Unreserved The rise of Indigenous cinema

When Eva Thomas was working as an actor in Los Angeles a decade ago, her aim wasn't to tell stories solely about her Indigenous identity. But non-stereotypical Indigenous roles were hard to come by.

"As I tried to go out for roles and projects, it became really limiting in the type of roles that I could get," she told host Rosanna Deerchild

Often, the roles she auditioned for were known as "leather-and-feather" roles.

"They wanted to put us on a horse, put me in leather and put feathers in my hair," she said. "I worked every October for the Thanksgiving commercials and the Thanksgiving episodes of soap operas."

Thomas, a member of Walpole Island First Nation in southwestern Ontario, decided that for things to change, she should learn to cre

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