Ziibiwan among grant recipients splitting prize money awarded to Inconvenient Indian film

By Sam Laskaris

TORONTO – An Indigenous electronic music producer and composer from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory has received a career boost from another well-known Indigenous artist.

The film Inconvenient Indian, which has been receiving rave reviews, captured the Canada Goose 2020 Amplify Voices Award after it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September.

The award included a $10,000 cash prize.

But instead of keeping the money, the film’s director, Michelle Latimer, and her producers decided to split up the cash five-ways and award five upcoming Indigenous artists with a $2,000 grant each.

The money is intended to be used by these individuals to support their artistic works.

One of those recipients is Wiikwemkoong’s Ziibiwan, who goes by one name and uses the pronoun they.

“It’s a real testament they have faith in the next generation of Indigenous artists,” Ziibiwan said of Latimer and her producers, who opted to give away their award winnings to others.

Ziibiwan has known Latimer for several years now.

“I believe I was the first one she chose [for this grant],” Ziibiwan said.

Ziibiwan had been included in several of Latimer’s projects in recent years.

In fact, one of their songs was included in Inconvenient Indian.

Ziibiwan, who lives in Toronto, also has a song and a cameo appearance in the mini drama series Trickster, which is directed by Latimer and now airing on CBC.

Ziibiwan was not surprised by Latimer’s generous gesture after she was awarded the $10,000 prize.

“I guess she wanted to support us,” they said.

Jesse Wente, who is Ojibwe and a member of Serpent River First Nation, is one of the producers for Inconvenient Indian. Wente is also the chair of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Stuart Henderson and Justine Pimlott are also producers of the film.

Latimer praised the artistic efforts of not only Ziibiwan but also all of the grant recipients.

“The artists selected here represent different mediums within the media and performing arts landscape and, in my opinion, their work exemplifies exceptional vision as well as a commitment to community engagement,” she said. “Their unique voices are contributing to much-needed change in this industry, and it is an honour to support these visionary artists in their journey.”

Ziibiwan’s share of the grant will be put to good use.

“I’m going to use it to rent some equipment to finalize my next project,” Ziibiwan said.

That next project would be the nine-song LP titled GIIZIS, which Ziibiwan is hoping will be ready for release either this coming March or April.

Ziibiwan has previously released an EP and a few singles, but GIIZIS will be the first full-length album for the artist.

Besides Inconvenient Indian, Ziibiwan also composed songs for two other short films, Flood and Biidaaban, which were also shown at TIFF this year. Both projects are the works of Indigenous director Amanda Strong.

Ziibiwan also worked on music performed overseas, during the 2019 London Fashion Week.

Meanwhile, Lisa Cromarty, who is also a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, was another one of the five grant recipients.

Cromarty, who is currently developing an animated children’s series called Wick and Flint, is now living in the northern Ontario community of Massey.