018-Native-

Filmmakers-Lab-20180509.

“Cameras Roll on Redfern Now.” TV Tonight, 28 May 2012, tvtonight.com.

au/2012/05/cameras-roll-on-redfern-now.html.

Cash, Martin, “Aboriginal TV Network Seeks US Expansion,” Winnipeg

Free Press, November 19, 2016

“Celebrated Nunavut Filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk Joins Oscars Academy

| CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 7 July 2017, www.cbc.ca/

news/canada/north/zach-kunuk-academy-1.4194631.

“Celebrating25YearsofIndigenousScreenStories|MediaCentre–

Screen Australia.” Screen Australia, www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/

media-centre/news/2018/02-28-25-years-of-indigenous-screen-stories.

Cheshire, Godfrey. “Sami Blood Movie Review & Film Summary (2017)

| Roger Ebert.” RogerEbert.com, Leonard Goldberg, 2 June 2017, www.

rogerebert.com/reviews/sami-blood-2017.

Clarke,Cath.“BoyReview–Big-HeartedMaoriComing-of-AgeComedy.”

The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 Oct. 2017, www.theguardian.

com/ﬁlm/2017/oct/13/boy-review-taika-waititi-james-rolleston-maori-

comedy.

“Cleverman.” Pukeko Pictures, www.pukekopictures.com/portfolio/

cleverman/.

“Cleverman.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleverman.

“Cleverman #1.” Gestalt Comics, 13 Aug. 2018, www.gestaltcomics.com/

shelf/comic-books/cleverman-1-international-edition/.

“Cleverman on SundanceTV: Cancelled or Season 3? (Release Date).”

Canceled TV Shows - TV Series Finale, 7 Sept. 2017, tvseriesﬁnale.com/

tv-show/cleverman-cancelled-renewed-season-three-sundancetv/.

“Cleverman: Season Two Ratings, TV Series Finale, 3 August, 2017,

retrieved from https://tvseriesﬁnale.com/tv-show/cleverman-season-

two-ratings/.

“Colonization Road (2016).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/

tt6289154/.

“Company Credits.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt1148165/

companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co.

“Company Credits.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt4649420/

companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co.

“Company Credits.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt2236054/

companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co.

Corry, Dominic. “Interview: Wayne Blair, Director of ‘The Sapphires’.”

Flicks, Flicks.co.nz, 3 Oct. 2012, www.ﬂicks.co.nz/features/the-ﬂicks-

interview-wayne-blair-director-of-the-sapphires/.

“Creative Team.” Mohawk Girls, mohawkgirls.com/about/creative-team/.

Curtis, Rachel. “The Sapphires Shines Light on Aboriginal Australia.”

BBC News, BBC, 6 Nov. 2012, www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-

arts-20209414.

DaCosta, Jamaias. “Interview with Filmmaker Je Barnaby on Rhymes for

Young Ghouls.” Muskrat Magazine, 23 Jan. 2015, muskratmagazine.com/

interview-with-ﬁlmmaker-je-barnaby-on-rhymes-for-young-ghouls/.

David, Greg. “The Fifth and Final Season of APTN’s Blackstone Premieres

on Nov. 3.” TV, Eh?, 5 Oct. 2015, www.tv-eh.com/2015/10/05/the-ﬁfth-

and-ﬁnal-season-of-aptns-blackstone-premieres-on-nov-3/.

David, Greg. “CBC Acquires Broadcast Rights to Seasons 3-5 of

Blackstone.” TV, Eh?, 29 Mar. 2016, www.tv-eh.com/2016/03/29/cbc-

acquires-broadcast-rights-to-seasons-3-5-of-blackstone/.

Delaney, Colin. “Aussie Film The Sapphires Sells International

Distribution Rights.” Mumbrella, 16 May 2012, mumbrella.com.au/aussie-

ﬁlm-the-sapphires-sells-international-distribution-rights-92247.

Delaney, Colin. “Aussie Film The Sapphires Sells International

Distribution Rights.” Mumbrella, 16 May 2012, mumbrella.com.au/aussie-

ﬁlm-the-sapphires-sells-international-distribution-rights-92247.

DeMara, Bruce. “Rhymes for Young Ghouls a Powerful Directorial

Debut: Review.” Thestar.com, Toronto Star, 30 Jan. 2014, www.thestar.

com/entertainment/movies/2014/01/30/rhymes_for_young_ghouls_a_

powerful_directorial_debut_review.html.

Dutton, Fred. “Papo & Yo Announced for PSN.” Eurogamer.net, Eurogamer.

net, 3 June 2011, www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-03-papo-and-yo-

announced-for-psn.

Ehrlich, David. “Review: Sami Blood Is a Coming-Of-Age Story Unlike Any

Youve Seen Before.” IndieWire, Indiewire, 1 June 2017, www.indiewire.

com/2017/06/sami-blood-review-amanda-kernell-coming-of-age-story-

sweden-1201835404/.

Everett-Green, Robert, “Maori movies in the spotlight at Toronto’s

ImagineNATIVE Festival,” Globe and Mail, October 15, 2013, https://

www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/ﬁlm/maori-movies-in-the-spotlight-at-

torontos-imaginative-festival/article14859145/.

“Feature Film Lab” LA Skins Fest, laskinsfest.com/programs/writers/

native-american-feature-writers/.

Fennell, Marc. “Taika Waititi: Boy Gone Wild.” SBS PopAsia, SBS News,

31 May 2016, www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/taika-waititi-boy-gone-

wild.

“File Not Found / Fichier Non Trouvé.” Census Subdivision of Prince

George, CY (British Columbia), Government of Canada, Statistics Canada,

www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/abo-aut/

Table.cfm?Lang=Eng&T=101&S=99&O=A https://www.census.gov/

newsroom/facts-for-features/2014/cb14-26.html.

Fry, Andy, “A Global Tour of 2016’s Best New Dramas,” Drama Quarterly,

December 23, 2016. http://dramaquarterly.com/a-global-tour-of-2016s-

best-new-dramas/.

George2007-11-09T06, Sandy. “Melbourne Premiere Fund Awards Docs,

Bran Nue Dae.” Screen, 9 Nov. 2007, www.screendaily.com/melbourne-

premiere-fund-awards-docs-bran-nue-dae/4035819.article.

George2007-11-09T06, Sandy. “Melbourne Premiere Fund Awards Docs,

Bran Nue Dae.” Screen, 9 Nov. 2007, www.screendaily.com/melbourne-

premiere-fund-awards-docs-bran-nue-dae/4035819.article.

“Gil Cardinal [Footprints].” Ammsa.com, ammsa.com/publications/

windspeaker/gil-cardinal-footprints.

Goldberg, Lesley. “‘What We Do in the Shadows’ TV Series From

Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi a Go at FX.” The Hollywood Reporter, The

Hollywood Reporter, 3 May 2018, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/

what-we-do-shadows-tv-series-jemaine-clement-taika-waititi-a-go-at-

fx-1108435.

“Goldstone (Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldstone_(ﬁlm).

