Indigenous Screen Office announces recipients of the Netflix Apprenticeship and Cultural Mentorship Program

(Top) Gail Maurice, Trevor Solway (Bottom) Michelle St. John, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, Jaene Castrillon

The Indigenous Screen Office announced this week the recipients of the Netflix Apprenticeship and Cultural Mentorship Program including exciting comedy projects by Gail Maurice and Trevor Solway.

Assini Productions is a recipient of the Apprenticeship Program. Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, Michelle St. John, and Jaene Castrillon will apprentice in the roles of director, producer, and 1st AD on the set of Rosie, a bilingual comedy-drama feature film by writer/director/producer Gail Maurice.  

Trevor Solway is a recipient of the inaugural Cultural Mentorship Program. Trevor will receive mentorship over two phases from spiritual leaders, Elders and knowledge keepers, and intern providing mentorship to the Napi Collective to develop a horror, dark comedy web-series.

The Netflix Apprenticeship and Cultural Mentorship Program awarded over $300,000 in grants and funding to 19 Indigenous creatives and production companies across Canada. You can see the full list of recipients here.

“Once again we were overwhelmed with the response and the qualified applications in this round of funding, demonstrating the need and enthusiasm for this kind capacity-building opportunity within the Indigenous screen sector,” said Jesse Wente, Executive Director of the Indigenous Screen Office.

“We were also pleased with the response to the new Cultural Mentorship Program which provides much-needed support and recognition for collaborative and community-based Indigenous approaches.”