Turtle Island’s First Indigenous-Led
Virtual Production storytelling micro-credential

MAY to AUGUST 2023

Do you want to learn the tools and technologies of Virtual Production?

Thank you to all those who sent their applications in, we look forward to reach selected participants for a chance to be awarded 1 of 20 coveted IM4’s Virtual Production training spots.

Turtle Island’s First Indigenous-Led
Virtual Production storytelling micro-credential

MAY to AUGUST 2023

We are providing Indigenous communities from across Canada with a
state-of-the-art training opportunity:

We have global leaders in the Virtual Production sector providing our cohort with the latest skills and hands-on experience to further develop economic equity to Indigenous peoples within Canada on an interactive industry that promises to grow exponentially according to market forecasts.

So-called Vancouver has been nominated #1 capital of North America in ICVFX and Animation and we are confident to say we are the first Indigenous Matriarchs led initiative that is supporting the goals of decolonization, Indigenization and the fulfillment of Canada’s commitments to both the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action as well as the United Nations Declarations of Rights for Indigenous Peoples articles within the Virtual Production (VP) sector by offering free professional training to the Indigenous communities living in Canada.

Additionally, the skills our most excellent team of Unreal Engine certified instructors, mentors and film professionals are delivering offers the opportunity for Indigenous media makers in remote areas to work collaboratively with VP studios in cities – expanding Indigenous filmmakers and storytellers with access to high-end production capacity.

Facilitating the digital education of Indigenous creators with work-ready skills ensures that the anticipated economic growth in XR and VP carries us at the forefront of the technological advancements taking place.

Meet the world-leading Indigenous Virtual Production storytellers:

the im4 virtual production storytelling micro-credential Cohort

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Lydia Prince

Lydia Prince is a Dakelh/Cree artist, designer and storyteller. Her work focuses on creating for Indigenous language revitalization. She received her Master of Design from The Emily Carr University of Art + Design where her research that focused
on designing for Indigenous language revitalization won the (Re)Framing Emergent Scholar Award for 2023.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Trisha Sadie North

Trisha Sadie North is the Founder and Communications Lead of Oshawa Social Co. She is an Indigenous creative interested in tech who provides communications support for Indigenous- focused initiatives and organizations.

Trisha has experience working with Indigenous people in communities across Canada over the past 16 years. Previously, Trisha used her creative communication skills as a hip-hop radio host, artist, youth program team lead, and workshop facilitator. Her recent work has utilized her creative background to coordinate communications on various projects requiring content creation, social media management and public relations. As a result, Trisha has come to learn about and is fascinated by the impact of intentional and thoughtful communication and connection to empower individuals and their communities.

Much of Trisha’s work has been centred around initiatives supporting our most vulnerable or marginalized. She is familiar with and has worked on projects that support the TRC Calls to Action, MMIWG2S+ Calls to Justice and UNDRIP. With personal and professional experience, she believes in applying harm reduction strategies in various aspects of our communities and trauma-informed, anti-oppressive frameworks to our practices and care.

Based in Winnipeg, Trisha has Cree roots in Northern Manitoba and Saulteaux in Southern Manitoba. What interests Trisha outside of work are gaining survival skills for fun, listening to music and personal development. With her toddler, she likes to get out of the urban environment each chance she gets to spend time on the land (and test her drone flying skills). She makes great efforts to navigate the work of motherhood, along with building a sustainable business to support her ambitious lifestyle.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Towustasin Stocker

Towustasin is an award winning documentary filmmaker, poet and multi-media artist, born and raised on Haida Gwaii. 

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Tia Larocque-Graham

Tia Larocque – Graham is a proud nehiyaw iskwew from Waterhen Lake First Nation in treaty 6 territory. She currently resides in Saskatoon, and works for Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies as part of the Pawâcikêwikamik Innovation Collective. With a focus on creating a sense of safety, promoting culture, and increasing access to technology, Tia encourages Indigenous learners of all ages to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship. Whether teaching students to make ribbon skirts, use a 3d printer, build a hand drum, or fly drones, her passion is giving students the confidence to try new things and show up in spaces that weren’t always accessible to them. In her spare time, Tia enjoys spending time with her 4 year old son Koen, reading, relearning her language, and connecting with family.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Sue Anne Banks