Graver, David. “‘Drunktown’s Finest’ Director Sydney Freeland On

Growing Up Navajo and Trans.” Vice, Vice, 23 Feb. 2015, www.vice.com/

en_ca/article/xd5n54/trans-and-navajo-drunktowns-ﬁnest-999.

“Greenland Population 2018.” China Population 2018 (Demographics,

Maps, Graphs), worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-

population/.

Griwkowsky, Fish, “Edmonton Filmmaker Gil Cardinal Leaves Important

Legacy.” Edmonton Journal, 26 Nov. 2015, edmontonjournal.com/

entertainment/movies/edmonton-ﬁlmmaker-gil-cardinal-leaves-

important-legacy.

Hazelton2018-06-19T11, John. “Acorn TV Picks up Australian Crime Series

‘Mystery Road’.” Screen, 19 June 2018, www.screendaily.com/news/acorn-

tv-picks-up-australian-crime-series-mystery-road/5130242.article.

“History in the (Film)Making: Zacharias Kunuk and Natar Ungalaaq on

the Legacy of ‘Atanarjuat’ | CBC Arts.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada,

19 Sept. 2017, www.cbc.ca/arts/the-ﬁlmmakers/history-in-the-ﬁlm-

making-zacharias-kunuk-and-natar-ungalaaq-on-the-legacy-of-

atanarjuat-1.4296747.

Hoeij, Boyd van. “‘Sami Blood’ (‘Same Blod’): Venice Review.” The

Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sept. 2016, www.

hollywoodreporter.com/review/sami-blood-same-blod-venice-924936.

“Home.” MIXTAPE VR, mixtapevr.com/home/.

“Home Boy Hit Helps Keep Local Cameras Rolling.” Stu, www.stu.

co.nz/business/industries/3618619/Home-Boy-hit-helps-keep-local-

cameras-rolling.

“Home | Stats NZ.” 2018 Census Report on Final Content | Stats NZ,

www.stats.govt.nz/.

Hopewell, John. “Series Mania: Rachel Perkins, Greer Simpkin Talk

‘Mystery Road,’ Creating a Sense of Place.” Variety, Variety, 2 May 2018,

variety.com/2018/tv/festivals/series-mania-rachel-perkins-greer-

simpkin-mystery-road-1202794296/.

“‘How Ways of Knowing Shape Storytelling.’” Hosted on IsumaTV, www.

isuma.tv/retrospective/how-ways-of-knowing-shape-storytelling.

“Hunt For the Wilderpeople.” Two Cars, One Night | New Zealand Film

Commission, www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/ﬁlms/hunt-wilderpeople.

“Indigenous Content Speaks to the World at MIPCOM.” Canada Media

Fund, cmf-fmc.ca/en-ca/news-events/news/october-2017/indigenous-

content-speaks-to-the-world-at-mipcom.

“Indigenous Content Speaks to the World at MIPCOM.” Canada Media

Fund, cmf-fmc.ca/en-ca/news-events/news/october-2017/indigenous-

content-speaks-to-the-world-at-mipcom.

“Indigenous Filmmakers Discuss.” RDV CANADA, 30 June 2018,

rdvcanada.ca/en/spotlight/indigenous-ﬁlmmakers-discuss/.

“Indigenous Programs Special Initiatives.” Polybius at The Clickto

Network, Fox News, web.archive.org/web/20110422134105/http://www.

screenaustralia.gov.au/funding/indigenous/SpecInit_RedfernNow.aspx.

Innuksuk, Nyla. “How ‘Atanarjuat’ Taught a New Generation of Inuk

Filmmakers about Possibility - and Responsibility | CBC Arts.” CBCnews,

CBC/Radio Canada, 20 Sept. 2017, www.cbc.ca/arts/the-ﬁlmmakers/

how-atanarjuat-taught-a-new-generation-of-inuk-ﬁlmmakers-about-

possibility-and-responsibility-1.4299302.

“Interview with Warwick Thornton, Writer/Director of Samson & Delilah.”

Cinetology, 8 May 2012, blogs.crikey.com.au/cinetology/2009/05/12/

interview-with-warwick-thornton-writerdirector-of-samson-delilah/.

“InuktitutSkitComedyShowQanurli?StillGrowing–NorthernJournal.”

Northern Journal, norj.ca/2016/02/inuktitut-skit-comedy-show-qanurli-

still-growing/.

“Isuma.” Hosted on IsumaTV, www.isuma.tv/isuma.

Jones, J.R. “Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi Want to Suck Your Blood.”

Chicago Reader, Chicago Reader, 28 Aug. 2018, www.chicagoreader.com/

chicago/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-jemaine-clement-taika-waititi-

horror-comedy/Content?oid=16676536.

Keen, Liz, and ABC Cos Coast. “Cleverman Showcases Revived

Indigenous Languages.” ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation,

3 July 2016, www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-04/cleverman-showcases-

revival-of-indigenous-languages/7561842.

Kelly, Jeanette. “Mohawk Girls Balances Tradition and Love in Edgy New

TV Comedy Series | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 24 Nov.

2014, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mohawk-girls-tv-series-takes-

edgy-look-at-dating-1.2844628.

Knox, David, “151,000: Cleverman stumbles in second season launch,”

TV Tonight, 30 June 2017. https://tvtonight.com.au/2017/06/151000-

cleverman-stumbles-in-second-season-launch.html.

Lehmann, Megan. “Bran Nue Dae -- Film Review.” The Hollywood

Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Oct. 2010, www.hollywoodreporter.

com/review/bran-nue-dae-ﬁlm-review-29112.

Lichman, John. “Taika Waititi Talks About Making The Smash Hit New

Zealand Film ‘Boy’ & His Plans To Reunite With Jemaine Clement.”

IndieWire, Indiewire, 2 Feb. 2012, www.indiewire.com/2012/02/taika-

waititi-talks-about-making-the-smash-hit-new-zealand-ﬁlm-boy-his-

plans-to-reunite-with-jemaine-clement-253909/.

“Lisa Meeches.” Eagle Vision, eaglevision.ca/lisa-meeches/.

Lodge, Guy. “Film Review: ‘Sami Blood’.” Variety, Variety, 10 May 2017,

variety.com/2016/ﬁlm/reviews/sami-blood-review-1201849915/.

“Loretta Todd.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0865223/.

Loughrey, Clarisse. “Director Taika Waititi on Hunt for the Wilderpeople

and the Creative Journey.” The Independent, Independent Digital News

and Media, 14 Sept. 2016, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/

ﬁlms/features/taika-waititi-interview-on-hunt-for-the-wilderpeople-thor-

ragnarok-new-zealand-a7307336.html.

Maddox, Garry. “Diamond Deals Put Sparkle in Film Industry.” The Sydney

Morning Herald, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Aug. 2012, www.smh.

com.au/business/diamond-deals-put-sparkle-in-ﬁlm-industry-20120810-

Pathways to the International Market for Indigenous Screen Content:

Success Stories, Lessons Learned From Selected Jurisdic-tions and a Strategy For Growth

23zdi.html.

