Three Indigenous filmmakers have been granted the film rights to Cold Case North: The search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett.
Danis Goulet, a Cree-Métis woman from La Ronge, has joined Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard and Métis filmmaker Shane Belcourt to option, or get film rights to, Cold Case North. Goulet said they make a great team to bring this book to the screen.
“It was so perfect to pair with them in the telling of a story like this.”
The book, which was written by Michael Nest, Deanna Reder and Eric Bell, explores the 1967 disappearance of Indigenous activists Jim Brady and Absolom Halkett.
Goulet said her interest in the project came from wanting to see more Métis stories in film and on television.
“What drew me (to the project) personally was more the person of Jim Brady himself,” she said. “Obviously he’s an important figure and was an organizer for Métis people and Métis communities, and I feel like not enough of these stories are told on the screen.”
Goulet said she was also enticed by the project as it is set near her home community of La Ronge.
“A lot of the stories that I’m interested in are about the north, northern Saskatchewan and where I come from, so the fact that this story was set up in northern Saskatchewan was a huge draw for me.”
Goulet said the team is still in the research phase and haven’t decided whether they will take this project to the big film screens or to television screens.
She said they will have a few years to make a film or TV show based on the story under the option agreement.
(PHOTO: Goulet, Hubbard and Belcourt each have experience making films on Indigenous topics. Photos courtesy of the Shane Belcourt, the National Film Board of Canada and Danis Goulet.)