Trevor Mack facts for kids

Trevor Mack is a talented filmmaker, writer, and thinker from the Tsilhqot'in Nation in Canada. He was born on June 28, 1992. Before becoming a well-known director, he was also an extreme sports athlete in Crashed Ice.

Trevor Mack is famous for writing, directing, and producing his first full-length movie, Portraits from a Fire. He also made several short films like The Blanketing, Clouds of Autumn, and In the Valley of Wild Horses. His movie Portraits from a Fire was shown for the first time at the 2021 Atlantic International Film Festival. It was the very first story-based movie written and directed by a Tsilhqot'in filmmaker.

Trevor Mack's Film Career

Trevor Mack started his journey into filmmaking when he was just 15 years old. He began by editing videos from the popular Xbox video game series Halo. He would create special video clips called montages and share them on online forums and YouTube.

As his videos became popular, he helped start a group called 'Viral Design'. This group created promotional videos for big companies like Red Bull and SteelSeries.

In 2011, Trevor joined a film program at Capilano University in North Vancouver, BC. However, he decided to leave the program in his second year.

Right after leaving film school, he started working on a project called 'Cuystwi'. This program helped teach children in Indigenous communities how to express themselves through filmmaking. He worked with other Indigenous filmmakers like Damien Bouchard, Amanda Strong, and Asia Youngman on this project.

The Blanketing (2013)

The Blanketing is a fictional story that mixes two important historical events for the Tsilhqot'in people. It combines the 1864 Tsilhqot'in War and the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic. The film shows how difficult these events were for the Tsilhqot'in Nation. However, it ends with hopeful and strong images, a theme Trevor Mack often uses in his films.

Trevor started raising money for The Blanketing in 2011. After 10 months of planning, he began filming in the summer of 2012. The short film was shown for the first time in his hometown of Williams Lake, British Columbia, on May 3, 2013. It was then accepted into several film festivals.

Clouds of Autumn (2015)

Clouds of Autumn tells the story of a brother and sister living in a Tsilhqot'in community. Their happy childhood is changed when the sister is sent to a Canadian residential school in the early 1970s.

Trevor Mack worked with filmmaker Matthew Taylor Blais on this film. They wanted to learn about each other's cultures by telling this important story together. Trevor's own grandmother had 13 children, and 10 of them, including his mother, were sent to residential schools. Some were as young as 6 years old.

With a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Trevor began filming Clouds of Autumn in August 2014. The film was first shown in North America at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It also played at many other festivals and won awards.

• Best Canadian Short Drama, 2015 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
• Prix Jeunesse, 2016 Festival Cine Alter'Natif
• Achievement in Cinematography, 2016 Air Canada EnRoute Film Festival

ʔEtsu (Grandmother) (2017)

In the summer of 2017, Trevor Mack made ʔEtsu (Grandmother) with a small budget of $500. He worked with actor Elias Louie, who also appeared in Clouds of Autumn. This short film is a POV-style look at family relationships in an isolated community in Canada. The film was shown at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival.

In The Valley of Wild Horses (2018)

Trevor Mack co-directed this short documentary with fellow Indigenous filmmaker Asia Youngman. They partnered with the Xeni Gwe'tin First Nations and TELUS Originals. The film follows the Xeni Gwet'in Youth Wagon trip, an 8-day journey by horse and wagon. The trip covers 200 kilometers, starting from Nemiah Valley and ending at Williams Lake. The film premiered at the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival and was shown at other festivals.

Portraits from a Fire (2021)

Portraits from a Fire is Trevor Mack's first full-length movie. He worked with writers Manny Mahal and Derek Vermillion, cinematographer Kaayla Wachell, and producers Kate Kroll and Rylan Friday. The idea for the story came from Trevor's own healing process after a difficult experience in Vancouver in 2016.

Portraits from a Fire is a coming-of-age story about a unique teenager named Tyler. Tyler spends his time recording his Indigenous community and hanging out with his grandparents. He meets Aaron, an older teenager who encourages him to share his videos about his family with the community. This leads to important discoveries about the past, future, life, and family relationships.

The film was first shown at the 2021 Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It also played at many other film festivals. As of July 2025, Portraits from a Fire has won 15 awards.

• Best Feature Film, 2021 Edmonton International Film Festival
• Best B.C. Film & B.C. Emerging Filmmaker Award: Trevor Mack, 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival
• Best Director: Trevor Mack & Best Supporting Actor: Asivak Koostachin, 2021 American Indian Film Festival
• Best Script, 2021 Canada China International Film Festival
• Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award: Kate Kroll, Rylan Friday, Trevor Mack, 2021 Indiescreen Awards
• Best Picture & Best Direction & Best Cinematography & Best Score & Best Editing, 2022 Leo Awards
• Best Picture & One to Watch: Trevor Mack, 2022 Vancouver Film Critics Circle
• Best Feature Film, 2022 Shining Mountains Film Festival

Red Bull Crashed Ice Competitions

Trevor Mack competing during the 2014 Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

While making his first short films, Trevor Mack also competed in the Canadian tour of the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships. From 2011 to 2015, these competitions were held in Canadian cities like Quebec City, Niagara Falls, and Edmonton.

Red Bull Crashed Ice, now known as Ice Cross Downhill, is an exciting winter extreme sport. Athletes skate downhill on a special ice track with sharp turns and steep drops. It's similar to ski cross, but on ice skates instead of skis.

Community Involvement

In April 2023, Trevor Mack helped lead a group of Tsilhqot'in representatives to the Brooklyn Museum. Their goal was to reconnect with several sacred Tsilhqot'in baskets. These baskets were taken from Tsilhqot'in territory in 1905 and later sold to the museum. The process of bringing these important baskets back to the Tsilhqot'in people is currently in progress.