“Main Features - Main Features.” Australian Bureau of Statistics,

Australian Government, www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/

mf/3238.0.55.001.

Miraudo, Simon. “Comedy.” Quickﬂix: The Biggest Movies First, 25 Aug.

2010, www.quickﬂix.com.au/News/Interviews/Boy/6919.

Mitchell, Wendy. “‘Sami Blood’ Scores More Deals.” Screen, 12 Feb. 2017,

www.screendaily.com/news/sami-blood-scores-more-deals/5114921.

article.

Mitchell, Wendy. “What’s Driving the New Wave of Indigenous

Filmmaking?” Screen, 29 Mar. 2018, www.screendaily.com/features/

whats-driving-the-new-wave-of-indigenous-ﬁlmmaking/5127820.article.

“MohawkGirls(TVSeries2010–2017).”IMDb,IMDb.com,www.imdb.

com/title/tt1755606/.

“Mongrel Media Gets Canadian Rights to Zoe Hopkins’ Kayak to Klemtu.”

National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI), 3 May 2018, www.nsi-canada.

ca/2018/05/mongrel-media-gets-canadian-rights-to-zoe-hopkins-kayak-

to-klemtu/.

“Mystery Road.” Box Oice Mojo, www.boxoicemojo.com/movies/

intl/?page=&id=_fMYSTERYROAD01.

“‘Mystery Road’ Is Australia’s Answer To ‘True Detective’.” Junkee, 6 June

2018, junkee.com/mystery-road-series-abc/161864.

National Film Board of Canada. “Foster Child.” National Film Board of

Canada, 1 Jan. 1987, www.nb.ca/ﬁlm/foster_child/.

National Film Board of Canada, “Indigenous Action Plan.” National

Film Board of Canada, onf-nb.gc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/

PressRelease_Indigenous-Action-Plan-Year1.pdf .

“Native Program.” Sundance Film Festival | About | Sundance Institute,

www.sundance.org/programs/native-program.

“NAU NUA.” TRACEY MOFFAT | Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy, naunua.

blogspot.com/2014/10/tracey-moat-night-cries-rural-tragedy.html.

New Zealand Film Commission, “New Initiative for Maori Filmmakers,”

Media Release, 9 November 2007, https://www.if.com.au/new-initiative-

for-maori-ﬁlmmakers/

“New Zealand Film Commission.” Two Cars, One Night | New Zealand

Film Commission, 22 Aug. 2018, www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/.

NgaAhoWhakaari,NAWandTePaepae–Statement,31March,2014,

https://ngaahowhakaari.co.nz/naw-and-te-paepae-statement-2/.

“Northern Great Mountain (2015).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/

title/tt4214924/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.

“Nunavut Filmmaker Now a Member of Prestigious Oscars Body.”

Nunatsiaq News 2014-08-15: NEWS: Photo: A Walk in the Park... for

Google, nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674nunavut_ﬁlmmaker_now_a_

member_of_prestigious_oscars_body/.

“NZIFF:Waru.”•NewZealandInternationalFilmFestival,www.nzi.

co.nz/2017/auckland/waru/.

Olsberg, SPI, Building Sustainable Film Businesses: The Challenges for

Industry and Government, Independent Research report sponsored by

Film i Vast, PACT and the Swedish Film Institute, June 2012.

Olsberg, SPI, Measuring the Cultural Value of Australia’s Screen Sector,

for Screen Australia, 2016.

Otterson, Joe. “‘What We Do in The Shadows’ Series Lands at FX

With Pilot Production Commitment.” Variety, Variety, 22 Jan. 2018,

variety.com/2018/tv/news/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-series-fx-

pilot-1202672581/.

Phillips, Richard. “Warwick Thornton Discusses Samson and Delilah with

the WSWS.” Torture and Death in America’s Prisons, World Socialist Web

Site Wsws.org Published by the International Committee of the Fourth

International (ICFI), 14 May 2009, www.wsws.org/en/articles/2009/05/

inte-m14.html.

Pow, Helen. “Glittering Sapphires: The Incredible Story of an Aboriginal

Band Who Overcame Racism to Become Australia’s Supremes.” Daily

Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 14 Oct. 2012, www.dailymail.co.uk/

femail/article-2214063/Glittering-Sapphires-The-incredible-story-

Aboriginal-band-overcame-racism-Australias-Supremes.html.

“ProductionNotes–SamiBlood.”SamiBlood,sami-blood.synergetic.tv/

production-notes/.

“Projects.” Adam Garnet Jones, www.adamgarnetjones.com/.

“Qanurli?” APTN News, aptn.ca/qanurli/.

Rebecca Barry Share, et al. “The Woman behind Boy.” NZ

Herald, www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_

id=1501119&objectid=10633570.

“RedfernNow(TVSeries2012–2013).”IMDb,IMDb.com,www.imdb.com/

title/tt2274800/?ref_=nv_sr_1.

“Redfern Now Season Two Not Hitting Ratings Mark,” Sydney Morning

Herald, 16 November 2013.

“Rhymes for Young Ghouls.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug.

2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhymes_for_Young_Ghouls.

Rose-Martland, Je. “Blackstone Is a Top Notch Canadian Show You

Need to Binge Watch Now.” HuPost Canada, HuPost Canada, 8 Oct.

2016, www.huingtonpost.ca/je-rosemartland/blackstone-top-notch-

stor_b_8256140.html.

“Rosemary Blight,” Screen Forever, 16 Oct. 2014, screenforever.org.

au/2014/program/rosemary-blight/.

“Ryan Reynolds Reveals Why He Cast Julian Dennison AKA Ricky Baker

In Deadpool 2.” MTV, 20 Aug. 2017, www.mtv.com.au/deadpool/news/

ryan-reynolds-reveals-why-he-cast-hunt-for-the-wilderpeoples-julian-

dennison-in-deadpool-2.

“Sami Blood.” LevelK ApS Film Sales, www.levelk.dk/ﬁlms/sami-

blood/3029.

“SamiBlood–theSuccessContinues!”LevelKApSFilmSales,www.

levelk.dk/news/sami-blood-the-success-continues/498.

“Sami in Sweden.” Sweden.se, Sweden.se, 26 June 2018, sweden.se/

society/sami-in-sweden/.

“Samson & Delilah | A New Film by Warwick Thornton | In Cinemas from

May 7.” Samson & Delilah | A New Film by Warwick Thornton | In

Cinemas from May 7 - News, www.samsonanddelilah.com.au/.

Screen Australia, “Part 2: International Performance,” 94 Films: A

Commercial Analysis, March 15, 2017, https://www.screenaustralia.gov.

au/sa/screen-news/2017/02-28-94-ﬁlms-a-commercial-analysis/part-2-

international-performance.

Screen, NZ On. “Two Cars, One Night | Short Film | NZ On Screen.”

Explore, www.nzonscreen.com/title/two-cars-one-night-2003.

