2017 Web Series Pitch winners Darcy Waite and Madison Thomas share their project Colour of Scar Tissue, or C.O.S.T. (Photo courtesy http://www.imaginenative.org/aptn-in-web-series-open-call/)
IndigiThreads, a fashion documentary web series conceived by First Nations entrepreneurs Ryan Cooper and Adeline Bird, recently won $30,000 in cash and $20,000 of in-kind prizing and mentorship. The duo pitched their web series to broadcasters at the APTN/imagineNATIVE Web Series competition.IndigiThreads will explore the points of view of three indigenous fashion designers, highlighting their contemporary, modern, and sometimes political fashion designs, through which they aspire to make an impact on the global fashion industry.Prior to the pitch, one-on-ones with the jury offered insights and opportunities for web series development for the creatives. The $50,000 in production cash and in-kind support marks the highest pitch offering in imagineNATIVE’s 19-year history. (The organization launched in 2000 and celebrates 19 years in October 2018.)
Cooper and Bird were up against two other Indigenous creative teams from Canada, who also passionately presented their web series ideas to a jury of industry leaders and audiences. Competitiors Jonathan Elliott & Tracy German proposed a four-episode web series titled “From Our Land” to explore the rich history of traditional indigenous foods across Canada. Additionally, Oliver King and Charlene Moore pitched “Fatf*ck,” a web series to tell the story of Korvan Little-Feather, a 330-pound actor-turned-writer who, in the process of creating his own television series, “must change everything he is to play himself.”The web series pitch was part of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which ran October17-21 in Toronto, presenting Indigenous-made digital and interactive media and multi-media art exhibitions. The festival culminated with a popular Art Crawl.“I guarantee that anyone who experiences the films at imagineNATIVE will come out transformed in some capacity,” Jason Ryle, imagineNATIVE art director, told nowtoronto.com.
“We are an Indigenous-artist focused festival,” Ryle continued, “meaning we only show media art works that have been created by Indigenous directors, producers and screenwriters. imagineNATIVE is committed to a greater understanding by audiences of Indigenous peoples, cultures and artistic expressions.”Among the more business-minded focuses at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival was Industry Days—five days of panels geared toward Indigenous screen content creators.Learn more about the festival at http://www.imaginenative.org/.
Cooper and Bird were up against two other Indigenous creative teams from Canada, who also passionately presented their web series ideas to a jury of industry leaders and audiences. Competitiors Jonathan Elliott & Tracy German proposed a four-episode web series titled “From Our Land” to explore the rich history of traditional indigenous foods across Canada. Additionally, Oliver King and Charlene Moore pitched “Fatf*ck,” a web series to tell the story of Korvan Little-Feather, a 330-pound actor-turned-writer who, in the process of creating his own television series, “must change everything he is to play himself.”The web series pitch was part of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which ran October17-21 in Toronto, presenting Indigenous-made digital and interactive media and multi-media art exhibitions. The festival culminated with a popular Art Crawl.“I guarantee that anyone who experiences the films at imagineNATIVE will come out transformed in some capacity,” Jason Ryle, imagineNATIVE art director, told nowtoronto.com.“We are an Indigenous-artist focused festival,” Ryle continued, “meaning we only show media art works that have been created by Indigenous directors, producers and screenwriters. imagineNATIVE is committed to a greater understanding by audiences of Indigenous peoples, cultures and artistic expressions.”Among the more business-minded focuses at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival was Industry Days—five days of panels geared toward Indigenous screen content creators.Learn more about the festival at http://www.imaginenative.org/.
