Danis Goulet

Originally from La Ronge, Saskatchewan, Goulet moved to Toronto in the early 2000s to work as a casting coordinator, but opted to return to school to study filmmaking after being asked to cast a “Pocahontas type” for an American television pilot, convincing her that Indigenous people needed more creative control over their own stories. She has directed a number of films, including Spin (2004),[Divided by Zero (2006), Wapawekka (2010), Barefoot (2012), Wakening (2013), and Night Raiders (2021) – inspired by Indigenous resistance movements.

Goulet has served for a number of years as artistic director of the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. In its year-end review of Canadian film and television in 2021, the trade magazine Playback named Goulet the Director of the Year. Screening: Night Raiders: Set in a dystopian version of North America in the year 2044, the film centres on Niska (Elle-Maija Tailfeathers), a Cree woman who joins a resistance movement to the military government in order to save her daughter. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZC_MimYhos