Film phase:Completed
SYNOPSIS
He’s from the “fresh-out-of-the-bush, partly civilized, colonized, displaced people,” and he’s here to take us to the stars. Lisa Jackson’s portrait of Cree Elder Wilfred Buck moves between earth and sky, past and present, bringing to life ancient teachings of Indigenous astronomy and cosmology to tell a story that spans generations. Adapted from Buck’s rollicking memoir I Have Lived Four Lives, the film weaves together stories from his life, including his harrowing young years of displacement and addiction. Seamlessly fusing present-day scenes with cinematic re-enactments and archival footage, this intimate yet expansive documentary takes us on an inspiring journey to the space beyond, and to the spaces between us all.
Wilfred Buck was supported through Lisa Jackson’s 2022 Chicken & Egg Award.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR & PRODUCER
Lisa Jackson (she/her) is an Anishinaabe (Aamjiwnaang) award-winning creator of documentary and fiction film and television, VR, and multimedia installation work. As a director, her projects have won two Canadian Screen Awards, been nominated for a Webby and Canadian Association of Journalists Award, and screened at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, London BFI, and Hot Docs. She received the 2022 Chicken & Egg Award and the 2021 Documentary Organization of Canada Vanguard Award.
In 2020, she launched Door Number 3 Productions and Wilfred Buck is the first feature release. It won Best Canadian Pitch at Hot Docs Forum and premiered at CPH:DOX in the DOX:AWARD section, was a top 5 audience favorite at Hot Docs, and received a special mention for directing at DOXA Festival.
She’s a member of the Indigenous Screen Office’s Membership Circle, lives in Toronto, has an MFA from York University, and attended the CFC Directors Lab and TIFF Talent Lab and Writers Studio. She is currently developing fiction and nonfiction projects.
ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
Lauren Grant (she/her) owns Clique Pictures, a vibrant film and television production company that focuses on working with female creative talent in front and behind the camera. Her producing work includes the films Sugar Daddy, The Retreat, Riot Girls, Wet Bum, Picture Day, as well as the documentaries On the Line, Metamorphosis, and Traceable. Lauren serves as an Executive Producer on The Sticky for Amazon Canada. She won a Canadian Screen Award for the short documentary Take a Walk on the Wildside and a Genie award for Savage. The Hollywood Reporter named Lauren one of 15 Talents to Watch, and she is an alumna of ACE Producers, Trans-Atlantic Partners, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talent Campus, and TIFF Studio. She is starting her distance MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in September 2023.
Alicia Smith (she/her) is a producer for the National Film Board of Canada’s North West Studio, where she works with filmmakers, artists and communities in the creation of documentary, animation and interactive projects. She produced this river, which won Best Short Documentary at the Canadian Screen Awards (2017), and Nowhere Land, which won Best Short Documentary Film at imagineNATIVE (2015). Interactive productions include Guy Maddin’s Seances, which launched at Tribeca Storyscapes (2016), and God’s Lake Narrows, which won a Webby Award in 2012. She’s been working with several members of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation since 2016 and the resulting series of five short films, Freedom Road, is set to be released in the fall of 2019.
ABOUT THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Jennifer Baichwal (she/her) has been directing and producing documentaries for 25 years. Among other films, installations and lens-based projects, she has made 10 feature documentaries which have played all over the world and won awards nationally and internationally. These features include: Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles (International Emmy); The Holier It Gets (Best Canadian and Best Cultural Film, Hot Docs); The True Meaning of Pictures (Best Arts Doc, Geminis); Manufactured Landscapes (Best Canadian Film, TIFF, Al Gore Reel Current Award); Act of God (opening night film, Hot Docs); Payback (Sundance); Watermark (Berlin, Best Canadian Film, TFCA, and Best Feature Doc, CSA); Long Time Running (TIFF Gala); and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch (TIFF, Sundance, Berlin, Best Canadian Film, TFCA, and Best Feature Doc, CSA).
Most recently, Baichwal directed Into the Weeds: Dewayne “Lee” Johnson vs. Monsanto Company (2022). It won Best Film Testimony at Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival.
Baichwal sits on the board of Swim Drink Fish Canada. She was a Director of the Board of the Toronto International Film Festival from 2016 – 2022.
