When Impact is the Aesthetic

Panel Talk

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (1996, Philippines) is an independent film writer/director born of Ifugao and Visayan descent. Eblahan’s works explore themes of trauma, spirituality, and nature told through the cosmic lens of post-colonial spaces and Indigenous identities. Known for Umbilical Cord to Heaven, Hilum, and The Headhunter’s Daughter, his works have been selected in various film festivals around the world, such as the Sundance Film Festival and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, where he won the International Student Jury Prize as well as the Special Mention of the International Jury for his 2020 short film Hilum. In 2022, his film The Headhunter’s Daughter was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

Sadetło Scott is a Tłı̨chǫ Dené filmmaker from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She explores Indigenous language and lived experience through film and holds a degree in Indigenous Governance with certificates in film production. Through her company, Zahk’e Productions, she creates work like nihtâwikihew and Edaxàdets’eetè, supporting cultural revitalization and storytelling.

Tracy Rector is a mixed-heritage artist from Turtle Island and co-director of 4th World Media. Centering Indigenous, Black, Communities of Color, and Queer voices, she has worked for nearly four decades as a community organizer, educator, curator, and filmmaker. Her films have screened on PBS, imagineNATIVE, Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto.

Jason Ryle is an Anishinaabe producer, curator, and story editor. He is TIFF’s International Programmer for the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Global Indigenous Cinema. Formerly imagineNATIVE’s Executive Director, he supported Indigenous filmmakers for over two decades and oversaw the EFM’s NATIVe Stand, predecessor to the Indigenous Cinema Alliance.