Neil Diamond (filmmaker)

Last updated

Neil Diamond
Nationality Cree-Canadian
Occupation Filmmaker

Neil Diamond is a Cree-Canadian filmmaker born and raised in Waskaganish, Quebec. Working with Rezolution Pictures, Diamond has directed the documentary films Reel Injun , The Last Explorer, One More River, Heavy Metal: A Mining Disaster in Northern Quebec and Cree Spoken Here, along with three seasons of DAB IYIYUU, a series for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network about Cree elders. [1] [2]

Contents

In the 2008 docudrama The Last Explorer, Diamond explored the story of his great-uncle George Elson, a Cree guide who helped to map Labrador as part of an ill-fated 1903 expedition with Leonidas Hubbard and Dillon Wallace, and a return voyage in 1905 with Hubbard's widow Mina Hubbard. [3]

As of April 2011, Diamond is developing a project with Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk about the 18th-century conflict between Cree and Inuit, which lasted almost a century. [4]

He codirected, with Catherine Bainbridge, and starred in the 2024 documentary Red Fever , about cultural appropriation and the Western world's pop culture fascination with the stereotypical imagery of Indigenous people. [5] Later in the same year he also premiered So Surreal: Behind the Masks , a documentary co-directed with Joanne Robertson exploring the influence of traditional indigenous masks on artistic surrealism. [6]

Reel Injun

Reel Injun was inspired by Diamond's own experiences as a child in Waskaganish, where he and other Native children would play cowboys and Indians after local screenings of Westerns in their remote community. Diamond remembers that although the children were in fact "Indians", they all wanted to be the cowboys. [2] Afterwards, when he was old enough to move south to study, he would be questioned by non-Native people about whether his people lived in teepees and rode horses, causing Diamond to realize that their preconceptions about Native people were also derived from movies. These stereotypes motivated him to help America see the true identity of what a Native American was. [1] [7]

Awards

Diamond received the award for Best Direction in a Documentary Program at the 2010 Gemini Awards for Reel Injun. [8] It also earned him a 2011 Peabody Award. [4]

Related Research Articles

Indigenous peoples in Quebec total eleven distinct ethnic groups. The one Inuit community and ten First Nations communities number 141,915 people and account for approximately two per cent of the population of Quebec, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waskaganish</span> Cree community in Quebec, Canada

Waskaganish is a Cree community of over 2,500 people at the mouth of the Rupert River on the south-east shore of James Bay in Northern Quebec, Canada. Waskaganish is part of the territory referred to as "Eeyou Istchee" encompassing the traditional territories of Cree people in the James Bay regions of what is now Northern Quebec and Ontario.

Zacharias Kunuk is a Canadian Inuk producer and director most notable for his film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced entirely in Inuktitut. He is the president and co-founder with Paul Qulitalik, Paul Apak Angilirq, and Norman Cohn, of Igloolik Isuma Productions, Canada's first independent Inuit production company. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001), the first feature film that was entirely in Inuktitut was named as the greatest Canadian film of all time by the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival poll.

The Native American name controversy is an ongoing discussion about the changing terminology used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas to describe themselves, as well as how they prefer to be referred to by others. Preferred terms vary primarily by region and age. As Indigenous peoples and communities are diverse, there is no consensus on naming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereotypes of Indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States</span> Generalized representations of Indigenous peoples

Stereotypes of Indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States of America include many ethnic stereotypes found worldwide which include historical misrepresentations and the oversimplification of hundreds of Indigenous cultures. Negative stereotypes are associated with prejudice and discrimination that continue to affect the lives of Indigenous peoples.

Imagining Indians is a 1992 documentary film produced and directed by Hopi filmmaker, Victor Masayesva, Jr. The documentary attempts to reveal the misrepresentation of Indigenous Native American culture and tradition in Classical Hollywood films by interviews with different Indigenous Native American actors and extras from various tribes throughout the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isuma</span> Production company

Isuma is an artist collective and Canada's first Inuit-owned (75%) production company, co-founded by Zacharias Kunuk, Paul Apak Angilirq and Norman Cohn in Igloolik, Nunavut in 1990. Known internationally for its award-winning film, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, the first feature film ever to be written, directed and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language, Isuma was selected to represent Canada at the 2019 Venice Biennale where they screened the film One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, the first presentation of art by Inuit in the Canada Pavilion.

