Amanda Strong is a Michif, Indigenous filmmaker, and stop-motion puppet animation director currently based in the unceded Coast Salish territories known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. As Owner, Director, and Producer of Spotted Fawn Productions, her work explores themes of blood memory and reclamation of Indigenous histories, lineage, language and culture. Strong will be discussing her work, her experiences as a media artist, and screening a selection of short films.

Strong’s puppet animation film productions include Four Faces of the Moon, Flood, and Biidaaban (The dawn comes), which won the 2018 VIFF Best British Columbia Short Film Award. As an artist she has been recognized with the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Awards for Emerging Film and Media Artist (2016). Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin selected Strong to be the recipient of the Gilmour Technicolour Prize (2016), acknowledging Strong’s important contributions to contemporary Indigenous cinema.

Strong’s films have screened across the globe, most notably at Cannes, TIFF, VIFF, and Ottawa International Animation Festival. She has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, BC Arts Council and the NFB. Spotted Fawn Productions is currently developing new short animations Wheetago War and Spirit Bear. Her work can be seen online, on television, in festivals and in galleries and museums. Strong received a BAA in Interpretative Illustration and a Diploma in Applied Photography from the Sheridan Institute.

The 2D-Experimental Animation program in Design and Dynamic Media is proud to host our guest.