Sue Anne Banks: Tansi/hello, I am a MA Leadership student, digital student, poet, non-profit advocate for outdoor education and Indigenous school food, Indigenous student engagement assistant and digital entrepreneur. I am also a new mom since 2021, which I think has sparked my creativity level to new heights. I have always been an imaginative person and now have a newfound direction and passion for channelling my multi-facets of innovation into my life. I grew up urban off my reserve on Vancouver Island with my dads’ side of the family (English, Irish, Scottish roots), away from the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Manitoba, on my mom’s side. I am now on a journey of reconnection to my family’s stories and the land and finding ways to preserve them through storytelling.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Shasha McArthur

Shasha McArthur is

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Samantha Loney

Samantha Loney is a Metis filmmaker from Barrie, Ontario. Her award winning short film and directorial debut, Woman With Bangs, premiered at the Asinabka Film and Media Arts Festival. She is a winner of the Brian Linehan Award for Outstanding Artistic Promise and will be pitching her debut feature film Married to Murder at the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival. Samantha currently teaches and produces podcasts for Indigenous youth. Her fictional podcast Herstory the Podcast Series is available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Rueben Martell

Rueben Martell was born November 3^rd, 1976 and raised in Waterhen Lake First Nation in Northern Saskatchewan, Rueben Martell was enamored with the oral tradition of storytelling. Having heard Cree tall tales from his grandmother from a young age, his imagination pushed him to make the images more physically represented in a visual media.

His first experience came as an extra in a CBC movie “Revenge of the Land”. The experience changed his opinion on the industry, where he wanted to be behind the camera. Starting as a production assistant for Seventh Generation (1999,2000) for two seasons. After working with Big Soul Productions, they pushed him from production assistant to 1^st assistant trainee for Season 1 (2003) of “Moccasin Flats”, then 3^rd AD for Season 2 (2004).  

Rueben was asked to teach aboriginal youth the basics of film making. Detour Youth centre (2007) and University of Saskatchewan’s Aboriginal Peoples Program (2008).

Madee the jump to Directors Observer on “Rabbit Fall” (2007) and “Corner Gas” (2008).

Between 2009 and 2015, he took a step back to raise his two sons. He took work as a pipeline supervisor and as a videographer for Land claim depositions.

In between time, he wrote screenplays to keep the creative side alive. He developed one based on the life of Dwayne Jocko, a known cigarette smuggler during the Oka situation entitled “Jocko Road”. He also directed the music video for George Leach’s Juno award winning song “Let it go”. Currently, he’s Developing a screenplay with Canadian Actress Natalie Krill entitled “This land we live on” an interracial love story.  

As of January 2020, he has finished principal photography on his first feature film “Don’t say its name” for Chaos Films and has been presold to Super Channel Canada. Currently developing a tv series “RedWater” and feature film script “A life less empty”.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Raven John

Raven John, artist, activist and involuntary comedian, is of Stó:lō and Coast Salish decent. This Two-spirit Trickster is a BFA graduate from ECU, with a major in visual art and minor in social practice and community engagement. Raven is a visual artist, cultural consultant, storyteller, designer and sculptor. A jack-of-all-trades (and master of a few), their practice covers a wide array of mediums from provocation and humor, VR and XR development in theater, puppet making, ceramics, dressmaking, interactive electronics and indigenous technologies.Their work focuses on decolonization, disability justice and educating while trying to have a good fucking time.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Pete Kytwayhat

Pete Kytwayhat: My name is Pete Kytwayhat, I am from Treaty 6 territory as a registered member of Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation Band. I currently reside in Vancouver which occupies the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I am a father to a wonderful 8-year-old boy. I am also a 4th year Film and Media Production major at the First Nations University of Canada. Artistically, I worked in theater, movement, drawing and video post-production.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Mike Hager

Mike Hager belongs to the Bear Clan of the Mohawk Nation. Growing up, he spent time living on the family farm on 6 Nations of the Grand River and in the nearby town of Caledonia. His alma mater is the University of Guelph where he got his honours BA in history with a double minor in Criminology and Sociology. Mike was also a student athlete as a member of the football, rugby, and wrestling teams. While deciding about the pursuit of graduate studies in history, Mike helped coach the Gryphon women’s rugby team to back to back winning seasons while he received his Indigenous focused BEd to teach in the Primary/Junior levels from Brock University.

