Aboriginal Filmmaker: Marie-Pier Ottawa

My name is Marie-Pier Ottawa. I am Atikamekw and I come from the community of Manawan in Quebec. I studied arts in college in Trois-Rivières, but I had already started to make films when I was about thirteen years old. I used to make horror films with my family in my basement. It was funny to see ourselves on screen, and we would have premieres in front of the entire family.

I then started making films with Wapikoni Mobile. These film projects took me to Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and in Europe. I won the "prix Jeunesse" at the Festival Ciné Alter'Natif in Nantes, France in 2010.

I adore filmmaking. I believe that it is important to create and to use this medium to express ourselves as Aboriginals.

You can see my films on the Wapikoni site.