Sonia Bonspille Boileau facts for kids

Sonia Boileau is a talented filmmaker from Canada. She is part of the Mohawk Nation, which is a group within the First Nations people. The Mohawk Nation is also part of the larger Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

About Sonia Boileau

Sonia Boileau grew up in two places. One was Oka, where her father was from. The other was Kanesatake, her mother's Mohawk community. In 2010, she made a film called Last Call Indian. This film explored her personal ties to Kanesatake. It also looked at how the government affected Indigenous lives. The film touched on her family's connection to the Shingwauk Indian Residential School. Sonia speaks both English and French. She has made many films and shows in both languages.

Sonia's Education

Sonia Boileau studied many different parts of filmmaking. She learned about acting and film production. She first earned a degree in dramatic arts from College Lionel Groulx. After that, she studied film at the Université de Montreal.

She continued to learn more about making films. She attended the New York Film Academy at La Femis. She also studied scenography, which is about designing sets, at Université de Quebec a Montreal. Finally, she earned a bachelor's degree in film production from Concordia University.

Sonia's Film Career

Sonia Boileau's first big movie was Le Dep. She made this film with a grant of less than $250,000 from Telefilm Canada. The movie was first shown at the 2015 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In 2016, Sonia worked with other filmmakers, Mike Jonathan and Jeremiah Tauamiti. They took part in a project called Native Slam.

In 2017, she wrote and directed a short film. It was called We'll Always Have Toynbee. This film starred Cheri Maracle and David Julian Hirsh. It won the Best Live Short award at the 2018 American Indian Film Festival.

Her second major film was Rustic Oracle. This movie starred Carmen Moore, Lake Delisle, and Kevin Parent. It premiered at the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival. Carmen Moore won Best Supporting Actress for her role. Lake Delisle won Best Lead Actress at the 2019 American Indian Film Festival.

Films and TV Shows by Sonia Boileau

Awards and Recognition

Sonia Boileau has received several awards for her work. In 2017, she won the Women in the Director's Chair (WIDC) Feature Film Award. This award helped her get funding for her film Rustic Oracle. Telefilm Canada also invested in her Rustic Oracle project.

Her film Le Dep received an Honourable Mention. This was in the BC Spotlight and Canadian Images Awards. The award recognized the film for "telling the story of a whole community within one small, detailed space." Le Dep was shown at many film festivals. These included VIFF 2015, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015, imagineNative 2015, and the Montreal's First Peoples Film Festival 2015. It also won awards for best actress at the 2015 American Indian Film Festival. It won best narrative feature at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival in 2016.

Sonia's 2010 documentary Last Call Indian was nominated for several awards. It was nominated for best feature-length documentary at the 2011 Gemini Awards. It was also nominated for best point-of-view documentary at the 2011 Yorkton Film Festival. At the Gala des Prix Gémeaux in 2011, it was nominated for best music in a documentary and won the Diversity Prize.

Her French children's series, Mouki, was also recognized. It was nominated for the best French children's program at the Rockie Awards. This was part of the 2011 Banff World Media Festival.