Mary Teegee

Producer | Writer

Mary is Gitk’san and Carrier from Takla Lake First Nation, and is a proud member of the Luxgaboo Wolf Clan. She is currently the Executive Director of Child and Family Services at Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) where she oversees the provincially delegated programs, youth services, family preservation, maternal child health, and the Highway of Tears Initiative, as well as violence prevention programs.

Mary holds the Hereditary Chiefs name Maaxswxw Gibuu (White Wolf). She has been raised to live her culture, customs, laws and traditions. Mary has long espoused that in order for nations to be revitalized; nations have to heal from the atrocities that occurred through colonization. She maintains that all services, programs and initiatives developed to benefit First Nations have to be built on a cultural foundation.

She is a relentless advocate for human, Indigenous, and women’s rights and has served on various provincial, national, and international committees. She represents BC on the Board of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and has acted as a Steering Committee member of the First Nation Early Childhood development Council. She has been a member of the Provincial Ministers Advisory Council on Aboriginal Women, and works tirelessly to inform people about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

Warner Adam

Executive Producer

Mr. Adam is a member of Lake Babine Nation in British Columbia, Canada and the Chief Executive Officer for the Carrier Sekani Family Services, serving eleven First Nations in the Northwestern region of BC. The mandate of CSFS is to develop and deliver Family and Children Services, Health Services and Legal/Justice Services to its membership.

As CEO Mr. Adam, manages resources and operations of several Departments health, social development, Mental health, education, child welfare and research. Mr. Adam has been an investigator on a number of CIHR grant in suicide prevention and healthy arts and published in several articles including (2018) The Lancet – England based medical journal; (2015) Determinants of Indigenous Peoples¹ Health in Canada, (2014) Medical Trust, (2007) Outcomes Based Framework for Aboriginal Substance Abuse and Addictions Programming in BC; and (2005) Alternative Justice, among other topics.

Mr. Adam served as the Deputy Chair for the First Nations Health Council. This is a political advocacy council mandated by the BC Chiefs to establish First Nations Health Authority – the first of its kind in Canada. The main tasks included devolving the First Nations Indian and Inuit Health Branch – Health Canada and transferring resources to the FNHA. The mandate also included establishing partnerships with Provincial Health Authorities to develop plans that will lead to improved health outcomes for First Nations in BC.

Mr. Adam is also the founding President of the Aboriginal Child Care Society of BC. This organization is instrumental in the development of Child Care programming in BC First Nation Communities. The society has created over 700 licensed childcare seats, conducted a needs assessment for Early Childhood Education, and continues to provide community consultation in order to develop resource materials for First Nations Early Childhood Education. This is the only Indigenous society in Canada dedicated to the well-being of children and supports for early learning.

Warner, for over 30 years has served on numerous community boards, federal, provincial and First Nations committees. He has also served on the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council executive board, the Lake Babine Nation Council and at treaty tables.

The diversity of his education includes the following: Public Administration of Aboriginal Governments at the University of Victoria and Business Administration at the College of New Caledonia and MBA from the Simon Fraser University.

Mr. Adam focuses on holistic healing of First Nations health and child welfare matters through indigenous values and epistemology. He believes that capacity building in communities includes the development of programs for the positive growth of children, respectful of cultural diversity. Warner is instrumental in research and design of programs that are culturally based in serving First Nations people. He is keen in working toward policy to improve the lives of First Nations and marginalized peoples.

Mr. Adam encourages students to dream big, work hard and be the best that you can be. “Our elders always remind us that time is precious, use it wisely as time goes by like the speed of light, once you master these traits, you can accomplish all that you want”.

Cindy Blackstock

Executive Producer

A member of the Gitxsan First Nation, Cindy is honoured to serve as the Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and a professor at McGill University’s School of Social Work. She has over 30 years of experience working in child welfare and Indigenous children’s rights and has published on topics relating to reconciliation, Indigenous theory, First Nations child welfare and human rights. Cindy was honoured to work with First Nations colleagues on a successful human rights challenge to Canada’s inequitable provision of child and family services and failure to implement Jordan’s Principle. This hard-fought litigation has resulted in hundreds of thousands of services being provided to First Nations children, youth and families.

