Workshops 2006

Drew Hayden Taylor is an award winning playwright, journalist, columnist, and filmmaker — most notably for writing and directing the NFB documentary Redskins, Tricksters and Puppystew, about the healing power of Native humour. He is currently celebrating the release of his sixteenth book, Me Funny an exploration of Native humour. Raised on the Curve Lake First Nation (Ojibway), he currently makes his home in Toronto.

Douglas Spotted Eagle is a giant in the video and audio industries, having received Grammy, Emmy, DuPont, Peabody, and many other awards. His music is heard in a wide range of films from Last Samurai to Star Wars-Ewok cartoons. Douglas can usually be found on the DMN, Sony and DVInfo.net forums as a moderator on subjects ranging from compositing to audio engineering. He also has won many awards for his documentaries, including Toubat: A Journey of the Native American Flute and The Way of the Powwow. His Azee' Choo'nii' is the first film produced in the Dine' language.

"A Great Film needs a Great Composer"

Brent Micheal Davis is an enrolled citizen of the Mohican Nation. His career spans 30 years including awards from ASCAP, NEA, Sundance, Rockefeller and numerous others. Brent Michael Davids is an American Indian music expert in all geographic culture areas of North America, and schooled in American Indian Religious Studies at the Masters degree level. Davids is highly regarded as a professional Source Music Director for American Indian singers, drummers, flutists, solo artists and contemporary bands.

Peter Strutt is the Manager of Programming (Western Region - Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon) for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Peter, formerly of Telefilm, is based in Vancouver and brings five years experience and expertise to assist APTN. At Telefilm Peter's responsibilities included new media, feature film, television as well as regional French language productions and the Aboriginal Language envelope. Peter also has experience with international co-productions and acted as regional coordinator for the Telefilm Spark Plug Program (a special drama initiative for visible minorities and Aboriginal Peoples).

Gail Yakemchuk heads the Development Office for the Independent Production CHUM Television. Gail's newly integrated Edmonton-based position was created to encourage and nurture producers and filmmakers working in western Canada. Her long tenure in the industry and strong relationships with the independent community, make her the ideal candidate to take on this role. Gail also administers the CHUM Prairie Bridge Finance Program; an interim banking tool for prairie-based projects supported by CHUM. Prior to joining CHUM, she was Executive Director of Calgary-based Shaw Television Broadcast Fund (now Shaw Rocket Fund), where she was integral in its launch. She was also Executive Director and Business Analyst of the Shaw Children's Programming Initiative (SCPI).

Aaron James Sorensen is the award-wining writer and director of the internationally acclaimed feature film Hank Williams First Nation. HWFN is one of the highest grossing Canadian features of 2005 and has played every major market in Canada and at festivals throughout the United States; winning Best Picture in Washington, Best Music in Nashville, and Best Actress in San Francisco. At the 2005 American Indian Film Festival in California Mr. Sorensen was honoured with this year's Best Director Award. HWFN was the first Canadian film to give its World Premiere at the prestigious American Film Institute's, Los Angeles International Film Festival, and recently was nominated for five awards at the Alberta Motion Picture Association; including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Mr. Sorensen is currently developing the HWFN story into a TV Series for APTN, as well as developing new movies through his production company Peace Country Films. He lives on a farm in Dixonville Alberta where he is known as a mediocre but enthusiastic baseball player. When not playing ball and writing scripts in Alberta you can find him on his sailboat in Marina Del Ray.