Alexandra Lazarowich is a

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

director and producer from

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. Initially working as a child actress and model, by the age of 27 she had produced 9 films. She is the producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's '' Still Standing''. Lazarowich made '' Fast Horse'', a documentary about

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'', or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bl ...

Indian Relay racers, in honour of Thomas Many Guns of the

Siksika Nation The Siksika Nation (; syllabics , ) is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name ''Siksiká'' comes from the Blackfoot words ''sik'' (black) and ''iká'' (foot), with a connector ''s'' between the two words. The plural form of ''S ...

, who brought the revitalized sport to the community. ''Fast Horse'' won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, and the Best Documentary Work Short Format Award at the 2018

ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples ...

. Additionally ''Fast Horse'' won three Golden Sheaf Awards at the 2019

Yorkton Film Festival Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in we ...

, in the Best of Festival, Best

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

, and Best Multicultural (Under 30 Minutes) categories. Other films include ''Cree Code Talker'' (2016), about a man using his Indigenous language to relay code during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It won Best Documentary at the 2016 ImagineNATIVE Festival. Her short documentary ''LAKE'', about

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

women net fishing, was produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

. It premiered at the 2019 Hot Docs Festival in Toronto and screened at the 2019 ImagineNATIVE festival. Other awards include: the 2012 American Indian Films Festival Best Animation award for ''Fighting Chance''; and the 2013 Dreamspeakers Film Festival Best Documentary Under 30 Minutes award for ''Cyber Bullying''. Lazarowich is also the recipient of the Rising Director Mentorship Award from the 2018 ImagineNATIVE Festival.

External links

* Lake by Alexandra Lazarowich on NFB(video) - https://www.nfb.ca/film/lake/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarowich, Alexandra Living people Cree people Film directors from Edmonton First Nations filmmakers Canadian women film directors Canadian women film producers Year of birth missing (living people) Sundance Film Festival award winners 21st-century First Nations women 21st-century First Nations people