Joseph Tekaroniake Lazare (born June 19, 1984) is a Mohawk director, producer, writer and actor. He is a member of the Wolf Clan.

Joseph Tekaroniake Lazare
BornJune 19, 1984
NationalityMohawk

Early life edit

Lazare grew up in Kahnawake, a Mohawk reserve south of the Saint Lawrence River and across from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He began filmmaking at 12 years old through Teioiaks, a local summertime film production program.[1] After attending Kahnawake’s local high school, Lazare left a collegiate film and television production program to intern at Aboriginal owned and operated Big Soul Productions in Toronto, Ontario.

Career edit

Lazare’s films To the Rescue and Mervin were each selected to screen at the Toronto International Teen Movie Festival (now The YoungCuts Film Festival).[1] After gaining attention from Bird Runningwater (Mescalero Apachi/Cheyenne),[2] Associate Director of Native American and Indigenous Programs for the Sundance Institute, Lazare's Might of the Star Chaser premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.[1][3] Might of the Star Chaser is a multi-platform animation that tells the story of a young space officer trying to save his planet from being destroyed by an evil lizard bent on repopulating its species. The same year, Lazare participated in CyberPowWow,[4] an interactive visual art exhibition web-hosted by Oboro Gallery in Montreal.[5] In 2007, along with Big Soul Productions, Lazare produced By the Rapids, a Mohawk-language children's animated series. The show was picked up by APTN and ran for 4 seasons, making it the first prime time Aboriginal animated series.[6][7] By the Rapids is the story of Cory Littlehorn, a pampered urban teen, and his parents as they adjust to life with their extended family members and eccentric neighbours in a quirky Mohawk community.[8]

Filmography edit

Title Year Role
Bat Kidd 1999 Director, writer, actor
To the Rescue 2000 Director, writer, actor
Mervin [9] 2001 Director, writer, actor
Might of the Star Chaser [10] 2002 Director, writer, actor
Good Looking [11] 2004 Director, writer
By the Rapids (4 seasons) [12] 2006-2010 Creator, director, writer, producer, actor
DYS 2014 Actor
Mohawk Girls 2014–present Actor

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Joseph Lazare | National Museum of the American Indian". filmcatalog.nmai.si.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  2. ^ "N. Bird Runningwater". IMDb. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  3. ^ "2007 September/October Feature: Animation". www.nativepeoples.com. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  4. ^ "CyberPowWow". www.cyberpowwow.net. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  5. ^ "OBORO | A centre dedicated to production and presentation of art, contemporary practices and new media". www.oboro.net. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  6. ^ "By The Rapids Cartoon | The Nation: Cree News". The Nation: Cree News. 2008-10-24. Archived from the original on 2018-01-13. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  7. ^ "Iori:wase: News from the Kanien'kehá:ka Nation". kahnawakenews.com. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  8. ^ "By The Rapids | APTN". aptn.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  9. ^ "Mervin - National Museum of the American Indian".
  10. ^ "Might of the Starchaser - National Museum of the American Indian".
  11. ^ "Good Looking - National Museum of the American Indian".
  12. ^ "By the Rapids - National Museum of the American Indian".