Women in View Selects Five
by Staff
(January 27, 2021 – Toronto, ON) Women in View has announced the participants for Five in Focus: Indigenous, the fourth iteration of their professional development program that promotes and elevates women-identifying writers and directors in Canada. The Five in Focus: Indigenous selected participants, pictured above, are Lindsay McIntyre, Marylou Mintram, JJ Neepin, Eva Thomas, and Roxann Whitebean.
Over the course of ten weeks, starting this month, the Five in Focus: Indigenous participants will work virtually with Indigenous women mentors – Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuit), Tracey Deer (Mohawk), Danis Goulet (Cree/Métis), Tina Keeper (Cree), and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sami) – and other industry experts on the development of their feature film or television series, with funding from the Indigenous Screen Office, Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund, Directors Guild of Canada, and TELUS. Five in Focus: Indigenous is tailored to meet the specific needs of each participant and will include industry activities, master classes, pitch training, project packaging and more.
“We are thrilled to support such exciting talent and are grateful to all of our partners for making Five in Focus: Indigenous possible,” said Amber-Sekowan Daniels (Anishininew), Women In View General Manager. “We want to amplify the voices of these incredible women, open doors to new opportunities and help them take the next step in their careers.”
Lindsay McIntyre is an award winning filmmaker and artist of Inuit and settler Scottish descent. Lindsay is also a skilled cinematographer and has won awards for her production design and editing. Having made many short experimental and documentary films, she is transitioning to the field of narrative to tell powerful and authentic stories beginning with her first feature The Words We Can’t Speak (in development).
Marylou Mintram is a proud nehetho (Cree) iskwew (woman) from Treaty Five Nishichawaysihk Cree Nation, currently working and living on the unceded Algonquin people’s territory in Ottawa. Marylou has twelve years of broad-based experience as a producer, writer and marketing professional. In addition to her work at the Indigenous distribution company 7th Screen, she is the co-owner of Rainy Storm Productions. Marylou was also recently selected to participate in the Banff Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media Program. Recently she has focused on writing, producing, developing scripted drama series, and graphic design for several shows.
JJ (Jenna) Neepin is an Indigenous writer and director based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a member of the Fox Lake Cree Nation. JJ has written, directed and produced several short films alongside her sister/partner/producer Justina Neepin with their company JJNeepinFilms INC. JJ has also directed for several documentary television productions for APTN. JJ has been an Associate Producer on CBC’s Trickster, and also produced the behind-the-scenes videos.
Eva Thomas is a producer, writer and story editor who is a member of Walpole Island First Nation; she is also Tohono O’odham, Cherokee and Scottish. As a story editor/mentor, Eva has participated in the imagineNATIVE Screenwriting Intensive, the Magee TV Diverse Screenwriters Mentorship Program, and the Women in Film and Television-Vancouver’s Tricksters & Writers Program. Eva was selected for the 2018 LA SKINS Native American Feature Film Lab in LA, the 2019 Telefilm Talent-to-Watch Program and the 2020 Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative. Eva, along with Darren Anthony, were selected for the 2020 NSI Totally Television Program for the project Dwayne Has Issues.
Roxann Whitebean was born and raised within the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke and comes from the Wolf Clan. She made her directorial debut in 2014 with Legend of the Storm. In 2016, she opened the indie production company Whitebean Media Arts which has produced various works for CBC. In 2017, she wrote and directed 14 episodes of the children’s series Raven’s Quest for TVO Kids, which is now entering its third season. She is currently working as a writer and director on Nish Media’s television series SKINdigenous, and has directed her first feature documentary The Haudenosaunee Canoe Journey, which will air on APTN in February 2021.
The Five in Focus: Indigenous participants were selected from a jury including: Sarah Adams, Executive in Charge of Production, Drama for CBC Television; Linda Fong, Documentary Programmer for TVO; Melanie Nepinak Hadley (Ojibway), Program Director for Warner Media; Zoe Leigh Hopkins (Heiltsuk & Mohawk), Writer / Director; Christina Jennings, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Shaftesbury; and Naomi Johnson (Mohawk), Executive Director of imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
Launched in 2016 by Women in View, Five in Focus was designed to engage media industry leaders in the process of identifying and supporting Canadian women media creators. In its second year, Women in View partnered with Women in Film and Television-Atlantic and Telefilm Canada to turn the spotlight on five women from the Atlantic region. In its third year, with the support of TELUS, Creative BC, Telefilm Canada and CMPA-BC, the program focused on West Coast animation talent.
Women in View is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to gender parity diversity and inclusion in Canadian media both on screen and behind the scenes. Women in View leads in a range of initiatives that seek to generate awareness, promote talent and spark dialogue across the full spectrum of production, policy and artistic arenas. The WIV Board of Directors includes women from across Canada working in a broad spectrum of industry roles.
