Jesse Wente

Last updated

Jesse Wente is a First Nations Canadian arts journalist and chairperson of the Canada Council for the Arts. He is an Ojibwe member of Serpent River First Nation.

Contents

Background

Jesse Wente was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1974 to an American father and Anishinaabe mother. His maternal grandmother Norma was Indigenous from the Serpent River First Nation. His paternal grandparents were executives. [1] He attended the Toronto private school Crescent School. [1] He received funding from the federal government through the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (later Indspire) [2] to attend the University of Toronto where he studied cinema studies. He graduated in 1996. [3]

Career

Wente broadcast for CBC Radio One's Metro Morning on films and pop culture for 20 years, [4] and was appointed as chair of the board of the Canada Council for the Arts in 2020. [5]

An outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit art, [6] Wente is active in a number of areas in the sphere of Canadian media.

He has been a culture critic with Metro Morning for more than 20 years and on CBC Radio One's national Unreserved program. [7] [8] Wente is actively involved in Canadian film in a number of roles and is an advocate for increasing the presence of underrepresented voices. [9] He previously served as director of film programmes at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, where he oversaw theatrical, Cinematheque and Film Circuit programming. [10]

Wente was named as the first director of Canada's new Indigenous Screen Office in January 2018. [11] [12] This program of the Canadian federal government is intended to support the development, production and marketing of Indigenous screen content and storytelling in Canada. [11]

He was appointed to the board of the Canada Council for the Arts in 2017 and became its chairperson in July 2020. [5] Previously, he served as director of the Toronto Arts Council.

Wente's memoir, Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance, was published in September 2021.

Awards

Authored books

Related Research Articles

The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Greyeyes</span> First Nations actor

Michael Greyeyes is a First Nations actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and educator.

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance is a 1993 feature-length documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, highlighting the events of the 1990 Oka Crisis. Obomsawin documents the events of The Siege of Kanehsatake over 78 days, capturing a rare perspective of an important turning point in Canadian history. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the film won 18 Canadian and international awards, including the Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association and the CITY TV Award for Best Canadian Feature Film from the Toronto Festival of Festivals.

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples from around the world. The festival includes screenings, parties, panel discussions, and cultural events.

Reelworld Film Festival, founded in 2001 by Tonya Williams, is held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival screens film and provides professional development for Canadian racially diverse and indigenous filmmakers and media artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serpent River First Nation</span> First Nations reserve in Ontario, Canada

The Serpent River First Nation, a signatory to the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850, is an Anishinaabe First Nation in the Canadian province of Ontario, located midway between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury along the North Channel of Lake Huron.

<i>Reel Injun</i> 2009 Canadian documentary directed by Neil Diamond

Reel Injun is a 2009 Canadian documentary film directed by Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, and Jeremiah Hayes that explores the portrayal of Native Americans in film. Reel Injun is illustrated with excerpts from classic and contemporary portrayals of Native people in Hollywood movies and interviews with filmmakers, actors and film historians, while director Diamond travels across the United States to visit iconic locations in motion picture as well as American Indian history.

Helen Haig-Brown is a Tsilhqot'in filmmaker working primarily with indigenous and First Nations themes. Many of these derive from her maternal roots in the Tsilhqot'in First Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephan James (actor)</span> Canadian actor

Stephan James is a Canadian actor. After starring in a string of television series as a teenager, he rose to prominence upon winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor for his role as track and field sprinter Jesse Owens in the 2016 film Race.

Elle-Máijá Apiniskim Tailfeathers is a Canadian filmmaker, actor, and producer. She has won several accolades for her film work, including multiple Canadian Screen Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuel Kabongo</span> Canadian actor, producer (born 1986)

Emmanuel Kabongo is a Canadian actor and film producer. Born and raised in Zaire, now present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kabongo immigrated to Canada and began his acting career as an extra before achieving recognition for his performance as the lead protagonist in the Toronto-based web series Teenagers (2014–2017), for which he earned his first Canadian Screen Award nomination. Kabongo also co-produced the series.

Roxann (Karonhiarokwas) Whitebean is an independent film director and media artist from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake (Canada).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Jackson (filmmaker)</span> First Nations filmmaker

Lisa Jackson is a Canadian Screen Award and Genie Award-winning Canadian and Anishinaabe filmmaker. Her films have been broadcast on APTN and Knowledge Network, as well as CBC's ZeD, Canadian Reflections and Newsworld and have screened at festivals including HotDocs, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Melbourne, Worldwide Short Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.

Amanda Strong is a stop-motion animation filmmaker who resides in Vancouver, Canada. She has exhibited work and her films have been screened at festivals worldwide, including Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Strong is Red River Métis and a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

Darlene Naponse is an Anishinaabe filmmaker, writer, director, and community activist from Canada. She is most noted for her 2018 film Falls Around Her, which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018 and subsequently won the Air Canada Audience Choice Award at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in October.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Sangha</span> Canadian social worker and documentary film producer

Alex Sangha is a Canadian social worker and documentary film producer. He is the founder of Sher Vancouver which is a registered charity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) South Asians and their friends. Sangha was the first Sikh to become a Grand Marshal of the Vancouver Pride Parade. Sangha received the Meritorious Service Medal from Governor General Julie Payette in 2018 for his work founding Sher Vancouver. Sangha's first short documentary film, My Name Was January, won 14 awards and garnered 66 official selections at film festivals around the world. Sangha's debut feature documentary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows, was an official selection at Out on Film in Atlanta, Image+Nation in Montreal, and Reelworld in Toronto. The film was the closing night film at both the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal and the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival where it picked up Best Documentary. Emergence: Out of the Shadows also had a double festival premiere at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and the Mumbai International Film Festival during the same week, where it was in competition at both film festivals for Best Documentary. The film also had an in-person and online screening at the 46th annual Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival which is "the longest-running, largest and most widely recognized LGBTQ+ film exhibition event in the world."

Falen Johnson is a Mohawk and Tuscarora playwright and broadcaster from Canada.

Ervin Chartrand is a Canadian and Pine Creek First Nation director, writer and producer. He is best known for directing the films 504938C (2005) and First Stories: Patrick Ross (2006).

<i>Inconvenient Indian</i> 2020 Canadian documentary film

Inconvenient Indian is a 2020 Canadian documentary film, directed by Michelle Latimer. It is an adaptation of Thomas King's non-fiction book The Inconvenient Indian, focusing on narratives of indigenous peoples of Canada. King stars as the documentary's narrator, with Gail Maurice and other indigenous artists appearing.

References

  1. 1 2 Wente 2021, p. 27.
  2. ↑ Wente 2021.
  3. ↑ Kuprel, Diana (2 February 2018). "Indigenous Rights Advocate Jesse Wente: Turn your passion into your career". University of Toronto. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "Jesse Wente". CBC. Archived from the original on 2017-05-17. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  5. 1 2 "Jesse Wente Appointed Chairperson of Canada Council for the Arts". Canadianart. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  6. ↑ "Board Members". Canada Council for the Arts. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  7. 1 2 "iN18 Industry: Insider and Outsider: Developing New Collaboration Models". imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  8. ↑ "Jesse Wente - CBC Media Centre" . Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  9. 1 2 "Jesse Wente awarded first-ever Reelworld Reel Activist award" . Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  10. ↑ "Jesse Wente | Broadcaster, Advocate & Diversity Speaker". National Speakers Bureau. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  11. 1 2 "Jesse Wente appointed director of Canada's new Indigenous Screen Office". CBC News. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  12. ↑ "Jesse Wente appointed Director of Canada's Indigenous Screen Office - eBOSS Canada". eBOSS Canada. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.