Sonia Boileau

Sonia Boileau is a Canadian First Nations filmmaker belonging to the Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Sonia Boileau
Nationality Mohawk
Alma mater Concordia University, Université du Québec à Montréal
Notable work Last Call Indian (2011)

Biography

Sonia Bonspille-Boileau is an Indigenous actor, writer, and director. She was raised between Oka, where her French-Canadian father hails from, and Kanesatake, the community of her Mohawk mother.[1] Her 2010 film, Last Call Indian, focuses on her personal connections to her Kanesatake, government intervention into Indigenous life, and her family's ties to the Shingwauk Indian Residential School.[2] Boileau is bilingual, and has created, directed, and produced works in both English and French.[3]

Education

Bonspille-Boileau has received an extensive and well rounded education in multiple facets of creative performance and film production. She honed her craft and acquired her first degree in dramatic arts from College Lionel Groulx. Shortly thereafter, she attended the Université de Montreal securing a minor in film studies.

From here, she expanded her performance repertoire by studying amateur theatre at the École de Theatre du Vieux St.Eustache, and subsequently continued to round out her knowledge of film production at the New York Film Academy at La Femis, scenography studies at Université de Quebec a Montreal, a bachelor's degree in film production at Concordia University, and finally studied image and sound tech at AQTIS in 2005.[3]

Career

Boileau's debut feature, Le Dep, was shot for under $250,000 from a grant provided by Telefilm Canada. The movie premiered at the 2015 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[4]

Boileau also took part in the 2016 Native Slam, working with Mike Jonathan, a Rotorua filmmaker, and Jeremiah Tauamiti.[5]

Filmography & Themes[1][6]

FilmYear
La Piqure2007-2008
Last Call Indian2010
Always Wapikoni 2011
The Children of Kanhesatake 2011
I Want to be Like Carey 2012
Acad-Indian 2012
Klu'skap 2012
Why Vote? 2012
Mouki2009-2012
Le Dep2015
The Oka Legacy2015
Ra'Stat'Ste2016
Princesses2016

Boileau's work is centered around issues of Indigenous experience, education, identity politics, and culture. Notably, Boileau touched upon The Oka Crisis with her documentary The Oka Legacy, which touched upon the event's impact on conception of First Nations identity in Canada.[7]

Accolades

In 2017, Boileau won the Women in the Director's Chair (WIDC) Feature Film Award. The funding from this award will support Boileau's work on her film Rustic Oracle.[8] Boileau's Rustic Oracle project has also been invested in by Telefilm Canada.[9]

Boileau was awarded an Honourable Mention in the BC Spotlight and Canadian Images Awards for her feature film Le Dep for "telling the story of a whole community within one small, detailed space."[10] Le Dep premiered at VIFF 2015, and was also screened at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015, imagineNative 2015, Montreal's First Peoples Film Festival 2015, the 2015 Raindance Film Festival, and received awards for best actress at the 2015 American Indian Film Festival and best narrative feature at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival in 2016.[11]

Boileau's 2010 documentary Last Call Indian received a nomination for best feature-length documentary at the 2011 Gemini Awards, was nominated for best point-of-view documentary at the 2011 Yorkton Film Festival, was nominated for best music in a documentary and won the Diversity Prize both at the Gala des Prix Gémeaux in 2011.[12]

Mouki, Boileau's French language children's series, was nominated for the best French children's program at the Rockie Awards, part of the 2011 Banff World Media Festival.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Sonia Bonspille Boileau". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  2. ↑ "8th Fire - Filmmakers". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  3. 1 2 "Sonia Boileau - Actor - Mensour Agencyl'Agence Mensour Agency Ltd". www.mensour.ca. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  4. ↑ "Sonia Bonspille Boileau's 'Le dep'". Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Native Slam 2016 - Māoriland Film Festival". Māoriland Film Festival. 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  6. ↑ "Sonia Boileau". IMDb. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  7. ↑ "Rezolution Pictures | The Oka Legacy". rezolutionpictures.com. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  8. ↑ "Sonia Bonspille Boileau wins award for women directors | Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  9. ↑ "Telefilm invests $4.7M in Indigenous productions". Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  10. ↑ "VIFF Announces BC Spotlight and Canadian Images Awards". archive.viff.org. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  11. ↑ "NishMedia - Let us tell your story..." www.nishmedia.tv. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  12. ↑ "NishMedia - Let us tell your story..." www.nishmedia.tv. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  13. ↑ "NishMedia - Let us tell your story..." www.nishmedia.tv. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
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