She recently served on the Pan American Health Commission on Health Equity and Inequity and fundamentally believes that culturally-based equity is essential for meaningful reconciliation. Cindy is frequently sighted in the company of the Caring Society’s reconciliation Am-bear-rister, Spirit Bear, engaging children in meaningful actions to implement the TRC Calls to Action.

Matt Smiley

Director / Producer

Matt Smiley, a multi-faceted artist and filmmaker. He is known for his colorful paintings with compelling themes, achieved through a process of automatic writings and characters. He directed Highway of Tears (Netflix), a documentary film based on the missing women along Highway 16 in northern British Columbia. The documentary was narrated by international television star Nathan Fillion (“Castle”). The film premiered in March 2014 at TIFF Human Rights Watch Film Festival. It screened all over North America, garnering national acclaim and multiple awards. Shedding light on the government’s treatment of Indigenous communities and the media’s disregard for their plight.

In 2017, he launched his first official solo art show “Dreams Fizzle into Space”, featuring a 32-piece Warholian “Smiley” Soup Can collection. Following the success of his show, Smiley was invited to present his collection at the Aspen Institute. He has supported various charities, including Human Rights Watch, UNICEF, Race to Erase, Phase One, Wearable Arts and LIFT Communities with fellow artists, Ed Ruscha, Kenny Scharf, Shepard Fairey (obey), Sam Durant, Nicholas Pilato, Michael Muller, Sage Vaughn and Gary Baseman.

In 2018, Smiley showcased “Lessons in History” at the LA Art Show, followed by The Other Art Fair Presented by Saatchi Art in Brooklyn. He was also commissioned by The Bloc to paint a mural which he coined “The Blocs of Love”, a heavily Instagrammed piece in the courtyard of the Sheraton Grand Hotel and the Macy’s Plaza. He then presented his second solo exhibit “Dear Diary…” in Hollywood.

His last exhibit was at the iconic Mondrian Hotel Magic Box Gallery in Los Angeles for their relaunch. In early 2019, Smiley embarked on a national documentary project focused on Indigenous Child Welfare in Canada, entitled “For Love”, to be released in 2021.

Smiley's artwork is represented by Denis Bloch Fine Art in Beverly Hills.

Shania Twain

Narrator

Shania Twain is a five-time GRAMMY winner and the reigning Queen of Country Pop. With more than 90 million albums sold worldwide, Twain remains the top-selling female country artist of all time.

Twain is the first and only female to receive CMT’s Artist of a Lifetime Award and she recently received the Icon Award at Billboard’s Women in Music ceremony. Twain’s hits include “Any Man of Mine,” “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” “You’re Still the One” and “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”

As a child, Shania faced economic and social barriers that affected her academic performance and overall school experience. In 2010 Shania Twain launched the Shania Kids Can Foundation to help address the needs of young school children dealing with poverty and challenges in their personal lives. Shania Kids Can provides services that promote positive change by working with elementary schools throughout North America to deliver wrap-around services that provide support and stability by qualified professionals to the most vulnerable children.

Lindsay Eberts

Executive Producer

Lindsay Eberts is a British-Canadian film producer based in Quebec. Inspired by her filmmaker family and time spent at film festivals all over the world, Lindsay believes a great story well told can change perspectives rapidly and create lasting emotional impact on global audiences.

Christine Meyer

Editor

Christine Meyer came to editing as a young teenager who wanted to capture real moments and convey them as true as possible. She started off creating weekly videos for summer camps to preserve memories and moments and captured the documentary bug. Christine went to school at Point Park University where she created her first short documentary film that within three years turned into a full feature film. Ever since she's been working in the documentary industry. Christine has a deep passion for real people, real stories, and real issues and to make sure they get heard.

