5 winners of Jeff Barnaby grants for Indigenous filmmakers announced
The five Indigenous filmmakers who will each receive $25,000 grants in honour of the late Mi'kmaw filmmaker Jeff Barnaby were announced Wednesday.
Netflix and imagineNATIVE partnered to provide the grants to Indigenous filmmakers working in the horror, thriller or futurism genres.
One of the recipients is Inuk filmmaker Bronwyn Szabo, who said she couldn't hold back her emotions when she heard she got a grant.
"I started crying right away. I was truly overwhelmed and it was absolutely incredible," said Szabo.
The other grant recipients are Walter Scott, Kristina Fithern-Stiele, Gavin Baird and Tank Standing Buffalo.
Jamie-Lee Reardon, institute manager for imagineNATIVE, said financing remains a barrier for Indigenous filmmakers.
"Being able to have funding where you're able to take your story and you're able to tell it without any outside factors telling you how it should be told, gives the artist the freedom to be able to put across their vision," said Reardon.
She said they received nearly 80 submissions for the grant and the winners were selected by a jury that included Barnaby's wife, Navajo filmmaker Sarah Del Seronde, as well as actor Devery Jacobs and director Danis Goulet.
"They all took into consideration the aspects of the story and the vision and the project that they thought that Jeff would get excited about throughout the selection process," said Reardon.
Horror with a message
Barnaby, who was from Listuguj, Que., died last October after a year-long battle with cancer.
His films Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Blood Quantum were known for their horror and gore but also had pointed messages about issues facing Indigenous communities.
The grant projects are mostly short films, but Szabo is in the late stages of development of a comedy-horror web series, It Doesn't Show, which Szabo hopes to premiere in 2024.
It Doesn't Show tells the story of Anna, a young woman battling an Inuit sea creature. The story will also touch on identity issues, because the main character feels like she auctioned off her Indigeneity.
Szabo said Jeff was a huge influence on her work and she hopes to emulate his messaging in her work.
"I just love that he manages to write the message into his stories, but it doesn't hit you over the head. It's just blended so seamlessly into his work," said Szabo.
