Jules Arita Koostachin is a Cree writer and filmmaker from Canada, most noted for her 2022 film Broken Angel (MaaShwaKan MaNiTo).Gail Johnson, "Whistler Film Festival: Jules Arita Koostachin draws on Cree cultural practices in Broken Angel", createastir.ca, November 24, 2022.
Background A member of the Attawapiskat First Nation, she was born in Moose Factory, Ontario, and grew up in Moosonee,Nick Krewen, "Jules Arita Koostachin’s dramatic thriller goes to camera". Playback, November 12, 2021. and worked in social services before turning to filmmaking in the early 2010s.Jennifer Francis, "Regina-born actor stars in Indigenous movie about domestic abuse, survival". CBC News Indigenous, October 26, 2022. She directed a number of short films, both narrative dramas and documentaries, before making Broken Angel as her feature debut.
Career Broken Angel won the award for Best Film at the 2022 American Indian Film Festival,"BROKEN ANGEL and POWERLANDS Win Top Awards at 2022 American Indian Film Festival". Vimooz, November 16, 2022. and was longlisted for the 2022 Jean-Marc Vallée DGC Discovery Award."JEAN-MARC VALLÉE DGC DISCOVERY AWARD LONG LIST DROPS AT VISIONARIES" . Yahoo! Movies, September 11, 2022.
Her documentary film WaaPaKe premiered at the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival,Haley Lewis, "‘I understand the pain’: Film explores residential schools’ intergenerational impacts". Global News, September 26, 2023. and has been shortlisted for the 2023 DGC Allan King Award for Best Documentary Film.Taimur Sikander Mirza, "Women Talking leads film nominees for 2023 DGC Awards". Playback, September 20, 2023. In 2023, she also released the documentary Chubby Cree: PiMahCiHoWin (The Journey) about the Cree hand drum group Chubby Cree.
Angela's Shadow, her second narrative feature film, premiered at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival,Jamie Casemore, "Jules Arita Koostachin’s Angela’s Shadow added to VIFF slate". Playback, September 11, 2024. where it won the Audience Award for the Panorama program.Jamie Casemore, "In Brief: The Chef & the Daruma wins at VIFF Audience Awards". Playback, October 17, 2024.
She has also previously been announced as working on a screenplay adaptation of Richard Wagamese's novel Ragged Company.
As a writer she published the poetry collection Unearthing Secrets, Gathering Truths in 2018,Zainab Amadahy, "UNEARTHING SECRETS, GATHERING TRUTHS – BROKEN POETRY". Muskrat Magazine, November 10, 2018. and received a nomination in the English poetry category at the 2019 Indigenous Voices Awards."Indigenous Voices Awards Finalists Announced". Publishers Weekly, May 14, 2019.
She has also had selected roles as an actress, including as Talia Spears in Bones of Crows and as the voice of Layla Mabray in the television series Molly of Denali.Dennis Ward, "Cree filmmaker Jules Koostachin believes industry now understands that Indigenous voices matter". APTN News, January 31, 2023.
Personal life Her son, Asivak Koostachin, is an actor. Her twin sons, Pawaken and Tapwewin Koostachin-Chakasim, have had acting roles, notably in their mother's short film MisTik.Crystal St. Pierre, "Survival the subject of two films by Cree filmmaker". Windspeaker, October 28, 2022.
She and her family are currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she studied at the University of British Columbia.Dana Gee, "Vancouver-based Cree writer/director Jules Koostachin delivers story of survival and hope". Vancouver Sun, March 3, 2023.
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