Screen, NZ On. “Background | Boy | Film | NZ On Screen.” Explore, www.

nzonscreen.com/title/boy-2010/background.

Screen, NZ On. “Awards | Waru | Film | NZ On Screen.” Explore, www.

nzonscreen.com/title/waru-2017/awards.

“Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department Celebrates 25 Years | Media

Centre–ScreenAustralia.”ScreenAustralia,www.screenaustralia.

gov.au/sa/media-centre/backgrounders/2018/06-04-indigenous-

department-25-years.

Simon, Alissa. “‘Sámi Blood’ Tops 40th Goteborg Film Festival.” Variety,

Variety, 6 Feb. 2017, variety.com/2017/ﬁlm/news/sami-blood-2017-40th-

goteborg-ﬁlm-fest-1201978308/.

Solomon, Dan. “Taika Waititi: ‘Hunt For The Wilderpeople’ Isn’t So

Dierent From ‘Thor: Ragnarok.’” Fast Company, Fast Company, 25

July 2016, www.fastcompany.com/3061545/taika-waititi-hunt-for-the-

wilderpeople-isnt-so-dierent-from-thor-ragnarok.

Spencer, Megan. “With 80% Indigenous Cast Cleverman Becomes First

Australian Show to Premiere at Berlinale.” The Guardian, Guardian News

and Media, 18 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/

feb/18/with-80-indigenous-cast-cleverman-becomes-ﬁrst-australian-

show-at-berlinale.

Sta, NPR. “Maori-Mentored, Soul-Singing Mom Inspired

‘The Sapphires’.” NPR, NPR, 23 Mar. 2013, www.npr.

org/2013/03/23/175035616/maori-mentored-soul-singing-mom-

inspired-the-sapphires.

sta!, Chosen by RT, et al. “Sami Blood.” Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge

of the Sith - Movie Quotes - Rotten Tomatoes, www.rottentomatoes.

com/m/sami_blood/.

Starr, Michelle. “Spirits of Spring: Can a Game Strike Back against

Bullying?” CNET, CNET, 5 Nov. 2014, www.cnet.com/news/spirits-of-

spring-can-a-game-address-bullying/.

Statistics Canada. “2016 Census Topic: Aboriginal Peoples.” Census

Subdivision of Prince George, CY (British Columbia), Government of

Canada, Statistics Canada, 13 June 2018, www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-

recensement/2016/rt-td/ap-pa-eng.cfm.

“Sweet Country (2017).” Box Oice Mojo, www.boxoicemojo.com/

movies/intl/?page=&country=AU&id=_fSWEETCOUNTRY201.

“Sweet Country Review: Warwick Thornton’s Landmark Aboriginal

Western | Sight & Sound.” British Film Institute, www.bﬁ.org.uk/news-

opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/sweet-

country-warwick-thornton-landmark-aboriginal-western.

“Sydney Freeland.” Free The Bid, www.freethebid.com/directors/sydney-

freeland/.

“Synopsis.” Out of State, outofstateﬁlm.com/synopsis/.

“Taika Waititi’s Boy Is Finally Getting a UK DVD Release.” Den of Geek,

31 Jan. 2018, www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/boy/52239/taika-waititi-s-

boy-is-ﬁnally-getting-a-uk-release.

“Taika Waititi’s Inner Child.” Interview Magazine, 29 Feb. 2012, www.

interviewmagazine.com/ﬁlm/taika-waititi-boy.

Takahashi, Dean. “Minority Media Bets on VR Arcade Games to Survive.”

VentureBeat, VentureBeat, 27 Dec. 2017, venturebeat.com/2017/12/27/

minority-media-bets-on-vr-arcade-games-to-survive/.

“Taken | APTN.” APTN News, aptn.ca/taken/cast/.

“Teleﬁlm Canada Announces Support of Four Indigenous Feature Films.”

Teleﬁlm Canada, 5 July 2018, teleﬁlm.ca/en/news-releases/teleﬁlm-

canada-announces-support-of-four-indigenous-feature-ﬁlms.

“Teleﬁlm to partner with Sámi Film Institute and Nunavut Film

Development Corporation to foster Indigenous coproduction,” Teleﬁlm

Canada, 5 September, 2018, https://teleﬁlm.ca/en/industry-advisories/

teleﬁlm-to-partner-with-sami-ﬁlm-institute-and-nunavut-ﬁlm-

development-corporation-to-foster-indigenous-coproduction.

Tesar, Alexander. “How Indigenous Filmmakers Are Changing

Contemporary Cinema.” The Walrus, 18 July 2018, thewalrus.ca/how-

indigenous-ﬁlmmakers-are-changing-contemporary-cinema/.

“The Documentary ‘Colonization Road’ Is About Real, Actual Roads.”

CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, www.cbc.ca/ﬁrsthand/features/

documentary-colonization-road-about-real-roads.

“The Road Forward: an Innovative Documentary Explores Indigenous

Activism through Songs | CBC Radio.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 26

Apr. 2017, www.cbc.ca/radio/q/wednesday-april-26-2017-bob-manko-

marie-clements-and-more-1.4082549/the-road-forward-an-innovative-

documentary-explores-indigenous-activism-through-songs-1.4082561.

“The Sapphires (Play).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sapphires_(play).

“The Sapphires Marks a Great Year for Indigenous Screen Stories.”

Screen Australia, www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/

news/2013/mr_130123_boxoice.

“The Sapphires: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.” Wikipedia,

Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_

Sapphires:_Original_Motion_Picture_Soundtrack.

“TheWorldofCleverman|ScreenNews–ScreenAustralia.”Screen

Australia, www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2016/06-01-the-

world-of-cleverman.

“Tkaronto.” Shane Belcourt, www.shanebelcourt.com/portfolio-items/

tkaronto/.

“Tracey Deer.” Wikiwand, www.wikiwand.com/en/Tracey_Deer.

United Nations. “World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples -

Norway : Sami.” Refworld, www.refworld.org/docid/49749cd45.html.

US Census Bureau. “FFF: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage

Month: November 2014.” U.S. Trade with Haiti, 12 Nov. 2014, www.census.

gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2014/cb14-26.html.

Vivarelli, Nick. “Swedish-Sami Director Amanda Kernell on ‘Sami Blood’

and Past Racism Against Sami People in the North of Sweden.” Variety,

Variety, 14 Jan. 2017, variety.com/2016/ﬁlm/festivals/swedish-sami-

director-amanda-kernell-on-sami-blood-and-racism-against-sami-

people-in-the-north-of-sweden-1201941707/.

Vowel, Chelsea. “Why Every Canadian Should Watch Rhymes for Young

Ghouls | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 24 July 2014, www.

cbc.ca/news/indigenous/why-every-canadian-should-watch-rhymes-for-

young-ghouls-1.2687357.

Wangersky, Nick. “Loretta Todd Is on a Roll.” Hollywood North Magazine,

21 Mar. 2018, hnmag.ca/announcements/loretta-todd-is-on-a-roll/.

“Waru.” Brown Sugar Apple Grunt, www.bsagproductions.com/waruinfo/.

