Danis Goulet facts for kids

Danis Goulet, born in 1977, is a talented film director and writer from Canada. She is a First Nations person, with both Cree and Métis heritage. Her first big movie, Night Raiders, came out in 2021.

Early Life and Background

Danis Goulet grew up in La Ronge, Saskatchewan. Her mother worked at the First Nations University of Canada. Her father, Keith Goulet, is Cree. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). He speaks the Cree language fluently. He grew up in the Cree community of Cumberland House Cree Nation. His family lived by trapping, hunting, fishing, and gathering.

After finishing high school, Danis traveled to other countries. She came back to Regina in 1998.

Danis Goulet's Film Career

Danis Goulet started working in the film industry in 1998. Her first job was helping to find actors for a TV show. This show was about the life of Chief Big Bear. She worked in film in Saskatchewan and Alberta for two years.

Moving to Toronto and Finding Her Voice

In the early 2000s, Goulet moved to Toronto. She went to the Canadian Film Centre to study filmmaking. She realized how important it was for Indigenous people to tell their own stories. She felt they needed more control over how their stories were shown. This idea came to her when she was asked to find an actor for a "Pocahontas type" role.

She went to a filmmaking workshop in New York. This helped her make her first short film. Since then, she has directed many films. Some of her short films include Spin (2004) and Wakening (2013).

Advocating for Indigenous Film

In 2013, Goulet helped write a report for Telefilm Canada. This report looked at why there were not many Indigenous feature films made in Canada. For several years, she was the artistic director of the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. This festival celebrates Indigenous film and media. She also worked as a consulting producer for the TV show Trickster in 2020. She later left the show due to concerns about the creator's background.

Night Raiders and Its Impact

Danis Goulet started writing Night Raiders in 2013. Her short science-fiction film Wakening inspired her to try more sci-fi stories. She filmed Night Raiders in Ontario in 2019. The final editing was done in New Zealand.

Night Raiders had the biggest budget for an Indigenous-led Canadian film. This was a new record. Goulet said the film was inspired by Indigenous resistance movements. These are movements where Indigenous people stand up for their rights.

The famous New Zealand director Taika Waititi helped produce Night Raiders. The movie first showed at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival in March 2021. It was also one of the first films chosen for the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. Danis Goulet received the TIFF Emerging Talent Award in 2021.

Awards and Recognition

Night Raiders was nominated for 11 awards at the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards. This was the most nominations for any film that year. Goulet was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. She won the award for Best Original Screenplay. The film was also nominated for Best Picture.

In 2021, Playback magazine named Goulet the Director of the Year. She also directed an episode of the TV show Reservation Dogs. This show is very popular.

Recently, Danis Goulet was announced as the director for a new Netflix thriller film called Ivy. The Brazilian actress Alice Braga is set to star in it.

Personal Life

Danis Goulet is married to Tony Elliott. They have a son and a daughter.

Awards