Mi'kmaq Storyteller: Catherine Martin

Produced and directed by Jeff Bear and Marianne Jones
Urban Rez Productions
24 minutes per part • 2008
Available on VHS and DVD

Telling stories was always something her family did–so when Catherine Martin began making films, she already had a long history of storytelling. After a short drama and documentary on Maliseet artist Shirley Bear, Martin directed The Spirit of Annie Mae, a National Film Board documentary examining the execution-style slaying of Nova Scotia's Annie Mae Pictou-Aquash in South Dakota in 1975.

Martin speaks about her journey through the long-unsolved murder of this active member of the American Indian Movement. In the spirit of Martin's belief that indigenous storytelling can only be done by, for, and about indigenous people first, she made the film to honour Annie Mae and help her daughters understand the journey she took. Two other documentaries by Catherine Martin, Shirley Bear: Reclaiming the Balance of Power and Spirit Wind are available from Moving Images Distribution.

Subject(s): Artists, Filmmaking, Indigenous people