Darlene Naponse Bio

Darlene Naponse is an Ojibway woman from Atikameksheng - Whitefish Lake First Nation in Northern Ontario, Canada. She is a writer, director, producer and poet. She is an independent filmmaker creating “Rez-Style” films. She is committed to living and working from and in her reserve, while enjoying the technology outside her community.

Darlene’s short films and feature film have screened in different film/video festivals across Mother Earth, including the Sundance Film Festival in 2001/2002/2003. Her work has also been broadcasted on National and International Television.

Darlene owns and operates award winning Pine Needle Blankets Productions an Ojibway Multi-Media Production company, located in Whitefish Lake First Nation, in Northern Ontario. For the last 7 years, Pine Needle Blankets Productions has served the needs of a Native and Northern clientele, creating professional broadcast productions, internationally screened films and producing high profile projects.

Darlene also exhibits her video work in galleries and various screenings, across Canada and Internationally. She continues to create work that allows imagery and story to uniquely weaved together.

VIDEO EXHIBITIONS:

2006 Nuit Blanche / Grande ExpÈrience, MaRS Centre Atrium, Toronto - ON
2006 Mobile Media 2, Ontario Arts Council, Art Gallery of Sudbury - ON
2006 Mobile Media 2, Ontario Arts Council, WKP Kennedy Gallery, North Bay - ON
2005 Back/Flash, curated by Dana Claxton, Winnipeg Art Gallery Exhibition - MAN
2004 Invasions: Part 2 - A media exchange, Elements Collective, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto - ON
2004 Invasions: Part 1 - A media exchange, Elements Collective, Whitefish Lake First Nation - ON
2003 Back/Flash, curated by Dana Claxton at the Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre - AB
2003 Uncommon Projections, Elements Collective, This Ain’t the Only CafÈ, Sudbury - ON
2003 Saskchewan Art Board Tour - ENGLAND
2003 VMAC trajectory: parscours, Elements Collective, Toronto - ON
2002 Video Screening & Installation, Bearing Elements, Elements Collective, Sudbury - ON
2002 Respect is Burning, Group screening Bearing Elements, Elements Collective, Sudbury - ON
2001 HeadFrame Venice Biennale, Venice, ITALY
2001 William Turner Gallery, part of L.A. Biannual, L.A., U.S.A.
2001 Video Screening Tranz Tech- The Toronto International Video Biennial - ON
2001 The Story in Six Parts group screening at the Art Gallery of Sudbury - ON

FREELANCE WORK:

* First Nations Script Consultant/Writer, First Nation Locations, Shania, A Life In Eight Albums, M.O.V. (CBC) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation * 2005

* Writer, imagineNATIVE, 13 - 1/2hr. Series ~ (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
1/2hr. program exemplifying aboriginal experimental short film/video and multi-media. * 2000

* Writer/Line Producer, imagineNATIVE, 13 - 1/2hr. Series ~ (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, 1/2hr. program exemplifying aboriginal experimental short film/video and multi-media. * 1999

* Lighting Director Internship, (CBC) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, (CNAF) Canadian Native Arts Foundation - National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, Lighting Dir; Brad Dickson, January - May 1996

* Segment Producer/Cultural Advisor/Field Camera, for Much Music. A 2 hr. live show on Aboriginal Youth Speaking Out (The Real Deal), Host - Master T, May 1994.

FILMOGRAPHY/SCREENINGS:

Currently Writing; every emotion costs, Feature Film

Writer/Director/Producer; The Post, 15 min. Experimental 16 mm Short Film

2004 Writer/Director/Camera; Storing, 4 min. Experimental Short
Screened; imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto

2004 Writer/Director/Camera; Thessalon First Nation, 20 min. Documentary
A historical look at the Community and the effects of Residential School through the generations.

2003 Writer/Director/Camera; Waiting for the Ice to Melt, 4 min. Experimental Short
Screened; imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto

2002 - 2003 Writer/Director/Producer; Cradlesong, 72 min. musically driven feature film (drama)
Screened; Official Selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival 2003, 2nd Annual Native American Palm Springs Film & Video Festival 2003, imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto, Native American Film and Video Festival - Smithsonian NY, New York

Writer/Director/Camera, Retrace, 5 min. experimental short film
Screened; Official Selection of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, American Indian Film Festival - San Francisco 2002, imagineNATIVE Film Festival - Toronto, Heard Museum Indigenous Film Festival - U.S.A. 2003, Museum London - London, On. 2003, Native American Film and Video Festival - Smithsonian NY, New York Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Writer/Director/Camera; $4 dollar Indian, 2 min. experimental doc
Screened; Saskatchewan Art Board Tour - England, Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival - Toronto, Faculty of Education, York University “Negotiations - Staking Claim(s)” - Toronto, Canada

2000 Writer/Director/Camera; Abandoned Houses on the Reservation, 2 min. Independent Film
Screened; Official Selection of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, imagineNATIVE Film Festival 2000, Toronto, Image Nation - Vancouver Aboriginal Film and Video Festival 2001, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 2001, Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Writer/Director; Black Water Creek, 15 min. Independent Film.
Screened; Saskatchewan Art Board Tour - England 2003, Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival - Toronto 2003 Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Writer/Director/Camera; it never happened ..... , 4:20 min. Independent Experimental short
Screened; NIIPA Film & Video Festival, SHORT Winner1998, Herland Feminist Film/Video Festival 2003,
Aired; (APTN) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, & (WTN) Woman Television Network

**** All films available for screening or purchase by Director or at V-Tape Distributions Toronto

REFERENCES/REEL/PORTFOLIO: Available Upon Request.

Copyright © 2007 by Pine Needle Blankets Productions.