‘I felt a responsibility’ to make film: Jacobs
Story of murdered aboriginal teen the inspiration behind movie project
Rather than wait for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call an inquiry into Canada’s 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs decided to make a movie.
The Mohawk actress portrayed an aboriginal teen fighting the powers that be in Jeff Barnaby’s reservation revenge epic Rhymes for Young Ghouls, and had a recurring role on last fall’s APTN comedy Mohawk Girls.
She spent 2014 in New York City pursuing her acting career. Returning home in December, the Kahnawake native decided to step behind the camera for a cause that is close to her heart. Her upcoming short fiction film Stolen recounts the last 24 hours in the life of a 14-year-old aboriginal girl who runs away from a group home.
As of Thursday afternoon, Jacobs had raised nearly $7,000 of the $15,000 needed by March 29 to make the movie via a campaign on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.
“I was inspired by (murdered Manitoba teen) Tina Fontaine,” she said. “She was the cause for a lot of inspiration across the indigenous community, and for a lot of non-native people. She was so young and her death was so preventable on behalf of the police. It’s really frustrating.
“I felt a responsibility to make this film, because I had the means and because of my experience working at the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal. It combines my passion for this issue with my love for and experience in film.”
Social issues have always been close to Jacobs’s heart. She finished a degree in youth and adult correctional intervention at John Abbott College before her stint in New York.
Making the leap to writing and directing her own project is a natural evolution, she explained, even if it comes with a whole new set of things to think about. She has already enlisted Rhymes for Young Ghouls cinematographer Michel St-Martin; but there is much left to do.
“It’s really nerve-racking,” Jacobs said, “in the best way possible. I could definitely get used to being in control of telling my own story. It’s a lot less unreliable than the acting side of the industry. It’s really exciting to create this idea and see it all come together.
“The driving force behind it is just getting the story told.”