Kelvin Redvers is a producer and film director who belongs to the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation.[1]

Kelvin Redvers in 2007

Biography

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Kelvin Redvers grew up in Hay River, Northwest Territories.[2] He majored in film production and graduated in June 2010 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he gained the proficiency for writing and directing his first short films Playing Cards (2007) and The Night the Robber Came (2009).[2][3] His work covers both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal topics as well as First Nations community and aboriginal current affairs.[2]

Redvers received his first nationwide Bravo! Canada broadcast credit at the age of 21, for The Making of a Haida Totem Pole.[2] Redvers' documentary television series for Knowledge Network titled Our First Voices (2012) proved Redvers as an up-and-coming filmmaker.[2] Because of the success of Our First Voices, Redvers, at the age of 23, was hired in September 2010 by CTV as a producer of CTV-BC's First Story, a Vancouver-based television series and production company that detail Canadian Aboriginal concerns.[3][4] Over the course of three seasons, as of 2014, Redvers had produced twelve episodes for First Story.[3]

In May 2011, Redvers applied for a film grant through BravoFACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent).[5] The funding that he received through BravoFACT allowed Redvers the opportunity to make the seven-minute short film The Dancing Cop.[5] In September 2012, The Dancing Cop premiered in the Short Cuts section at the Toronto International Film Festival and at the Oldenburg Film Festival in Germany.[5][6]

'We Matter' Campaign (2016-present)

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In October 2016, Kelvin Redvers and his sister T'áncháy Redvers launched 'We Matter', a national online campaign designed to bring awareness to the struggles of Indigenous youth across Canada.[7] It is modelled after Dan Savage's 'It Gets Better' campaign and collects videos and writings from each Indigenous community across Canada with the aim of reducing the number of indigenous teen suicides, while also providing them with mental health resources.[8][1] Redvers mails the We Matter videos on USB drives to Indigenous communities across Canada who do not have internet access.[8]

High Arctic Haulers

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The Sedna Desgagnes was one of sealift vessels where Redver's film crews were embedded for the filming of High Arctic Haulers.

Redvers is the series creator for the documentary series High Arctic Haulers, and directed several of its segments.[9] The series follows the hard and challenging work of the men and women behind the annual sealift that brings almost all of the supplies to the many Northern communities not served by roads. Redvers told Nunavut News that he first conceived the idea for the show in 2015, and that part of his motivation was dissatisfaction with how the North was portrayed by film-makers from the south.

Redvers said this was his largest production so far, and that he was managing multiple crews aboard multiple vessels.[9] Redvers said that he had included profiles of First Nations youth taking leadership roles.

Film Awards and Recognition

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Filmography

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Year Title Contribution
2007 Playing Cards (short) Director
2007 Past The Skin (short) Camera and Electrical (grip)
2007 Project Alice (short) Assistant Camera/Camera Operator
2008 A Look at the Life of Morgan Green (short) Director/Producer/Editor/Cinematographer/Publicist
2009 Firebear Called them Faith Healers (short) Director/Producer/Editor
2009 The Night the Robber Came (short) Director/Producer/Writer/Editor/Publicist
2010 Kids Court (short) Director/Producer/Writer
2010 Joan's Account (short) Boom Operator
2010 Pokémon Apocalypse (short) Actor
2010 Two Indians Talking (short) Camera and Electrical (grip/second assistant camera)
2010 Our First Voices (Television Documentary Series) Director
2011 -- First Story (television) Director/Producer
2012 The Dancing Cop (short) Director/Writer/Producer
2013 Evangeline (feature film) Actor
2014 Rattlesnake (short) Director/Producer/Writer
2024 Cold Road Director, producer, writer

References

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  1. ^ a b "Difference Makers: Kelvin Redvers prevents suicide in indigenous communities by sharing messages of hope". Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Kelvin Redvers". British Columbia. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Kelvin Redvers; Award-Winning Aboriginal Filmmaker and Television Producer | SFU OLC". www.sfu.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  4. ^ a b "Kelvin Redvers". cinema politica. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  5. ^ a b c "Kelvin Redvers' latest film will screen at Toronto International Film Festival". The Hub. 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  6. ^ "TIFF debuts a 'dream come true' for NWT films – Northern Journal". norj.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  7. ^ Stronger, I Am. "SASKSF17 Keynote Kelvin Redvers". iamstronger.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  8. ^ a b "'We Matter' campaign speaks directly to Indigenous youth contemplating suicide". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  9. ^ a b Paul Bickford (2020-01-05). "Nunavut sealift documentary series begins Sunday". Nunavut News. Retrieved 2020-01-09. 'A lot of the stories that I directed for High Arctic Haulers, stories I researched and got on the show, are about Indigenous young people doing exciting things,' he said, noting one of his favourite stories is about a 13-year-old Inuit boy who's revitalizing dog sledding in the community of Naujaat (formerly Repulse Bay).
  10. ^ a b c "Moving Images Distribution: Kelvin Redvers". movingimages.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
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