Tank Standing Buffalo is a Canadian artist from

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

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 ...

.Taylor Simmons
"Calgary-based animator ready to walk red carpet as his MONSTR premieres on HBO Max"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

Calgary, March 22, 2023. He is most noted for his 2023 animated short film ''MONSTR'', which was included in

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

's animation anthology ''Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection''.Stephen Hunt
"New film by Calgary's Tank Standing Buffalo streams on HBO"
CTV News Calgary, March 25, 2023.

Background

He is of mixed

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

and

Black Canadian Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent. Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...

descent, and his mother is a member of the

Caldwell First Nation The Caldwell First Nation (, ''meaning: "people of the Lake"'') is a First Nations band government whose land base is located in Leamington, Ontario, Canada. They are an Anishinaabe group, part of the Three Fires Confederacy, comprising the bands ...

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario (census population 2,796,367 in 2021) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula, bounded by Lake Huron (includ ...

. He had a troubled childhood and spent some time in detention as a

young offender Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one's age is low, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an America ...

following a robbery.Travis Klemp
"Tank Standing Buffalo’s RKLSS selected for TIFF"
'' Windspeaker'', September 1, 2020.

Career

His 2020 short film ''RKLSS'' centred on his time as a young offender, shedding light, particularly on the inhumanity of

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

practices, and premiered at the

2020 Toronto International Film Festival The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online stream ...

. He followed up in 2022 with ''SAVJ'', a prequel film about the childhood experience of being taken into

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family mem ...

that first set him on the path to his troubled teenage years. The film featured

Corey Feldman Corey Scott Feldman (born July 16, 1971) is an American actor and musician. As a youth, he became well known for his roles in popular 1980s films such as '' Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter'' (1984), '' Gremlins'' (1984), '' The Goonies'' (198 ...

voicing Standing Buffalo's character and premiered at the 2022

Calgary International Film Festival The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October. CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada. In 2020, thei ...

. ''MONSTR'' centred on his experience following his wife's death of a

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These aneurysms can occur in an ...

, when he confronted his inner demons walking in the forest along the

British Columbia Coast The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada ...

before taking a year-long apprenticeship with a

wood carver Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ...

. The film premiered as part of HBO Max's ''Only You'' in March 2023. In addition to animation, Standing Buffalo has also worked in sculpture, illustration,

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

art and tiki mug design.

Awards

In May 2023, he was named one of the recipients of the inaugural Jeff Barnaby Grant for emerging Indigenous filmmakers from

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and the

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 ...

. At the

2023 Calgary International Film Festival The 2023 edition of the Calgary International Film Festival, the 24th edition in the event's history, took place from September 21 to October 1, 2023 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The festival opened with ''Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life'', a d ...

, ''MONSTR'' won the Devon Bolton Memorial Award for best Alberta short film and the Audience Choice Award for best Alberta short film. In 2021, he was awarded the RBC Emerging Artist Award, a Cultural Leaders Legacy Award from Calgary Arts Development.CADA
"Tank Standing Buffalo: Animation and Autobiography"
''Calgary Arts Development'', July 30, 2021..

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Standing Buffalo, Tank 21st-century Canadian artists Canadian animators Canadian illustrators Film directors from Calgary 21st-century First Nations artists First Nations filmmakers Black Canadian artists Black Canadian filmmakers Potawatomi artists Canadian tattoo artists Male tattoo artists Artists from Calgary Year of birth missing (living people) Living people