Stephanie Joline is an award-winning Indigenous filmmaker on a mission to uplift and inspire through her art. Her recent documentary series “Women of This Land” for CBC has garnered acclaim, with the episode featuring poet and storyteller Shalan Joudry winning Best Short Documentary at the Mosaic International Film Festival of Arts and Culture.
The seed for “Women of This Land” was planted around three years ago when Joline pitched the idea of a cross-Canada documentary series spotlighting Indigenous women connecting to their land and culture. After her previous documentary for CBC performed well, they greenlit her ambitious four-part vision.
“I wanted to make an uplifting series about different Indigenous women in Canada who are connecting to land and culture and share a bit of their story,” Joline explains. “But also show how different Indigenous women connect to their culture in different ways.”
The Shalan Joudry episode particularly resonated, with its intimate look at how the poet/performer relates to the natural world around her home in Bear River, Nova Scotia. Over five shooting days, Joline’s crew captured Joudry’s creative process, from writing her poetry, creating art, and sharing her love for the earth to embodying literary characters like the Old Lady; which she did using an elaborate mask.
“Shalan is so creative – she’s a theatre artist, writer, poet, performer, even filmmaker,” Joline marvels. “She has so many different outlets for her inspiration that it’s amazing to witness.”
For Joline, who is Mi’kmaq on her mother’s side and French-Acadian on her father’s, the project represented an opportunity to feel acceptance within the Indigenous community while sharing empowering narratives.
“On some level, making uplifting Indigenous stories is probably a way of feeling like I am part of the community,” she reflects. “I’m doing something with them, making the community better or spreading stories that are helpful.”
Growing up, Joline often felt an “imposter syndrome” around her Indigenous identity, since her physical appearance didn’t necessarily match stereotypical expectations of an Indigenous woman.
“I benefit from white privilege every day, and I feel guilty about that,” she admits. “My Indigenous relatives won’t be treated the same way as a white woman getting pulled over or going to the emergency room.”
Joline is currently writing a script tentatively titled “Non-Status” that grapples with these complex identity issues. She hopes the film, can bring some authenticity and truth to Indigenous representation.
“I have one Indigenous experience,” she says. “I can tell some stories because I have that perspective, but I can’t tell every story. I’m just here telling a few.”
In addition to “Non-Status,” Joline recently launched a new production company, Venn Diagram Films, with her cinematographer, Paul McCurdy. Their first project is the experimental documentary “I Place You Into the Fire,” blending poetry, animation and Joline’s portrait of Mi’kmaq poet Rebecca Thomas.
No matter the subject, Joline feels compelled to create from the intersections of her diverse experiences as an Indigenous woman, artist and working-class Nova Scotian.
“That’s what I have to offer – the perspectives formed by all the things that made me who I am,” she says. “You’re going to tell your story, other people will tell theirs. We need that multitude of voices.”
Joline is grateful that funding organisations like Telefilm have made concerted efforts in recent years to prioritise equity and production funds for underrepresented communities.
“If you want a more diverse landscape in Canadian film, there was really no other option but to carve out some of that money for diverse communities,” she argues. “If you don’t, the same people will keep getting it because you’ll go ‘best person wins’ – and the best person is the one who already did five movies, not the one who did zero.”
While she acknowledges the opportunities afforded by Canadian grants, Joline doesn’t take them for granted, persistently applying until she is successfully awarded a grant. Her drive comes from an innate need for artistic expression.
“Making films is the most fun creative expression I’ve had because it’s so collaborative,” she says. “You’re doing a little art, performance, writing, logistics – it feels very fulfilling when all those components come together.”
As Joline continues uplifting Indigenous voices through her storytelling and filmmaking; she remains motivated by the possibility of fostering change and providing long-overdue representation.
“Having stories told from our country only from one perspective for years is damaging,” she states. “Having different perspectives is extremely important – there’s no way to have that unless you give an extra boost to some communities to get them started and into the game.”
