Indigenous Screenwriting Intensive Participants
Taratoa Stappard
Taratoa is an award-winning writer/director. His mother is Māori (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), his father was English, he was born in Aotearoa and he lives in London. He is developing his next short film, TAUMANU (Reclaim) and writing his first feature, MĀRAMA, a Māori revenge drama set in Victorian England, 1869. His short films have screened in festivals including, BFI London, Angers, Māoriland, Busan and Edinburgh, and been acquired by BBC, Film4, SVT and Canal+. www.toastappard.com
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs was born in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk territory and is an award-winning writer, director, producer and actor. Her short film Rae (2017) was an official selection of the 2018 Palm Springs Shortfest, and her debut feature film as a co-writer, This Place is set to release in 2020. Jacobs is currently producing the feature film adaptations of Ana Castillo's best-selling novel, So Far From God (2021), and Ellie Moon's award-winning play What I Call Her (2021).
She is a participant of the 2020 imagineNATIVE Indigenous Screenwriters Intensive with her feature film script, High Steel. Jacobs is a Canadian Screen Award nominated-actor, mainly known for her performances in Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013), Netflix's The Order (2019), and in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (2019).
Justin Ducharme
Justin Ducharme is a filmmaker, writer, dancer and curator from the small Métis community of St. Ambroise on Treaty 1 Territory. He is a graduate from Vancouver Film School, and the writer/director of four short narrative films. Justin is the co-editor of Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers Poetry published by Arsenal Pulp Press. His writing has been featured in Sex Worker Wisdom and PRISM magazine. He currently lives and works on Unceded Coast Salish Territory.
Pipaluk K. Jørgensen
Pipaluk is a successful producer and director from Greenland. In the past 10 years, she has built her company Karitas production, to be one of the first companies in Greenland producing internationally and local production, which she was honored the biggest cultural award with in Greenland in 2019. She has toured all over Greenland and Canada with theater and film.
In 2014 she was selected chairwoman for the Greenlandic film association film.gl where she has built many results for the future industry in Greenland. In 2019 she has growing her company, and has now opened her first internationally film company UnoFIlm Aps and is partner in the Icelandic/Greenlandic company Polarama.
Pipaluk is working as a writer in a Hollywood Tv series, and has joined forces with RedMarrow producers Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey MacDonlad, for her next feature film This road of mine.