Mathieu Carratier

Composer

After 15 years working as an editor for the french Premiere magazine (including 3 as editor-in-chief) in Paris, Mathieu Carratier made the move to Los Angeles where an old passion for creating music was revived. Director Franck Khalfoun (whose film Maniac had just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival) challenged him to write the score for his next movie, the thriller i-Lived (2015). At the same time, Mathieu was also cowriting and producing songs, attracting the attention of french director Camille Delamarre who selected three of those for the latest installment of the Transporter franchise, The Transporter Refueled, written and produced by Luc Besson. “Can’t Have Me”, sung by up and coming R’n’B artist Vali, appeared in the end credits of the film. Between other scoring endeavors (the indie horror film Delirium, the digital series Lifer), Mathieu Carratier also cowrote a song on Fantasia’s latest album, “Roller Coasters”, that featured Aloe Blacc.

In 2017, he cowrote and co-produced with Stargate the single “A Million On My Soul”, sung by Alexiane, that appeared in the end credits of the sci-fi epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Europe’s biggest production of all time, directed by legendary french filmmaker Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Lucy). He then completed work on another score for Urban Nightmares, a digital series that premiered on Blackpills / Vice, produced by acclaimed director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes), and had a song featured on the soundtrack of Amityville: The Awakening, the latest entry in the hit horror franchise, produced by Jason Blum (Get Out, The Purge). In the summer of 2019, Alexandre Aja used another song Mathieu co-wrote and produced, “I’m Ready”, performed by Madeline, in the soundtrack to his hit thriller Crawl, which was released worldwide by Paramount Pictures to rave reviews. Mathieu spent most of the past two years co-writing and producing two full length albums with actor Emile Hirsch (Into The Wild, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) under the name “Hirsch”: Mnemonic (2019) and Denihilism (2021).

Karen Baker Landers

Supervising Sound Editor

“We’re storytellers. We just tell our stories with sound. If it’s creating an atmosphere for a different planet, creating creature vocals, or finding the right wind to convey the loneliness that the character may be feeling, we think through every choice we make.”Baker Landers first displayed an affinity for sound at age eleven when her parents gave her a tape recorder. She would walk around her house and make up stories just through sound effects. While studying Film at California State University at Long Beach, she impressed sound designers Richard Anderson and Mark Mangini, and they hired her to work at their company. In the early days of her career she met Per Hallberg. Realizing that they worked very well together, they began a professional partnership that has lasted over 25 years. Baker Landers appreciates having a colleague like Hallberg to bounce ideas off of. While she frequently supervises her own projects, she still enjoys collaborating with him whenever possible. Baker Landers was selected for Variety’s Women’s Impact List in 2013, and she is the first woman to ever win two Academy Awards for Sound Editing.

Maxine Gervais

Supervising Senior Colorist

Maxine Gervais has worked on over 50 blockbusters and critically-acclaimed feature films, receiving three Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) nominations for Outstanding Color Grading - Feature Film: one for her work on The Hughes Brothers' The Book of Eli; another for her work on Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim; and winning for her work on Albert Hughes' Alpha -- for which she made Hollywood history as the first woman to win this award. She has always been passionate about creative expression with technology and color.

“Dreams are ever evolving, they are what we aspire to, what inspire us, what is, could be and will be. Movies and literature have helped forge some of my dreams since I was a little girl. Art was a great canvas for me to express myself and gave me a wide range of dreams to aspire to. That journey brought me to work with amazing, creative people who I look up to and inspire me,” said Gervais.

Coming from a classical arts background, earning a B.A. in visual art from Laval University, and understanding that there can be applications in the digital world, she later received a post-graduate certificate in computer technology for cinema and television, Gervais has established an impressive career as a finishing artist.

“I pride myself on having the physical training and appreciation for fine art and being able to apply that to today’s ever changing technologies,” says Gervais. “While workflows continue to evolve, today’s tools, when applied in service of the craft, are able to push the boundaries of storytelling in ways never before imagined. It’s not always easy or straightforward, but I strive to be able to work with my clients and make them comfortable with the technology in a way that they understand it can open up new visual opportunities in support of their story.”