After graduating from Brock, he taught in the Mohawk Immersion sector of a new primary school for 2 years on 6 Nations of the Grand River before heading to New Zealand to play rugby and teach in Rotorua. Initially it was meant to be a one-year adventure. It became a 10-year exploration of the South Pacific that ended with his New Zealand citizenship and the opportunity to work in England for a New Zealand software development company while also furthering his rugby career during a 3 year stint based in Manchester.

Eventually, Mike found his way back to Canada and back to teaching. This new venture took him to the James Bay Eeyou School in northern Quebec teaching in the Cree village of Chisasibi along the shores of James Bay. Once again, an intended one-year exploration grew into an 11-year discovery of living and teaching in the isolated north. It was here that Mike was introduced to Indspire through the Peer Support program by being a mentor for new teachers. During this mentorship role Mike was made fully aware of the many wonderful initiatives that are available through Indspire.

It was a complicated and difficult decision to leave the wonderful connections that were made in the north. He appreciated becoming a welcome member of the Cree community where hockey, hunting, and 2 step fiddle musical hoe downs during nine months of winter that included weeks of minus 45 C were big parts of his life living beside the James Bay along the banks of the big river.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Lindsay Whilhelm

Lindsay Wilhelm is a full-stack web developer based in Ontario and is a proud member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. She has a passion for creativity, coding, and storytelling and is looking forward to being part of the first Indigenous led Virtual Production Micro-Credential!.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Kelly Roulette

Kelly Roulette – Writer/Director/Producer (Ojibwe) is an award winning filmmaker, and former social justice lawyer. Her work experience includes stints on television where she produced local interest stories for First Nations Magazine (CKVU), and appeared on-air reading news promos for UTV (formerly CKVU). Her short fiction film Spiritt won two International film festival awards in early 2023, Best Cinematography and Best Horror Film, and has since recieved Honorable Mention including additional nominations. Kelly’s other two short films Sometimes She Smiles and My Mother My Rock, have shown Internationally, the latter of which won an Excellence in Filmmaking Award at the Spotlight Film Awards in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2022, Kelly was chosen to debut her comedy sizzle reel High Rez Art, at the inaugral ISO Pitch Forum, before an audience of international television executives at the Banff World Media Festival.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Dallas Flett-Wapash

Dallas Flett-Wapash is an Ininew/Seaulteax digital artist working with video game design, expanded reality, and other interactive technologies. His practice is an ongoing digital reconstruction of his cultural identity – including cosmology, culture, language, and lifestyle – using video game aesthetics. Raised primarily by Swampy Cree Matriarchs in the educational sector, the sharing of practical and technical knowledge is one of the key elements of his Arts career. He has taught digital arts workshops for many arts and educational organizations.

Recent exhibitions include Aftereffects: Emerging New Media Artists in Winnipeg at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown PEI, Azimuth Nitehi at VideoPool in Winnipeg MB, and DAiR v1: Video Games by Artists at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina SK.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Colten Brass

Colten Brass: “Tansi! My name is Colten. I am from Treaty 6 Territory Saskatchewan. I’m a highly motivated and proactive individual with a passion for continuous learning and professional development! With a focus on career growth, I like to balance my love for technology/gaming with my commitment to personal and professional excellence. I also value the importance of building and maintaining positive relationships. I am so happily engaged and enjoy spending time with my two cats!”

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Cole Vandale

Cole Vandale is a Disabled Métis actor and filmmaker. He has worked professionally on a variety of union and non-union productions both in-front and behind the camera. His last short film Starlight was nominated for Best Live Short at the 45th American Indian Film Festival and was a finalist for the Sundance Ignite Fellowship. He recently was a participant in the 2022 CBC Access Scripted Stream, while working with Mosaic Entertainment on the reality television series Bears’ Lair as an associate producer, co-writer and co-director which aired on APTN in September 2022. As well, he produced Rylan Friday’s film Terror/Forming and Andrew Konoff’s film Plaansh A Roo. Next, he will be producing Mily Mumfords Sci-Fi Horror short film A Void and directing his ISO funded short film Indian In the Child which is a fairy tale reimagining of his grandparents lives. His hope is to make filmmaking sustainable, diverse and welcoming.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Carl Jr. Kodakin-Yakeleya