“Warwick Thornton Talks ‘Samson and Delilah’ with Time Out Film.” Time

Out Chicago, www.timeout.com/london/ﬁlm/warwick-thornton-talks-

samson-and-delilah.

Warwick Thornton | Filming Aboriginal Australia.

ﬁlmingaboriginaltourism.com/the-directors/warwick-thornton/.

“What We Do in The Shadows.” Two Cars, One Night | New Zealand Film

Commission, www.nzﬁlm.co.nz/ﬁlms/what-we-do-shadows.

“Who Are the Indigenous Peoples of Russia?” Cultural Survival, www.

culturalsurvival.org/news/who-are-indigenous-peoples-russia.

Mat, Whitehead, “’Cleverman’: How a Landmark Series Became the

Benchmark,” Huington Post, Australia Edition, 2 August, 2017, retrieved

from https://www.huingtonpost.com.au/2017/07/31/cleverman-how-a-

landmark-series-became-the-benchmark_a_23057300/.

“Why ‘Atanarjuat’ Is Widely Considered One of the Best - and Most

Important - Canadian Films | CBC Arts.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada,

14 Sept. 2017, www.cbc.ca/arts/the-ﬁlmmakers/why-atanarjuat-is-

widely-considered-one-of-the-best-and-most-important-canadian-

ﬁlms-1.4289476.

“Why You Should Be Watching Cleverman.” Den of Geek, 6 Sept. 2016,

www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/cleverman/256584/why-you-should-be-

watching-cleverman.

Wiesner,Darren.“Exclusive–LorettaToddIsanAwardWinningCree

Filmmaker and Mentor.” Hollywood North Magazine, 31 Mar. 2018,

hnmag.ca/interview/exclusive-loretta-todd-is-an-award-winning-cree-

ﬁlmmaker-and-mentor/.

Wong, Tony. “Mohawk Girls More than Its Sex and the City Aboriginal-

Style Billing.” Thestar.com, Toronto Star, 20 Nov. 2014, www.thestar.com/

entertainment/television/2014/11/20/mohawk_girls_more_than_its_sex_

and_the_city_aboriginalstyle_billing.html.

“Writer’s Workshop.” LA Skins Fest, laskinsfest.com/programs/writers/

writers-workshop/.

Yeo, Debra. “Sonia Bonspille Boileau Wins Award for Women Directors.”

Thestar.com, Toronto Star, 1 Dec. 2017, www.thestar.com/entertainment/

movies/2017/11/30/sonia-bonspille-boileau-wins-award-for-women-

directors.html.

ANNEX 2: SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE

WITH FESTIVALS

1. SUMMARY ANALYSIS OF SURVEY RESPONSES

1.1 PROFILE OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS

This study surveyed festivals and selected presenters who consistently present Indigenous screen content.

Thirty-two festivals responded to the survey, with an average completion rate of 81%. These festivals are

located throughout Canada, the USA, Europe, the Nordic Region, Australia and New Zealand. All presented

Indigenous content at their most recent edition. Almost two-thirds of respondents (61%) primarily present

Indigenous content.

The vast majority of respondents (87.5%) host an annual event. 72% of festivals held their most recent edition

earlier in 2018. Three festivals also organize additional screenings throughout the year. A third of the festivals

surveyed (twelve festivals in all), have large audiences of 10,000 people or more.

The majority (78%) of respondents have been in existence for over 10 years. At the same time, the appeal of

Indigenous stories told by Indigenous artists continues to grow, as evidenced by the recent emergence of new

festivals in Canada, the United States and New Zealand.

1.2 THE POPULARITY OF INDIGENOUS CONTENT AT FESTIVALS

Audiences for Indigenous content at festivals worldwide are signiﬁcant and growing. The festivals surveyed

for this report attract over 400,000 people to their events each year. Indigenous content features prominently

at these festivals and for many, constitutes the primary body of work presented.

Major international festivals now have dedicated Indigenous programming streams. Seven respondents

indicated they have an audience of greater than 25,000 people each year, including: the Berlinale (Berlin),

the Hawaii International Film Festival (Honolulu), Hot Docs (Toronto) Reel Canada (Toronto/Canada), the

Sundance International Film Festival (Park City, Utah), and the Sydney Film Festival (Sydney, Australia).

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Festival (Toronto) is the largest Indigenous festival worldwide, presenting over

200 Indigenous screen-based productions, and ranks amongst the other major festivals, with a total audience

of over 25,000. Another six respondents have audiences of more than 10,000 people.

Survey respondents note the importance of the emergence of dedicated Indigenous festivals and the

showcasing of indigenous works at major international festivals as factors contributing to the rising popularity

of Indigenous productions. Indigenous screen production has a rich and varied history linked to global

Indigenous cultural and political movements and eorts towards language preservation and restoration. The

success of Indigenous media has been attributed to talented storytelling and the success of major hits, which

are fueling greater interest amongst audiences.

1.3 FESTIVALS ARE PROGRAMMING A DIVERSE SELECTION OF CONTENT: FEATURE FILMS, SHORTS

AND INTERACTIVE CONTENT

The vast majority of festivals are showcasing Indigenous content from Canada, including features, shorts

and interactive content. Six festivals presented more than 10 feature ﬁlms by Indigenous creators at the last

edition of their festival. Six festivals also presented over 50 short ﬁlms or videos. One festival, imagineNATIVE,

presented over 200 short works.

Six festivals presented over 10 feature ﬁlms by Indigenous creators in their last edition.. Almost half (48%) of

respondents, thirteen festivals in all, presented Indigenous interactive works. The majority of works presented

were VR projects. For example, 2167-AnIndigenousVRProject by Canadian artists Danis Goulet, Kent

Monkman and Scott Benesiinaabandan and the interdisciplinary arts collective Postcommodity and produced

in association with imagineNATIVE was presented at two festivals. One festival presented Eagle Bone, billed

as the ﬁrst North American VR ﬁlm to be directed by an Indigenous director, Tracy Rector. Interactive games

were also presented, including the Canadian interactive games Coyote’s Crazy Smart Science Show, based

on the television series by Loretta Todd for APTN, Purity & Decay by artists Meaghan Byrne and Tara Miller

(produced in association with imagineNATIVE), and Thunderbird Strike by American artists Elizabeth La

Pensée and NÀHGA aka Casy Koyczan.

Over a quarter (28%) of festivals surveyed presented Indigenous content to their audiences online, including

linear video, digital media, interactive and audio works. The majority presented fewer than ten titles. Viewing

numbers are modest, with the exception of Australia, where the Wairoa Maori Film Festival screened two

videos that attracted 15,000 views each on Facebook, and the Solid Screen Festival attracted over 25,000

views to its Indigenous content online. In New Zealand, two short ﬁlms were launched on NZ On Screen,

aording them heightened visibility.

For the majority of festivals, the programming of Indigenous works is creating interest from programmers

at other festivals. 80% of festivals surveyed indicated that their programs sparked interest and led to new

programming at other festivals. Indigenous festivals from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. said

that their Indigenous content is often programmed by other Indigenous festivals, creating a successful, global

Indigenous festival circuit.

