“Film and television does bridge people together,” says Marylou Mintram. Her traditional name is Standing Rainbow Woman and she is from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. She fell in love with writing and producing at film school. An aspiring director, she hopes to direct her own productions that she writes. She recently finished working on a feature film called Making the Cut and was picked for a program called Women in Film where five Indigenous women were chosen to be mentored by Tina Keeper.

The film Mintram wrote was an underdog story about her community, based on their barber. “Hair is very sacred and important,” she explains. Her film shares her community’s teachings, values, understandings, as well as Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being.

The film inspired her as an activist and she attended the Aboriginal Justice and Criminology program at University of Saskatchewan thinking she might become a lawyer. Mintram was president of the Indigenous Student Council, fundraising for a daycare and advocating for Indigenous access to childcare. She taught beading, quilling and tufting as part of Creative Native hour at the Indigenous Student Centre. She ended up going back to film to tell more stories.

She’s always loved learning and reading. Mintram grew up in Northern Manitoba and left as a top student when she was 11. When she moved south, she was behind and fell even further behind when they moved to Toronto. She wondered if she might have a learning disability but with tutoring she caught up and graduated.  She studied sciences, hoping to go into medicine.

Her drama instructor encouraged her to write and go into the arts, an idea she was not excited about. Her grandma agreed she should go for it. The more she thought about it, she loved films and she thought, “I would love to be able to be part of something like that, tell a story, but indigenizing it and looking at indigenous content, representation is so important.” She applied to film school and received all the acceptance letters for the other schools she applied to and the film school, too.

She explored film school and decided to go for it. She worked hard and applied to all of the internships until she got her first industry job working for CTV News with Lloyd Robertson doing research. Next, she did audience coordination at Toronto One, then worked on short films, with her first winning awards internationally. She also worked for Big Soul Productions on Indigenous content. In her career, she’s travelled across Canada for stories and produced historic moments for the Olympics.

She’s learned a lot of lessons. “One thing that was always told to me is just show up, because you don't know what's gonna happen when you show up. Sometimes we do want these things to happen instantaneously, but it does take time. When you do show up and be part of it and act on those instincts, you might be surprised, because you might find a mentor, you might find someone else who will be your auntie. If we don't take that step, even though it does feel uncomfortable, we're missing out,” she reflects.

“Whatever you're passionate about, whatever excites you, even though it seems like there's nobody in there: Go and do it.”

Getting into the male-dominated industry was a challenge for Mintram, especially as an Indigenous person. She finally got her yes, starting as a program coordinator and moving into production and writing. “It's a gradual process. Not everything is going to come easily, but you need to act like you need to step up and be humble because sometimes we need to take those small jobs and at least you're learning, you can still learn and see how things are running, how things are done, right?” she counsels. She knows experience helps for leadership roles and rushing leads to burnout.

“Be authentic, true to yourself, and recognize the fact that you're your own advocate. You're the star of your own life.”

In all she does, she’s thinking of the future generations and how she has benefited from her ancestors and their efforts. “We're making ripples. We're making waves and with that, in order to make a ripple and a wave, you have to have impact, right? You gotta throw that stone, or you gotta work hard, and sometimes when you hit water, it's hard ... .But you still need to act and do it, even though it seems hard,” she muses. She knows how important trailblazers are and credits the mentors and aunties who guided her and shaped her career.

“We need to have highs and we need to have lows, and that helps build character. We can't always have highs. We can't always get what we want. We can't always have instantaneous success.”

If she could give her younger self advice, it would be like the advice she gives her son, which is, ”I remind him of our protocols. I remind him of our ways…. and give him the courage to go and do it, walk in that confidence, because us playing small isn't helping anybody… Who you are is important, and you're a part of our circle, and you will always be part of that circle, and recognizing the value you have in our community is so important. Sometimes it's easy to look down on yourself, or do self sabotage, or thinking ‘Who am I to? I'm just this little person.’ But playing small isn't really going to help you or your community. So don't be afraid to walk in confidence. Don't be afraid to take your place. Don't be afraid to find your passion. Don't be afraid to find something that sparks who you are, because who you are is important in community and you have gifts and talents that no other person has… Don't be afraid to take those risks and go, who am I and what excites me? Explore it. Do your research. Go show up. Do the work, because you'll find you'll grow… We all have our own bundles, and when we show up in community, and we are part of that circle, that bundle is important in our community, so bring it."

Knowing film and television bridges people together, Marylou Mintram decided she wanted to be part of that magic. Being authentic, showing up and making an impact, she’s thinking of the next seven generations to come as she creates films that matter. She thought she would go into medicine, but she ended up making it on screen, sharing stories with a powerful medium.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.