Carl Jr. Kodakin-Yakeleya is Shutagot’ine (Mountain People) from the communities of Tulita and Deline First Nations located in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. He is the father of three young children, has a business degree as well as experience in a variety of domains including not-for profits, local Indigenous politics, leadership positions and mentorship. After participating in the Inspire NWT Entrepreneurship program in 2022, Carl Jr. co-founded his own business, Ever Good Medicine, in February 2023 to teach people how to appreciate the wisdom of the Land and Waters and how to be more ethical harvesters of traditional medicines. He looks forward to innovating in his business by including virtual and augmented reality elements to products and programming through the skills that he gains through the IM4 Lab as well as to share what he learns in the program back with his communities.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Cameron Watts

Cameron Watts (Te isim) is a Nuuchahnulth First Nations filmmaker from the Tseshaht tribe. Cameron has studied both acting and filmmaking. Storytelling has always been important in the Nuuchahnulth cultures so his passion to create stories through film goes hand in hand with his connection to his heritage. His most recognizable work is as the B Camera Operator on the acclaimed film “Edge Of The Knife.” His most recent films are “My Father’s Footsteps” which takes him on a journey of self-discovery, family history, and explores indigenous men’s health, and “We are the Land & The Land is Us.” In 2021 the feature documentary “Dancing Through” which Cameron was the Director of Photography, won Best Feature Documentary at the Rethink Dance Film Festival. Cameron continues to work alongside other indigenous communities and artists today to help shape their vision with his keen eye for capturing stories in their best and most authentic light.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Bruce Thomas Miller

Bruce Thomas Miller is an Anishinaabe Cree from Matachewan First Nation in Treaty 9 territory. He was raised in various Northern Ontario communities but is now based in Calgary, Alberta on Treaty 7 territory.

Bruce is a writer/director/producer and participated in the imagineNATIVE Originals commission program in which he created his short film “Conviction” which had its world premiere at imagineNATIVE in October 2022. The film has since screened at Red Nation Film Festival, American Indian Film Festival, Garifuna Film Festival and Whistler Film Festival. The short “Conviction” is a proof of concept for a feature and has since received a development grant for the first draft, which is currently progress. Bruce is in pre- production for his next fiction short “Skylar’s Comet” which is funded by TelusStoryhive’s 2022 Indigenous Storytellers Edition. The film will be going into production this spring and will be released in late 2023 on the festival circuit, then available on the Telus cable channel late 2024.

Bruce entered the film industry years ago but due to a lack of support and opportunities he was deterred from pursuing his career aspirations of being a filmmaker. He worked as a front-line social worker at Canada’s largest homeless shelter for the past 15 years. The lessons he learnt during this time have made him a better person and will be used in every aspect of life moving forward. He wants to make heartfelt stories that will resonate with all people while building opportunities with his productions and bringing more diversity to the film industry.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Ben Kicknosway

Ben Kicknosway is a filmmaker and working class mook from Bkejwanong territory. He began his career co-directing the animated short film “Wawatay”. The film played at various festivals including VIFF, OIAF, and TAAFI. After working in television animation, Ben was accepted into NSI’s “Indigidocs” program. Using the opportunity to develop novel projects with an Anishnaabe perspective. He continues to work on various projects below the line. Using hands-on experience gained, to strengthen his documentary and narrative storytelling abilities.

IM4 Virtual Production Student

Bee Bird

Bee Bird is a proud member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, located on Treaty 6 Territory in Saskatchewan. Currently in his second year at the First Nations University of Canada, Bee is pursuing a degree in Indigenous Communication and Arts with a focus on media arts. With a passion for audio engineering, photography, and video production, Bee is constantly refining his skills in these areas. He is a dedicated advocate for Indigenous artists and businesses, and hopes to collaborate with filmmakers, knowledge keepers, and storytellers in the near future to create impactful documentaries. Alongside his studies, Bee remains committed to supporting language revitalization efforts and regularly volunteers with elders at First Nations University. As a creative outlet, Bee also organizes open mic poetry nights for FNU students. His goal is to obtain his INCA degree and continue making meaningful contributions to Indigenous communities through his work in the arts and media.

Meet the world-class team of Virtual Production Leaders:

the im4 virtual production storytelling micro-credential team

We give thanks to the many supporters that are not showcased in this page such as the University of Victoria Computer Science Department
professors Derek Jacoby and Yvonne Coady and many more!

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