1.4 FESTIVALS PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE SUCCESS OF INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS

Almost all respondents share the view that festivals are the leading promoters, exhibitors, and celebrators of

Indigenous productions and that they are one of the only platforms for Indigenous productions to be seen,

making them extremely important. Audience engagement including Q&As, panels, and networking events,

when oered at Festivals, are instrumental in creating a deeper understanding of Indigenous productions for

Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences. It is interesting to note that a couple of festivals attributed shifting

their focus from stories about Indigenous people to stories by Indigenous people as a driver of success. Youth-

centred programming, including screenings and youth-focused workshops and labs are said to be particularly

successful with younger people.

The greatest successes are attributable to what is perceived as the remarkable achievement of creating a

robust network of festivals that regularly promote and screen Indigenous works and provide opportunities for

Indigenous content to reach audiences, to have successful festival runs, and to be acquired by broadcasters

and distributors. It was noted that in recent years, more Indigenous content has been screened at festivals,

leading to more opportunities for Indigenous production.

Other success factors include the ability to expand professional development opportunities for Indigenous

ﬁlmmakers. Almost half (48%) of all festivals organize industry events aimed at Indigenous projects,

professionals and companies. Most popular are panels and networking events (79%, respectively) and

workshops (64%). Panels and networking events are said to facilitate connections between local and

international Indigenous ﬁlmmakers, leading to partnerships and career opportunities. One respondent noted

the importance of “creating spaces, meeting points and hubs for industry and talent,” at festivals.

Many festivals noted the lack of training opportunities for emerging talent. One respondent suggested that

festivals can play a greater role as incubators for emerging talent, such as through master classes, creative

labs and workshops.

1.5 THE ROLE OF FESTIVALS IN GROWING INDIGENOUS PRODUCTION WORLDWIDE

The greatest challenges most frequently cited by respondents are the lack of funding from major institutions

and broadcasters and limited support for distribution of Indigenous content. Indigenous content is said to

still be largely viewed as ‘niche’ with limited appeal for broad audiences, resulting in the marginalization and

separation of Indigenous stories. Some noted the lack of familiarity with Indigenous storytelling, particularly

among decision-makers. Festivals provide an essential service to the industry through their activities that

support for the production, distribution and sale of Indigenous content.

Festivals Support Production and Coproduction

The growing popularity of Indigenous content is driving greater Indigenous content production. Respondents

recognize the need to support the ﬁnancing of indigenous production, for example through pitch sessions

and networking events between ﬁnanciers and producers. Festivals see that the festival sector can play a

greater role by creating dedicated spaces for Indigenous productions to be seen by “mainstream” industry

representatives. In this regard, 42% of festivals already organize industry screenings.

International festivals are considered natural platforms for encouraging coproductions. Most respondents are

of the view that festivals can encourage Indigenous international coproductions by: prioritizing international

festival invitations, hosting coproduction panels, providing networking opportunities for international

attendees focused on coproduction, promoting local talent, and by tapping into existing international

partnerships. Some respondents feel that without the encouragement of festivals, coproductions for

Indigenous content might not happen.

Three festivals organized coproduction initiatives: the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, the Maoriland Film Festival

and imagineNATIVE Film + Media Festival. Some festivals see opportunities in the formation of partnerships

with other organizations, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. One respondent noted that smaller initiatives

are already taking place to bring delegations from one country to another and could be ampliﬁed. One

suggestion put forward was to make current coproductions more visible, and to provide case studies of

successful ventures.

Festivals Encourage Sales of Indigenous Productions at Markets

Four festivals organize an industry market or market event intended to encourage sales of Indigenous

productions: Berlinale - European Film Market, the LA Skins Festival, the Maoriland Film Festival and

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Festival. In partnership with the Berlinale, imagineNATIVE leads a consortium

of international partners in the creation of an Indigenous content stand at the European Film Market each

year. In addition, the imagineNATIVE festival in Toronto facilitated over

$500K of sales and distribution deals. For its part, the LA Skins Festival has facilitated over $100K in sales

and distribution of Indigenous content.

Distribution Opportunities Through Festivals

One third of festivals also distribute Indigenous content to other festivals (70%), educational markets (60%),

streaming platforms (50%), television (30%) and theatrical markets (30%). One respondent suggested that the

knowledge residing in Indigenous festivals could be used to create an online platform as a means of getting

more ﬁlms to audiences, particularly as regards remote locations.

2. SURVEY RESPONSES

2.1 ABOUT THE RESPONDENTS

Amongst the “other” frequencies were monthly, bi-monthly and twice per year.

1. HOW OFTEN DOES YOUR FESTIVAL TAKE PLACE? SELECT ONE

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Annual 7.50% 28

Bi-annual 12.50% 4

Other (please explain) 6

Answered 32

2. HOW MANY YEARS HAS YOUR FESTIVAL BEEN IN EXISTENCE?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Less than 5 years 3.13% 1

5 to 10 years 18.75% 6

More than 10 years 78.13% 25

Answered 32

3. IN WHAT YEAR WAS YOUR MOST RECENT FESTIVAL PRODUCED?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

2018 71.88% 23

2017 25.00% 8

2016 0.00% 0

2015 or earlier 3.13% 1

Answered 32

4. DOES YOUR FESTIVAL PRESENT PRIMARILY INDIGENOUS SCREENBASED CONTENT?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Yes 61.29% 19

No 38.71% 12

Answered 31

2.2 INDIGENOUS CONTENT PRESENTED AT FESTIVALS

* Reel Canada

5. HOW MANY PEOPLE ATTENDED TOTAL AUDIENCE THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF YOUR

FESTIVAL?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Less than 1,000 9.68% 3

1,000 to 5,000 38.71% 12

5,001 to 10,000 12.90% 4

10,001 to 25,000 16.13% 5

More than 25 000 22.58% 7

Answered 31

None Less than 5 5 to 10 10 to 25 25 to 50 50 to 100 100 to 200

Indigenous

feature

ﬁlms or

video

1 11 9 6 0 1* 0

Indigenous

short ﬁlms

and videos

0 4 6 6 5 6 1

Indigenous

interactive

productions

14 7 4 2 0 0 0

6. PLEASE INDICATE HOW MANY INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS WERE PRESENTED AT THE MOST

RECENT EDITION OF YOUR FESTIVAL FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

7. HOW MANY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES DID YOUR INDIGENOUS PRODUCTS ORIGINATE FROM?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Fewer than 5 51.72% 15

5 to 10 24.14% 7

10 to 25 13.79% 4

More than 25 10.34% 3

More than 25 000

Answered 29

8. IN THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF YOUR FESTIVAL, HOW MANY INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS

WERE FROM CANADA?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

None 10.34% 3

1 to 5 34.48% 10

5 to 10 13.79% 4

10 to 25 10.34% 3

25 to 50 17.24% 5

50 to 100 10.34% 3

More than 100 3.45% 1

Answered 29

9. IN THE MOST RECENT EDITION, DID YOUR FESTIVAL PRESENT ANY INDIGENOUS CONTENT ON

AN ONLINE SCREENING PLATFORM?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Yes 27.59% 8

No 72.41% 21

Answered 29

10. HOW MANY INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS WERE PRESENTED ONLINE AT YOUR MOST RECENT

FESTIVAL?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Less than 5 50.00% 15

5 to 10 12.50% 7

10 to 25 37.50% 4

Additional Comments:

Two videos screened on Facebook received 15,000 views each. Two short ﬁlms were launched on NZ On

Screen. One festival reported that they presented digital media, interactive and audio works online.

