Filmmaker Sonia Bonspille Boileau has won the 2017 Feature Film Award from Women In the Director’s Chair’s (WIDC), a professional development organization for female filmmakers in Canada. Given to inspire more women to make movies, the cash and in-kind prize is worth about $200K (approximately $158K USD). Bonspille Boileau received the award last Thursday at a reception hosted by the Whistler Film Festival, a press release announced.
Bonspille Boileau will use the award to finish her second feature, “Rustic Oracle,” a drama about a young Mohawk girl who is searching for her teenage sister alongside her mother.
“I’m extremely honored. To me this is much more than an award to help me make my film,” the director stated. “It’s an opportunity to be a part of the WIDC family: a community of women filmmakers and mentors I know I will be able to count on, and companies I want to work with as my career moves along. I look forward to giving back the same kind of mentorship and support to others in the future.”
“Sonia’s beautifully written script really caught the peer jury’s attention as did her directorial voice in [her first feature] ‘Le Dep,’” said WIDC producer Carol Whiteman. Whiteman will executive produce “Rustic Oracle” as part of the Feature Film Award. She added, “WIDC is privileged to play a role in supporting Sonia to tell this story and grateful for our sponsors’ commitment to helping to level the playing field for women directors in feature film.”
Bonspille Boileau was one of the eight women selected for WIDC’s Story & Leadership Program at the Whistler Film Festival. The program provided the participants script development and director mentorship and networking opportunities.
“Le Dep,” Bonspille Boileau’s 2015 feature debut, is a psychological drama. It centers on a young Innu woman whose life is upturned when she is held at gunpoint while working at her father’s convenience store. Bonspille Boileau has also helmed the docs “Last Call Indian” and “The Oka Legacy,” short film “Ra’satste,” TV movie “Wapikoni,” and episodes of “Mouki.” “Last Call Indian” received the Multiculture Award at the 2011 Gémeaux Awards and “Le Dep” won the Emerging Talent Award at the 2015 ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival.
You can find Bonspille Boileau’s bio as well as the official synopsis for “Rustic Oracle” below. Both are courtesy of WIDC.
Sonie Bonspille Boileau is a bilingual Mohawk filmmaker and graduate from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Over the last decade Sonia has developed and produced television projects in English and French ranging from children’s programming to socially driven documentaries. She won the PRIX DE LA DIVERSITÉ at the 2011 Gala des Prix Gémeaux for her documentary “Last Call Indian.” In 2014, Sonia’s first feature film, “Le Dep,” premiered at the prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic. Since then it has won awards and made the official selection of several festivals around the world. She also made a feature documentary about the impacts of the 1990 Oka Crisis called “The Oka Legacy,” which earned her a Golden Sheaf award at the 2016 Yorkton Film Festival. Sonia is also the 2016 recipient of the APTN Award of Distinction given during the Montreal’s First Peoples Festival. Sonia is now an alumna of the WIDC Story & Leadership where she is developing her sophomore feature film, “Rustic Oracle.”
“Rustic Oracle” is a feature drama about a missing Indigenous teen, seen through the eyes of her eight-year-old sister. As the story unfolds, Ivy witnesses her mother’s growing despair as they search to no avail. Their search for answers is one that no family should have to go through. Nevertheless, their shared fear, pain, and hope bring them closer together. This is much more than a story of loss. It is a story about a daughter and mother learning how to love and care for each other under tragic circumstances. “Rustic Oracle” will be produced by Nish Media, who also produced “Le Dep,” and will star Carmen Moore (“Blackstone”) as Ivy’s mother, Susan.
