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Little Bird

From Jennifer Podemski, Hannah Moscovitch, and Jeremy Podeswa, the Crave and APTN original drama series, Little Bird, premieres May 26

From a media release:

Crave and APTN premiere their much-anticipated original limited series, LITTLE BIRD, Friday, May 26, which follows an inspirational journey of self-discovery and truth. From Crave, APTN, Rezolution Pictures,OP Little Bird, and in partnership with global producer and distributor Fremantle, the six-part, one-hour limited series explores universal themes of resilience in the face of trauma and loss. It follows Bezhig Little Bird (Darla Contois) as she embarks on a path to find her birth family and uncover the hidden truth of her family history. The series streams on Friday, May 26 on Crave and APTN lumi, in English and French, with subsequent episodes dropping Fridays.

Removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan, Bezhig Little Bird is adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at age five, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them. Her search lands her in the Canadian Prairies, worlds apart from everything she knows. As she begins to track down her siblings, she unravels the mystery behind her adoption and discovers that her apprehension was connected to a racist government policy, now known as the Sixties Scoop. Bezhig’s sense of identity shatters, and she is forced to reckon with who she is and who she wants to become.

Led by Contois, the character-driven drama features a talented cast of Indigenous actors, including: Ellyn Jade; Osawa Muskwa; Joshua Odjick; Imajyn Cardinal; Braeden Clarke; Eric Schweig; and Michelle Thrush. Rounding out the cast is Lisa Edelstein (HOUSE) who plays Esther’s adoptive mother, Golda Rosenblum.

The recent winner of the Audience Award Prize at the 2023 SERIES MANIA Festival in Lille, France, LITTLE BIRD was filmed in and around Winnipeg and Brokenhead Ojibway Nation on Treaty 1 territory, in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Treaty 2 territory, and in Muscowpetung First Nation on Treaty 4 territory. LITTLE BIRD showrunner Jennifer Podemski was also recently presented with an Academy Board Of Directors’ Tribute Award at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.

Alongside the final episode on June 30, Crave and APTN lumi are making available COMING HOME, a 90-minute companion documentary providing historical context, about the Sixties Scoop. Directed by Erica Daniels (Run as One), COMING HOME explores the connections between the ground-breaking movement for Indigenous narrative sovereignty and the impact of the child welfare system as experienced through the LITTLE BIRD series’ Indigenous creatives, crew, and Sixties Scoop advisors. COMING HOME provides a structuring through-line, interwoven with interviews with cast, crew, and community members revealing personal connections to the Sixties Scoop.

LITTLE BIRD is a co-production from Crave and APTN, produced by Rezolution Pictures and OP Little Bird with the participation of the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Manitoba Film and Music, the Rogers Cable Network Fund, the Bell Fund, and the COGECO Independent Production Fund. Additional training funding is provided by Bell Media, the Indigenous Screen Office, REEL Canada and the Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC). Fremantle is distributing the series globally.

Led by an Indigenous creative team, LITTLE BIRD is developed by showrunner Jennifer Podemski and Rezolution Pictures, and created by Podemski and head writer Hannah Moscovitch. The creative team includes directors Zoe Hopkins and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and was written by Hopkins and Moscovitch. The series is executive produced by Christina Fon, Ernest Webb, Catherine Bainbridge, Linda Ludwick (Rezolution Pictures), Kim Todd, Nicholas Hirst (Original Pictures), Jennifer Podemski, Hannah Moscovitch, Zoe Hopkins, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Jeremy Podeswa, along with Christian Vesper and Dante Di Loreto (Fremantle). Producers are Tanya Brunel and Jessica Dunn (OP Little Bird), Claire MacKinnon and Philippe Chabot (Rezolution Pictures) and Lori Lozinski and Ellen Rutter.

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Industry News, Little Bird

Principal photography begins on the Crave original series, Little Bird

From a media release:

Crave announced today, in association with Rezolution Pictures, APTN, and OP Little Bird, that production is underway on the Crave Original drama series, LITTLE BIRD. Created by showrunner Jennifer Podemski (UNSETTLED) and head writer Hannah Moscovitch (X COMPANY), the six-part, one-hour limited series follows an Indigenous woman on a journey to find her birth family, and uncover the hidden truth of her past. The series will be available to audiences in English and French, and Fremantle will handle international distribution.

The character-driven drama features an extraordinary cast of Indigenous actors, led by newcomer Darla Contois (Dhaliwal ’15) along with: Ellyn Jade (LETTERKENNY); Osawa Muskwa (World Ends at Camp Z); Joshua Odjick (The Swarm); Imajyn Cardinal (TRIBAL); Mathew Strongeagle (BLACKSTONE); Eric Schweig (BLACKSTONE); and Michelle Thrush (Bones of Crows).

Award-winning filmmakers Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) and Zoe Hopkins (Run Woman Run) each direct three episodes, while Hopkins writes three of the episodes.

LITTLE BIRD explores themes of resilience in the face of trauma and loss. Removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan, Bezhig Little Bird is adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at the age of five, becoming Esther Rosenblum (Contois). Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them. Her quest lands her in the Canadian prairies, worlds apart from everything she knows. As she begins to track down her siblings, she unravels the mystery behind her adoption, and discovers that her apprehension was connected to a racist government policy now known as the Sixties Scoop. Bezhig’s sense of identity shatters and she is forced to reckon with who she is and who she wants to become.

The production of LITTLE BIRD features a training program that includes opportunities for emerging and mid-career level Indigenous creators and crew as well as for entry-level individuals to gain practical on-set experience leading to subsequent employment in the industry. Built with the understanding that training, skill building, and professional development are integral to building capacity and sustainability in the Indigenous screen sector, the program, is made possible via partnerships with the Indigenous Screen Office, Bell Media, REEL Canada, DGC, DGC Manitoba, and IATSE 856.

LITTLE BIRD is a co-production from Bell Media’s Crave and APTN, produced by Rezolution Pictures and OP Little Bird with the participation of the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and Manitoba Film and Music. Fremantle International is the distributor for the series. Led by an Indigenous creative team, LITTLE BIRD is developed by showrunner Jennifer Podemski and Rezolution Pictures, and created by Podemski and head writer Hannah Moscovitch. The series is executive produced by Ernest Webb, Catherine Bainbridge, Christina Fon, Linda Ludwick (Rezolution Pictures), Kim Todd, Nicholas Hirst (Original Pictures), Jeremy Podeswa, Jennifer Podemski, and Hannah Moscovitch, along with Christian Vesper and Dante Di Loreto (Fremantle). Producers are Tanya Brunel and Jessica Dunn (OP Little Bird), Philippe Chabot (Rezolution Pictures) and Ellen Rutter.

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