First Indigenous Superhero Web Series

Created by award-winning filmmaker, Loretta Todd

Trailblazing Cree filmmaker Loretta Todd is the lead producer and director of the new web series Fierce Girls, the first Indigenous superhero series created for Indigenous youth. Fierce Girls is one of the first transmedia projects to exist across several different platforms, from Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to visual novels and comic books, making it easily accessible for viewers. Fierce Girls will launch online just in time for National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 on www.fiercegirls.tv and www.facebook.com/FierceGirlsTV.

The web series features Kisik (played by Jenine Yuksel) and Anika (played by Kaea Taurere) - two Indigenous teenagers with warrior spirits who use their newly acquired superpowers to empower young Indigenous women and to celebrate the strength and beauty of being Indigenous in this challenging world. Kisik is Cree/Métis and lives with her single mom in the Eastside of Vancouver, Canada, while Anika is MƗori and lives with her single dad in Rotorua, New Zealand. BFFs Anika and Kisik are tasked with helping protect the water and Mother Earth. They are the healers of the land and of their people. “Raised Human – Born Divine”.

Each webisode combines live action and animation, and includes social media storytelling and community building through curated online content. Each webisode is designed to spark change and empower young Indigenous women in Canada, New Zealand and around the world.

Fierce Girls is a co-production with TangataWhenua. com, the longest running independent Māori news and information portal in New Zealand. The series was created by Loretta Todd and is produced by a talented Indigenous team. Biasiny-Tule is the New Zealand producer, Potaua Biasiny-Tule and David Oxenbridge are the co-producers at TangataWhenua. com, Stephen Gladue is the Canadian animation director and Rhid Gatrill, Shaelyn Johnson, Theresa Warbus and Turene Huiarau Jones are part of the writing team, alongside Todd.

The series is supported and funded by the Canadian Media Fund and New Zealand On-Air.

In honour of her lyrical, expressionistic imagery and her strong storytelling skills, Todd will be receiving the Vancouver Women in Film’s Artistic Innovation Award later this month. The award honours a key creator of a recent production or body of work that exemplifies vision, experimentation and innovation.

Todd is also currently shooting the second season of APTN’s Coyote’s Crazy Smart Science Show, the award-winning children’s series about Indigenous science. Coyote Science is an exciting adventures-in-science series that encourages youth to explore the fascinating world of science – from an Indigenous perspective.

Todd is a director, producer, activist and writer, and her non-fiction work has been honoured around the globe. As a leading figure in Canadian Indigenous cinema, Todd’s work digs deep to explore Indigenous history and culture from its people’s own lived experiences, voices and perspectives.

They’re young, they’re fierce and they’re changing the way the next generation of Indigenous women see themselves and the world around them.