Billy Diamond was the Chief of the Waskaganish, Quebec Cree from 1970 to 1976, the Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees from 1974 to 1984, and a successful businessman who founded Air Creebec.

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.

Over the course of centuries, many Indigenous Canadians have played a critical role in shaping the history of Canada. From art and music, to law and government, to sports and war; Indigenous customs and culture have had a strong influences on defining Canadian culture. The Indspire Awards are the annual awards presented by Indspire, formerly the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. The awards were first established in 1993 in conjunction with the United Nations declaring the 1990s "International Decade of the World's Indigenous peoples". June 21 is Canada's National Aboriginal Day, in recognition of the cultural contributions made by Canada's indigenous population. The day was first celebrated in 1996 following Governor General of Canada Roméo LeBlanc's proclamation.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native Americans in film</span> Depiction of Native Americans

The portrayal of Native Americans in television and films concerns indigenous roles in cinema, particularly their depiction in Hollywood productions. Especially in the Western genre, Native American stock characters can reflect contemporary and historical perceptions of Native Americans and the Wild West.

Rezolution Pictures is an Indigenous film and television production company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The company was founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of Ernest Webb and Catherine Bainbridge. Rezolution Pictures’ passionate team is led by co-founders/Presidents/directors/executive producers Ernest Webb and Catherine Bainbridge, Vice-President/executive producer Christina Fon, and CFO/executive producer Linda Ludwick.

Catherine Bainbridge is a Canadian director, writer, and producer. She co-founded Rezolution Pictures, a Montreal-based film and television production company focusing primarily on Canadian Aboriginal productions, with director/writer/producer Ernest Webb in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alethea Arnaquq-Baril</span> Canadian Inuk filmmaker

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril is an Inuk filmmaker, known for her work on Inuit life and culture. She is the owner of Unikkaat Studios, a production company in Iqaluit, which produces Inuktitut films. She was awarded the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, in 2017 in recognition of her work as an activist and filmmaker. She currently works part-time at the Qanak Collective, a social project which supports Inuit empowerment initiatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremiah Hayes (filmmaker)</span> Canadian film director, writer and editor

Jeremiah Hayes is a Canadian film director, writer and editor. Hayes is known for being the co-director, co-writer and the editor of the documentary Reel Injun, which was awarded a Gemini Award in 2010 for Best Direction in a Documentary Program. In 2011, Reel Injun won a Peabody Award for Best Electronic Media. Hayes was the co-editor of Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, which was awarded a Canadian Screen Award for Best Editing in a Documentary in 2018.

Red Fever is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Neil Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge and released in 2024. The film explores mainstream Western culture's fascination with, and tendency to appropriate, indigenous culture without fully understanding it.

References

  1. 1 2 Skenderis, Stephanie (18 February 2010). "A reel shame". CBC News . Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  2. 1 2 Koepke, Melora (18 March 2010). "The real Neil Diamond". Hour magazine . Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  3. ↑ "Program and schedule". imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival . Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  4. 1 2 Dunlevy, T'Cha (9 April 2011). "Reel Injun continues making waves". Montreal Gazette . Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Maimann, Kevin (15 June 2024). "Red Fever asks why the West is obsessed with Indigenous cultural stereotypes". Entertainment. CBC News. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  6. ↑ Donna Sound, "TIFF goes 'Behind the Masks' with world premiere of Indigenous film". CTV News, September 12, 2024.
  7. ↑ Pevere, Geoff (19 February 2010). "Cree director Neil Diamond's real look at reel Indians". Toronto Star . Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  8. ↑ "Reel Injun". Collection. National Film Board of Canada . Retrieved 3 December 2010.
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.