Comments: The majority of works presented were VR projects. For example, 2167-AnIndigenousVRProject

by Canadian artists Danis Goulet, Kent Monkman and Scott Benesiinaabandan and the interdisciplinary arts

collective Postcommodity and produced in association with imagineNATIVE was presented at two festivals.

One festival presented Eagle Bone, billed as the ﬁrst North American VR ﬁlm to be directed by an Indigenous

director, Tracy Rector. Iteractive games were also presented, including the Canadian interactive games

Coyote’s Crazy Smart Science Show, based on the television series by Loretta Todd for APTN, Purity & Decay

by Meaghan Byrne and Tara Miller (produced in association with imagineNATIVE), and Thunderbird Strike by

American artists Elizabeth La Pensée and NÀHGA aka Casy Koyczan.

11. HOW MANY USERS VIEWED OR INTERACTED WITH THIS INDIGENOUS CONTENT ONLINE AT

YOUR MOST RECENT FESTIVAL?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Less than 1,000 62.50% 5

1,000 to 5,000 12.50% 1

5,001 to 10,000 0.00% 0

10,001 to 25,000 12.50% 1

More than 25,000 12.50% 1

You can expand on your answer here 2

Answered 8

12. AT THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF YOUR FESTIVAL, DID YOU PRESENT ANY INTERACTIVE WORK

BY INDIGENOUS CREATORS, SUCH AS A VR EXPERIENCE, AN AR EXPERIENCE, AN INTERACTIVE

INSTALLATION?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Yes 27.59% 8

No 72.41% 21

Answered 29

13. HOW MANY USERS INTERACTED WITH THIS INTERACTIVE WORK AT YOUR MOST RECENT

FESTIVAL?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

0 to 100 37.50% 3

101 to 250 50.00% 4

251 to 500 0.00% 0

501 to 1000 12.50% 1

More than 1000 0.00% 0

You can expand on your answer here 2

Answered 8

Comments: It was noted by one respondent that many more users interacted online. Another festival indicated

that the interactive artist was a guest of the festival.

Comments: The vast majority of the respondents answered yes, that programming Indigenous content not

only drew interest from programmers and organizations but in some instances directly resulted in these works

being programmed at other festivals. Indigenous festivals from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.

said that their Indigenous content is often programmed by other Indigenous festivals, creating a successful,

global Indigenous festival circuit.

2.3 INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS CONTENT

14. DID THE PROGRAMMING OF INDIGENOUS CONTENT AT YOUR MOST RECENT EDITION OF YOUR

FESTIVAL LEAD TO INTEREST FROM OTHER FESTIVALS OR FESTIVAL PROGRAMMERS TO PRESENT

INDIGENOUS SCREENBASED PRODUCTIONS?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Yes 79.31% 23

No 20.69% 6

Answered 29

15. IN THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF YOUR FESTIVAL, DID YOU PRODUCE ANY INDUSTRY EVENTS

AIMED AT INDIGENOUS PROJECTS, PROFESSIONALS ANDOR COMPANIES?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Yes 48.28% 14

No 51.72% 15

Answered 29

Comments:

The industry activities mentioned by respondents included the Solid Screen Retreat for Indigenous Women

Storytellers; the launch of He Wiki Kiriata Maori Film Week; two keynote speeches and a market stand at the

European Film Market promoting sales of Indigenous productions, led by imagineNATIVE in partnership with

the Berlinale and other international partners.

16. IF YOU ANSWERED YES, PLEASE INDICATE WHAT TYPE OF INDUSTRY ACTIVITYIES YOU

PRODUCED. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY.

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Pitch Session 28.57% 4

Panels 78.57% 11

Workshops 64.29% 9

Industry Screenings 42.86% 6

Networking events 78.57% 11

Coproduction event 21.43% 3

Industry market 28.57% 4

Other (please specify) 35.71% 5

Answered 14

17. IN THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF YOUR FESTIVAL, DID YOUR FESTIVAL FACILITATE THE SALES

OR DISTRIBUTION OF INDIGENOUS CONTENT?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Yes 34.48% 10

No 65.52% 19

Answered 29

18. IF YOU ANSWERED YES, WHAT WAS THE TOTAL VALUE OF THESE DEALS?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Less than $5,000 70.00% 7

$5,001 to $10,000 10.00% 1

$10,000 to $25,000 0.00% 0

$25,001 to $50,000 0.00% 0

$50,001 to $100,000 0.00% 0

$100,001 to $200,000 10.00% 1

$200,001 to $300,000 0.00% 0

$300,001 to $500,000 0.00% 0

More than $500,000 10.00% 1

Answered 10

2.4 CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

21. TO WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THE “RISING TIDE” OF INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS?

Respondents indicated that there are numerous factors that have contributed to the rising tide of Indigenous

productions including: increased access to government funding and changing governmental policies,

the emergence of dedicated Indigenous festivals and networking opportunities, the success of ﬁlms like

Atarnajuat, The Fast Runner (Canada) and Rabbit Proof Fence (Australia), and increased awareness of

Indigenous issues. Several respondents felt that there is a growing audience for Indigenous ﬁlms that is

driving the production of Indigenous works, and that global Indigenous cultural and political movements, such

as eorts towards language preservation and restoration, have also contributed. Respondents also cited the

talent and hard work of Indigenous storytellers in the industry.

22. WHAT ROLE HAVE FESTIVALS PLAYED IN THE SUCCESS OF INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS?

Almost all respondents indicated that festivals are the leading promoters, exhibitors, and celebrators of

Indigenous productions and that they are one of the only platforms for Indigenous productions to be seen,

making them extremely important. It was noted that in recent years, more Indigenous content has been

screened at festivals, leading to more opportunities for Indigenous production. Audience engagement

including Q&As, panels, and networking events, when oered at Festivals, are instrumental in facilitating

connections between local and international Indigenous ﬁlmmakers, leading to partnerships and career

opportunities, and in creating a deeper understanding of Indigenous productions for Indigenous and non-

Indigenous audiences. As one respondent noted, “Festivals can support Indigenous productions not only by

screening Indigenous ﬁlms but also by creating spaces, meeting points and hubs for industry and talent.”

Another suggested that the knowledge residing in Indigenous festivals could be used to create an online

platform as a means of getting more ﬁlms to audiences, particularly as regards remote locations.

