28 Facts About Alanis Obomsawin

Alanis Obomsawin's best known documentary is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, regarding the 1990 Oka Crisis in Quebec.

Alanis Obomsawin, which means "pathfinder", was born on August 31,1932, near Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Alanis Obomsawin's mother ran a boarding house and her father was a medicine maker and a guide.

Alanis Obomsawin's father died of tuberculosis when she was twelve.

Alanis Obomsawin's only child, Kisos Obomsawin, was born in 1969.

In 1960, Alanis Obomsawin made her professional debut as a singer-songwriter in New York City.

Alanis Obomsawin was featured on the Canadian Broadcasting television program, Telescope, regarding her campaign to found a swimming pool for native reserve.

Alanis Obomsawin managed her own stage at the Mariposa Folk Festival in the 1960s.

Alanis Obomsawin went on to direct films of her own, while continuing to perform and fight for justice for her people.

Alanis Obomsawin directed her first documentary for the NFB, Christmas at Moose Factory, in 1971.

Alanis Obomsawin filmed an entire series of films about the 1990 Oka crisis.

Alanis Obomsawin's credits include Gene Boy Came Home, about Aboriginal Vietnam War veteran Eugene Benedict.

In 2005, Ms Alanis Obomsawin completed her short drama Sigwan, following a young girl who is aided by the animals of the forest.

In 2010, Alanis Obomsawin completed a short drama When All the Leaves Are Gone, about her experiences attending public school in Quebec.

Alanis Obomsawin began conceptualizing the film in 2010 when she was invited by Stan Louttit, Grand Chief of the Mushkegowuk Council, to film a conference the band was hosting regarding Treaty No 9.

Alanis Obomsawin was named as that year's recipient of TIFF's Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media.

Alanis Obomsawin taught at the Summer-Institute of Film and Television in Ottawa.

For more than 25 years, Alanis Obomsawin has worked as an engraver and print maker, with exhibitions in Canada and Europe.

Alanis Obomsawin's work was exhibited at the Maison Lacombe in Quebec in 2007.

Alanis Obomsawin was named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for 2013.

At the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival, Alanis Obomsawin received the $15,000 Best Canadian Documentary Award, for Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger.

Alanis Obomsawin is a highly distinguished documentary filmmaker, and her prolific, internationally acclaimed output for the National Film Board, spanning almost fifty years, has addressed a huge range of themes and issues relating to Canada's Indigenous peoples.

In March 2001, Alanis Obomsawin received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.

In 2023, Alanis Obomsawin was named recipient of the 63rd Edward MacDowell Medal, becoming the first awardee from the Indigenous land on which the residency program is located.

Alanis Obomsawin has chaired the board of directors of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal and sat on the Canada Council's First People's Advisory Board.

Alanis Obomsawin was a board member of Studio 1, the NFB's Aboriginal studio, and a former advisor to the New Initiatives in Film, a Studio D program for women of color and women of the First Nations.

In May 2017 Alanis Obomsawin received an honorary doctorate from McGill University's School of Continuing Studies.

Alanis Obomsawin's awe-inspiring and unstoppable dedication to social justice and political documentary.