The North Bay Film Festival is thrilled to announce Evelyn Pakinewatik as the Spotlight Artist for the 2024 festival. A local Indigenous filmmaker from Nipissing First Nation, Evelyn’s presence at this year’s festival marks an exciting opportunity to showcase their creative vision and amplify Indigenous voices in the arts community.

As our Spotlight Artist, Evelyn will bring their artistry to the festival through:

A Dream About Water: Media Installation

A Dream About Water offers viewers an experience that reflects on memory, cyclical time, and the interconnectedness of humans, land, and language. Evelyn’s work invites viewers to engage with the relationship between nature and Indigenous knowledge systems, encouraging a deeper understanding of how these elements shape cultural identity. Through a blend of visual storytelling and innovative media, this installation challenges audiences to reflect on their connections to the environment and the narratives that inform them.

Learn more about Evelyn’s media installation HERE

In A Good Way: Curated Short Film Program

In A Good Way is a curated short film program showcasing Indigenous short films from Canada and the United States. This selection highlights the creative visions of Indigenous artists, dreaming of a future together while challenging extractive and exploitative practices in storytelling. The program aims to foster dialogue around the importance of ethical storytelling and creative sovereignty. Following the screenings, Evelyn will take part in a Q&A session delving deeper into the complexities of ethical storytelling and the importance of creative sovereignty in Indigenous cinema.

Learn more about the In A Good Way short film program HERE.

Evelyn Pakinewatik’s practice spans film and multidisciplinary arts, addressing themes like the distortion of memory, dreams, and the societal impact on relationality and animacy. Raised by artists, Evelyn has long been dedicated to preserving Indigenous arts, using their platform to challenge colonial narratives and promote anti-colonial survivance.

Evelyn’s films and installations have been showcased at major festivals including imagineNATIVE, Māoriland, and Festival Présence Autochtone, and their work has been exhibited at notable venues such as the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation and Toronto City Hall. Evelyn has also been invited to speak at esteemed institutions like Ontario College of Art and Design University and Cornell University.

The North Bay Film Festival is thrilled to support Evelyn Pakinewatik and present their work as part of the 2024 lineup. We look forward to sharing more details about Evelyn’s participation and other exciting festival announcements as we get closer to the event.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and visit northbayfilmfestival.ca/ for the latest updates, ticket information, and more as we count down to the festival.