Kelton Stepanowich

Kelton Stepanowich is a largely self-taught Metis/Cree artist from the community of Janvier, Alberta who honed his film skills by absorbing movies through the internet, and by working on the set of APTN’s series, Blackstone. Kelton’s short film Gods Acre – about a man determined to protect his land at all costs – was the only Alberta film to play in the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Gods Acre was also accepted into the 2016 TIFF directors lab, and Kelton one of 20 filmmakers from across the globe chosen to be part of this program. His feature film The Road Behind (2017) is in post production with release scheduled for 2019 on the Movie Network. The Unmoveable Harvey Sykes (2017) short documentary is also scheduled for release in 2019 on CBCshort Docs. He has received the 2015 Regional Aboriginal ‘artist of the year’ Recognition Achievement Award; the 2016 Whistler Film Festival Aboriginal Filmmaker Fellowship; a position in the 2016 ImagineNative Director Lab. His films have been shown at the International Film Festivals in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Whistler, Seattle, and Vancouver, and at the Maoriland Film Festival in New Zealand, FlickerFest Film Festival and ImagineNative Film Festival, Danforth East Short Film Festival, and others. Kelton is inspired to share the world he sees through his films: “I want people to understand what being indigenous means to me – to experience my work and know that it’s me. I want to create films that have never been done before.”