Episode 178 with KJ Edwards

KJ Edwards (she/they) is a Kanien’kehá:ka, mixed-settler filmmaker and media artist. Their family is from Kahnawa:ké and Longueuil, Quebec, Canada; while KJ was born and raised in Treaty 6 Territory, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Holding a BFA in Film Production from the Toronto Metropolitan University, KJ is trained in narrative, documentary and experimental filmmaking techniques, using both analogue and digital hybrid workflows. She is a 2023 MFA graduate from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. KJ's thesis work involved eco processing analogue film, reflecting on the unpredictability of the medium as that of a collaborator, and the ways that dreams and memory can offer creative pathways toward content creation. Their short analogue films istén:'a (2023) and future ready: cusp (2023) are making festival rounds. KJ's debut short film Meet The Sky (2021), starring Chanin Lee, T’áncháy Redvers, and Cheri Maracle, premiered at the 2021 American Indian Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Live Short. Meet The Sky also won the Best of BC and the Short Film Impact Award at the 2023 Vancouver International Women in Film Festival. She is currently developing this film into a feature with funding from the Canada Arts Council and The Indigenous Screen Office.