19. DOES YOUR FESTIVAL DISTRIBUTE ANY INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS?

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Yes 34.48% 10

No 65.52% 19

Answered 29

20. IF YOU ANSWERED YES, PLEASE INDICATE IN WHICH MARKETS YOUR FESTIVAL DISTRIBUTES

INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY.

ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES

Educational market 60.00% 6

Gaming platform 0.00% 0

Other festivals or festival networks 70.00% 7

23. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST INDIGENOUS SUCCESS STORIES AT YOUR FESTIVAL? WHAT

FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO SUCCESS?

The majority of the greatest success stories focused on the remarkable achievement of creating a robust

network of festivals that regularly promote and screen Indigenous works and provide opportunities for

Indigenous content to reach audiences, to have successful festival runs, and to be acquired by broadcasters

and distributors. Other success stories included the ability to expand professional development opportunities

for Indigenous ﬁlmmakers, and forming partnerships with other organizations, Indigenous and non. A couple

of festivals attributed shifting their focus from stories about Indigenous people to stories by Indigenous people

as a driver of success. Youth-centred programming, including screenings and youth-focused workshops and

labs are particularly successful with younger people.

24. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE GREATEST CHALLENGES FACING INDIGENOUS PRODUCTION?

The biggest challenges most frequently cited were: lack of funding from major institutions and broadcasters,

lack of training opportunities, limited support for distribution of Indigenous content, and the marginalization

and separation of Indigenous content - it is still largely viewed as ‘niche’ and having limited appeal for broad

audiences. Some noted the lack of familiarity with Indigenous storytelling, particularly among decision-

makers, as a challenge. One festival noted the lack of access to coproduction as limiting opportunities.

25. WHAT ROLE CAN FESTIVALS PLAY TO ENHANCE INDIGENOUS PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES?

Most respondents indicate that festivals can continue to provide resources to grow the industry. One

respondent referred to festivals as “talent incubators” that nurture emerging talent. At the same time, other

festivals noted the importance of ongoing professional development opportunities aorded by festivals, such

as through panel discussions, and through master classes, creative labs and workshops for writers, directors

and actors. Some noted the importance of festivals to support the ﬁnancing of indigenous production, for

example through pitch sessions and networking events between ﬁnanciers and producers. Festivals were also

said to oer dedicated space for Indigenous productions to be seen, in particular by “mainstream” industry

representatives.

26. WHAT ROLE CAN FESTIVALS PLAY TO ENCOURAGE INDIGENOUS INTERNATIONAL

COPRODUCTIONS?

With guests from around the world, festivals are said to be natural platforms for encouraging coproductions.

Most respondents are of the view that festivals can encourage Indigenous international coproductions

by: prioritizing international festival invitations, hosting coproduction panels, promoting their local talent,

providing networking opportunities for international attendees focused on coproduction, and by tapping

into existing international partnerships. Some respondents feel that without the encouragement of festivals,

coproductions for Indigenous content might not happen. One respondent noted that smaller initiatives are

already taking place to bring delegations from one country to another and could be ampliﬁed. Another noted

the challenge of accessing funding for coproductions. One suggestion put forward was to make current

coproductions more visible, and to provide case studies of successful ventures.

3. LIST OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS

1. American Indian Film Festival (San Francisco, California, USA)

2. Augsburg Native American Film Series (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)

3. Available Light Film Festival (Whitehorse, Yukon, CA)

4. Berlinale/Berlin International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany, EU)

5. Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Missoula, Montana, USA)

6. California’s American Indian and Indigenous Film Festival (San Marcos, California, USA)

7. Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (Austin, Texas, USA)

8. CLACPI Festival Internacional de Cine Y Video de Los Pueblos Indêgenas/International Film and Video

Festival of Indigenous Peoples (Biennale in rotating Latin American countries)

9. Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (Washington, DC, USA)

10. Hawaii International Film Festival (Honolulu, Hawai’i, USA)

11. Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (Toronto, Ontario, CA)

12. imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (Toronto, Ontario, CA)

13. Indianer Inuit: North American Native Film Festival (Stuttgart, Germany, EU)

14. Indigenous Film and Arts Festival (Denver, Colorado, USA)

15. L.A. Skins Film Festival (Los Angeles, California, USA)

16. London Short Film Festival (London, England, UK)

17. Maoriland Film Festival (ōtaki, Aotearoa/ New Zealand)

18. Native Spirit Festival (London, England, UK)

19. Native American Film + Video Festival (New York, New York, USA)

20. Border Crossings’ Origins Festival (London, England, UK)

21. Reel Canada (Toronto, Ontario, CA)

22. Skábmagovat - Indigenous Peoples’ Film Festival (Inari, Finland, EU)

23. Solid Screen Festival (Bilinga Beach, Queensland, Australia)

24. Sundance Film Festival (Park City, Utah, USA)

25. Sydney International Film Festival (Sydney, Australia)

26. Tampere International Short Film Festival (Tampere, Finland, EU)

27. Vision Maker Film Festival (Lincoln, Nebraska, USA)

28. Wairoa Maori Film Festival (Waira, Aotearoa/ New Zealand)

29. Winda Film Festival (Sydney, Australia)

30. WinnipegFilmGroup/Cinemathèque(Winnipeg,Manitoba,CA)

31. Festival Présence autochtone / Montreal First Peoples’ Festival (Montréal, Québec, CA)

32. Two Spirit Festival (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CA)

ANNEX 3: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES

1. Cheryl Alexander, FNX

2. Catherine Bainbridge, Rezolution Pictures

3. John Christou, Prospector Films

4. Valerie Creighton, Canada Media Fund

5. Christa Dickenson, Teleﬁlm Canada

6. Huw Eirug, Nunavut Film Development Corporation

7. Leanne Ferrer, Paciﬁc Islanders in Communications

8. Ainsley Gardiner, Whenua Films

9. Barbara Hager, Aarrow Productions

10. Sterlin Harjo, Independent Filmmaker

11. Monika Ille, Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network

12. David Jowsey, Bunya Productions

13. Tina Keeper, Kistikan Pictures

14. Ciara Lacy, Independent Producer

15. Michelle Latimer, Independent Filmmaker

16. Vanessa Loewen, Animiki See

17. Steve Loft, Canada Council for the Arts

18. Laura Milliken, Big Soul Productions

19. Karen O Kahurangi Waaka-Tibble, New Zealand Film Commission

20. Linda Olszewski, ShortsTV

21. Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale, Blackfella Films

22. Maryanne Redpath, Berlinale NATIVe

23. Bird Runningwater, Native American & Indigenous Program, Sundance

24. Ian Skorodin, LA Skins Film Festival

25. Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia

26. Shirley Sneve, Vision Maker Media

27. Anne Lajla Utsi, International Sami Film Institute

28. Michelle van Beusekom, National Film Board of Canada

29. Elizabeth Weatherford, National Museum of the American Indian

30. Chelsea Winstanley, Independent Producer

31. Jonas Woost, Telus Storyhive