Dance Films

The Shooting Gallery Performance 2022

This short film follows a dancer as she share the history of fancy dancing and wrestles with the cultural taboo of dancing with Fancy Bustles. Filmed on Kainai Nation this film shows the strength of creative partnership between Elijah Wells and Jessica McMann. Purchase tickets for streaming here.

CBC Vancouver
IIKITAPIIT focuses on a new dance work and musical composition by Calgary-based Cree artist Jessica McMann that explores violence against Indigenous women, Two-Spirit/Queer identities and an examination of those intersections being a displaced adoptee affected by the 60’s Scoop. A CBC short film directed by Irina Lord with cinematography by Bryce Zimmerman

... speaking nêhiyawêwin to the land and wrestling with the reality of displacement and arrival. This is a dance/movement film with a soundscape score that contains original footage from the Cypress Hills. This work was created with the support of Made in BC through the Re-Centering Margins Residency. Mentored by Rulan Tangen (Filipinx) and writing by Haliehana ‘Alaĝum Ayagaa’ Stepetin (Unangax̂). Cree language support provided by Re-Awakening Our Languages program by Cowessess First Nation. 

Link to review: Re-Centering Margins 2020-2021

"Come and sit, friend. Let's have coffee together, yeah?" Coffee is a work-in-progress funded by Made in BC, Springboard Performance YYC, and The CanDance Presenters Network. Additional support from Raven Spirit Dance, West Village Theater, and Simon Fraser University. Mentored by Jin-Me Yoon and an accompanying responsive essay by Sable Sweetgrass.
Music used with permission by iskwē.

Link to review: Configurations in Motion

Fairy Tales Film Festival 2012
An animation that was created by Elijah Wells based on body movements/choreography by Jessica McMann. This short piece is part of a larger work that explores the role that two-spirit helpers have on Indigenous people struggling with their identity.  The animation gives presence to these spirit-helpers. Supported by Fairy Tales Queer Film Festivals Queer Youth project.