Tank Standing Buffalo is a Canadian artist from Calgary, Alberta.Taylor Simmons, "Calgary-based animator ready to walk red carpet as his MONSTR premieres on HBO Max". CBC News Calgary, March 22, 2023. He is most noted for his 2023 animated short film MONSTR, which was included in HBO Max's animation anthology Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection.Stephen Hunt, "New film by Calgary's Tank Standing Buffalo streams on HBO". CTV News Calgary, March 25, 2023.
Background He is of mixed Potawatomi and Black Canadian descent, and his mother is a member of the Caldwell First Nation in Southwestern Ontario.Monica Whitepigeon, "‘RKLSS’ Offers Message of Redemption and Sheds Light on Canada’s Prison System". Native News Online, October 1, 2020. He had a troubled childhood and spent some time in detention as a young offender following a robbery.Travis Klemp, "Tank Standing Buffalo’s RKLSS selected for TIFF". Windspeaker, September 1, 2020.
Career His 2020 short film RKLSS centred on his time as a young offender, shedding light, particularly on the inhumanity of solitary confinement practices, and premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.
He followed up in 2022 with SAVJ, a prequel film about the childhood experience of being taken into foster care that first set him on the path to his troubled teenage years.Stephen Hunt, "Calgary filmmaker Tank Standing Buffalo explores family trauma in SAVJ". CTV News Calgary, September 24, 2022. The film featured Corey Feldman voicing Standing Buffalo's character and premiered at the 2022 Calgary International Film Festival.Ingrid Canuel, "CIFF announces lineup of Alberta made films". LiveWire Calgary, August 4, 2022.
MONSTR centred on his experience following his wife's death of a brain aneurysm, when he confronted his inner demons walking in the forest along the British Columbia Coast before taking a year-long apprenticeship with a wood carver. The film premiered as part of HBO Max's Only You in March 2023.
In addition to animation, Standing Buffalo has also worked in sculpture, illustration, tattoo art and tiki mug design.
Awards In May 2023, he was named one of the recipients of the inaugural Jeff Barnaby Grant for emerging Indigenous filmmakers from Netflix and the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.Oscar Baker III, "5 winners of Jeff Barnaby grants for Indigenous filmmakers announced". CBC News, May 10, 2023.
At the 2023 Calgary International Film Festival, MONSTR won the Devon Bolton Memorial Award for best Alberta short filmAryn Toombs, "Winners of 2023 CIFF competitions unveiled". LiveWire Calgary, September 25, 2023. and the Audience Choice Award for best Alberta short film."Summer Qamp, Drawing a Life audience favourites at CIFF". LiveWire Calgary, October 3, 2023.
In 2021, he was awarded the RBC Emerging Artist Award, a Cultural Leaders Legacy Award from Calgary Arts Development.CADA, "Tank Standing Buffalo: Animation and Autobiography". Calgary Arts Development, July 30, 2021..
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