On-Line-Demo: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1758306/videogallery
Web Site: http://pamela-matthews.wix.com/thunderbird
Pamela Matthews (Cree), from the Sachigo Lake First Nation, is an Actor, Filmmaker, Director, Editor, Producer and Instructor with almost thirty years experience in the industry.
As an long-time professional actor, Pam has appeared in Casino Jack, Indian Summer: the Oka Crisis and One Dead Indian - for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the American Indian Film Festival. Her other roles include Lost Girl, The Border, Renegadepress.com, The Rez, Destiny Ridge, Street Legal and North of 60, for which she was nominated for a Gemini Award for her role of Suzie Muskrat .
In 2007, Pam worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England where she appeared in Margaret Atwood's new play The Penelopiad, the first co-production between the RSC and Ottawa's National Arts Centre. Pam has appeared in theatres across the country, including The Rez Sisters at Alberta Theatre Projects, Sunshine Theatre, Theatre Aquarius and O'Kaadenigan Wiingashk.
She currently teaches Film Studies at Ryerson University and Centennial College (Film-TV-Broadcasting). She has been teaching Filmmaking since 2002 for The American Indian Film Institute’s Tribal Touring Program (San Francisco, CA), where she has overseen the production of approximately 75 short films. She also conducts workshops in filmmaking, editing, directing and acting for various organizations including Trinity Square Video, Planet IndigenUS and Planet in Focus.
Pam received her Masters Degree in Film Production from York University, completed undergraduate Film Studies at Ryerson University and graduated from Ryerson Theatre School (many years ago!).
She is currently completing a feature-length docu-drama called Just Another Dead Indian about the wrongful deaths of Aboriginal men in Canada. Her previous film, A Shot in the Dark, a documentary on the murder of Dudley George and the Ipperwash crisis, has been screened at several festivals, including the ImagineNative Film Festival in Toronto, the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco and the Native Spirit Film Festival in England.
Her dramatic film, Only the Devil Speaks Cree, has won several awards including the Best Live Short at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco and the Best Short Film at the Native American Film and Television Alliance Film Festival in Los Angeles. “Only the Devil Speaks Cree ” has also screened in Norway, Switzerland, Germany, England and Darwin, Australia where it won the Best Foreign Film at the Down Under International Film Festival.
Pamela's other film work includes "Lucky 13" for Indigenous Culture & Media Innovations, "Coming Home" for the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians (California), "The Indians in the Cupboard" for the Walpole Island First Nation, "Yolanda the Bully" for the Sachigo Lake First Nation and "Where the Polar Bears Roam " for the Fort Severn First Nation.
Pam has also produced and filmed documentaries for the American Indian Film Institute (One Flew West: The Odyssey of Will Sampson), the Indigenous BarAssociation (We Remember), the Aboriginal Health Centre of Hamilton (The Wringer) and Villagers Media Productions (Olive Dickason’s First Nations). She also did production work on the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards (2002 and 2004), Rez Bluez and many independent films.
In 2014, Pam produced the inaugural AMERICAN INDIAN MOTION PICTURE AWARDS SHOW for the American Indian Film Institute which aired on several U.S. television stations.
Pam is currently developing two dramas - a television series called Is Nanabush Still Alive? and a feature length drama, The Secret of Pelican Lake - both of which were the Drama Pitch Prizes for the ImagineNative Film Festival in 2006 and 2008, respectively.
Pam was a Board Member for the ImagineNative Film Festival, has worked as a programmer for the Reel World Film Festival and, in 1997, was the Interim Artistic Director for Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto. She is currently on the National Advisory Committee for Canada 300, a series of theatrical plays being produced across the country headed by the Watermark Theatre in PEI.
As a theatre director, she has directed numerous productions for theatres across the country including Magnus Theatre, Factory Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, Canadian Stage, The Center for Indigenous Theatre, Woodland Cultural Centre, Buddies in Bad Times and Two Planks and a Passion.
Pam graduated from Ryerson Theatre School in 1989. She also studied directing at the Lincoln Center Theatre in New York City and at the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain in London, England. In 2003, she received the GoldMedal for Outstanding Academic Achievement from Ryerson University’s Department of Film (CE).
