2020 In Review
2020 was a complicated year, filled with hardship and uncertainty. But, with it, there has also been success. We’re excited to share with you some of the amazing film projects and mentorship opportunities we’ve had the honour of working on over the past year.
January - February: A Creative Winter Road Trip
In early January, Patrick hit the road for a month, first flying into Winnipeg to shoot “Pieces”, a music video for Leonard Sumner. It was a wickedly cold experience that even froze his gear, but it was all worth it to create something beautiful and make friends with the amazing people that all worked on the music video. Patrick then joined musicians Craig Edes and Travis Hebert on behalf of N’we Jinan out to the Simpcw First Nation to work on a creative project with youth in the community, creating the song and music video for “Voices in the Wind.”
Teaching and mentorship opportunities continued through January as Patrick instructed a branding and marketing course at Emily Carr University. At the end of the month, he taught a similar course in Campbell River for the University of Victoria.
If you know Patrick, you know it doesn’t stop there. He also wrapped principal photography for “A Golden Voice” with co-director Jenn Strom and camera/grip Chad Galloway for their Bill Read documentary releasing in August 2021.
InnoNative also had the pleasure of flying the amazing Swampy-Cree muralist, Petr Thomas, up to Haida Gwaii to paint the InnoNative Media Bus! Keep your eyes out for more to come on this project!
March: When The World Closed Down
Patrick and co-facilitators Craig Edes and Travis Hebert were on the “Sacred Space Tour” when Covid hit. They had flown into Cat Lake First Nation in Northern Ontario to film “Run Free”, a song and music video with the local youths! After filming they continued on to North Spirit Lake to shoot another video when the pandemic hit. En route through Toronto, the whole city went into lockdown. Patrick was lucky enough to catch the last flight back to Haida Gwaii before the last flights were canceled.
Now back in his home, Patrick created a series of graphic design and video production tutorials for “Create To Learn”, an initiative that offers Indigenous instructors the opportunity to teach skillsets remotely. Patrick also consulted with TakingITGlobal to design the Create To Learn app that is now available for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Android.
InnoNative also had photography work published in The Capilano Review Magazine, for a project called Indigenous land Protectors. Check out a sample of the photography here.
On top of all this, InnoNative crafted a website for “Coming Together Vancouver,” a new community initiative. This initiative was created to connect community members who are offering support, with those in need of support amidst the pandemic.
April - June: Keepin’ Busy on Haida Gwaii
April started off strong as InnoNative debuted Sah ‘Laana, a powerful music video for singer and songwriter Carsen Grey, directed by Patrick.
We also launched “Hang Tight Haida Gwaii,” a super successful PSA video contest for youth on Haida Gwaii. We invited locals to create a short PSA online video reminding folks about the safety guidelines during the pandemic. In addition to the contest’s national recognition, Patrick received a certificate of recognition from the Prime Minister! This project was a massive hit that offered tons of prizes for youth on Haida Gwaii!
At the end of April, InnoNative was hired by Global News to film a segment about the blockades and checkpoints put up by Haida Nation to stop visitors from traveling to Haida Gwaii during the pandemic.
Fast forward to June, Patrick was featured on the podcast “Love, Peace, and Oolichan Grease.” This innovative podcast hosted by Kiefer discusses all the projects InnoNative has been working on, and what projects are coming up. You can check it out here!
We were also hired to film a couple interview segments for an upcoming Knowledge Network series titled “BC, A History”. We can’t wait to share it with you!
July - December: Music Videos and Montréal!
In early July, InnoNative launched “Black Cod” the first episode in the “HIk’yak’ii, To Start A Fire” series. We are excited to share with you the second episode in this titled “Healthy Haidas.” It will be released in late February 2021!
The busyness continued through August as we released a funny hockey-themed PSA for Hockey Gods called “Tough Guys Wear Masks.”
A week later, we released a short vignette about Catherine Blackburn, a talented beading & textile artist. This release included a short art piece for her art exhibition in Santa Fe for their Indigenous fashion week.
September and November were busy months for music videos! We filmed 3 music video projects with the amazing Cree-Métis musician Moe Clark. “Namoya”, the latest music video will be released in March 2021, so keep your eye out!
Next, we filmed a powerful music video for Angel Baribeau titled “Wish we were Older.”
Last but not least, we filmed “Glow”, a wicked music video for Quanah style. Make sure to check it out!
We also helped edit a teaser video for Ballet BC’s upcoming season performances and we started our own collective podcast called “The Deadly Uncle Show.” We are excited to share this project with you in the upcoming months.
What’s Next?
2021 is already looking exciting and full-on with creative projects for InnoNative! In the next few months, we will be premiering more music videos, we have a handful of short films on the docket and are developing documentaries. We are super excited for our new podcast (The Deadly Uncle Show) and on top of all this (drumroll please….) We have just launched a new website with a whole range of new services to better serve our community!
Thank you for supporting InnoNative and our past and future projects. We can’t wait to share what’s coming next!