Nicholas de Pencier (he/him) is a Director, Producer, and Director of Photography who works in documentary, performing arts, and video installation. Selected credits include Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles (International Emmy), The Holier It Gets, (Best Canadian doc, Hot Docs), The True Meaning of Pictures (Gemini, Best Arts), Hockey Nomad (Gemini, Best Sports), Manufactured Landscapes, (TIFF best Canadian feature; Genie, best doc), and Act of God (Gala opening night, Hot Docs). He was also the Producer and Director of Photography of Watermark, (Special Presentation, TIFF & Berlin, Toronto Film Critics Award, Best Canadian Film, CSA Best Documentary), and Black Code (TIFF) which he also directed. With his partner Jennifer Baichwal, he was the co-director (and also Director of Photography) of Long Time Running, a feature documentary on the Tragically Hip’s iconic Man Machine Poem tour (TIFF gala). The Anthropocene Project, is a collaboration with Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky, (TIFF, Sundance, Berlinale, CSAs for Best Feature Documentary and Best Cinematography, Toronto Film Critics Association Prize for Best Canadian Feature Film, CSC Award for Documentary Cinematography). Most recently he was the Producer and Director of Photography on Into the Weeds (opening night, Hot Docs), and the Series Producer of Summit 72 for the CBC.
David Christensen (he/him) is a former Executive Producer at the National Film Board of Canada, where he produced and executive produced documentary, animated and interactive projects with a strong social-issue component. His award-winning productions have pushed boundaries in both form and content, earning Oscar nominations, an Emmy Award, Canada’s Top Ten selections, and the Rogers Audience Award for Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs, among other honors. His credits as producer include the Academy Award-nominated The Flying Sailor and the CSA award-winning documentary Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, as well as The Forbidden Room, Hadwin’s Judgment, the animated documentary WALL, based on a script by and starring David Hare, and the Emmy-nominated NOVA episode Transplanting Hope. Christensen is also the executive producer of the Oscar-nominated Wild Life and the award-winning feature documentary nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up.
ABOUT THE CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Janice Dawe (she/her) is one of Canada’s most respected business-minded producers and the co-founder and former President of Bizable Media. Over her 30+ years in the film and television industry, Janice has provided her valuable production and financing expertise to support independent Canadian producers in their work. She has produced and executive produced hundreds of hours of award-winning documentaries, dramas, lifestyle series and digital media productions. Her passion has always been supporting world-class productions in their financing journey and building sustainable independent film and television companies. Janice is a passionate mentor in the industry and is often invited to speak on Canadian film and tv financing. She is a champion for independent Canadian producers and has volunteered her time to DOC, CMPA and Ontario Creates Screen-based Industry Advisory Committee. Janice is the 2023 recipient of the Rogers-DOC Luminary Award.
Recently retired, Kathy Avrich-Johnson (she/her) is a trusted business and legal advisor, supporting the realization of creative producers’ visions. Prior to co-founding Bizable Media, she was instrumental in building organizations (including the ACFTP, predecessor to the CMPA, and the Aspergers Society of Ontario) and managing and professionalizing private companies (Norstar Entertainment, Canadian Accents, Ilana C Frank Films). Kathy has also produced more than 160 hours of television drama, as well as several features, both documentary and dramatic, and more than 50 web-related extensions of television series. Her credits as an executive producer include the NFB-co-produced feature docs nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up (2019) and A Better Man (2017). An entertainment lawyer since 1983, Kathy is an expert in listening to and advising clients, negotiating, drafting and implementing entertainment agreements.
Greg Boustead (he/him) is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary producer. He founded Sandbox Films in 2020 to tell more artful and inclusive stories about science. Greg oversees all aspects of the company — from editorial direction and on-location production to general strategy and greenlighting new projects. Greg’s 20+-year career in science journalism spans editorial, production, and writing. He’s played key roles on many feature-length documentaries — including as executive producer for Fire of Love (which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature); Human Nature (which was nominated for three Emmys and acquired by Netflix); and Fireball, a documentary directed by Werner Herzog; and as producer and executive producer of an upcoming documentary feature based on a globally bestselling book, and produced with Darren Aronofsky and Spring Films (The Act of Killing).
Jessica Harrop (she/her) is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker who has dedicated her career to inspiring passion about science through film. She is the Head of Production and Development and a co-founder of Sandbox Films, where she shares responsibility for all project decisions and company strategy and acts as an executive producer for Sandbox Films documentaries — including Oscar-nominated Fire of Love; Sundance Special Jury-Prize winning All Light, Everywhere; Emmy-winning Fathom; and Fireball, a documentary directed by Werner Herzog. Jessica has produced content for a variety of outlets including Netflix, Showtime, Discovery, National Geographic, and PBS. She holds a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a Certificate in Theater from Princeton University, where she also co-taught an undergraduate film course on communicating climate change. Jessica serves on the board of Reel Works Teen Filmmaking.
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Brittany Ryan (she/her) is a a mixed race Chinese and Red River Métis producer and arts administrator living on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Working across disciplines and roles, Brittany has dedicated her career to nurturing new works created by Indigenous and culturally diverse artists. Brittany is the Associate Producer for Wilfred Buck and B.C. Lead of Business Affairs for Bizable Media.