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00:00She is the definition of visionary and I am excited to tell you why.
00:05Jessica has not only excelled in her career as an actor,
00:09but she has also used her success to elevate the voices and stories of indigenous communities.
00:15Stories that have long been misrepresented or left unheard.
00:20For example, her recent wonderful work in the series Dark Winds and the film Res Ball is not just entertainment.
00:28These projects are powerful vehicles for change.
00:32What sets Dark Winds apart is its authentic representation of Navajo traditions, spirituality, and worldview.
00:40Similarly, Res Ball, a film about high school basketball in a rural indigenous community,
00:46also stands out for its deep respect for indigenous culture and the ways in which it connects young people to their roots.
00:54She is passionate about ensuring that indigenous characters are portrayed in a way that reflects the depth, complexity, and diversity of real-life indigenous communities.
01:04Jessica is also involved in lifting up future indigenous filmmakers,
01:09co-founding the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy, which guides budding indigenous film and TV storytellers.
01:16Let's play an example of her work. This is a clip from Res Ball.
01:24All right, Tyson.
01:26Back in the day,
01:31we relied on our traditions.
01:34Some of you may feel uncertain
01:37about the future.
01:44Some of you may have
01:47unanswered questions.
01:50Why things happen.
01:55It's a good time to let it all go.
02:01Ask for the strength
02:06to carry on.
02:09Despite our loss,
02:13you all descend from warriors.
02:18A true warrior is not afraid to grieve.
02:29I am so honored to be one of the producers on Res Ball.
02:32And, you know, one of the other EPs who's also here tonight was saying that when she first saw Jessica,
02:38she immediately knew Jess was going to be Coach Heather.
02:41She carries that film.
02:43And I remember when I first met Jessica,
02:45I was so struck by her passion for her work and her community.
02:50And that really stayed with me.
02:52Because my work has long been rooted in the understanding that representation matters.
02:57And representation matters because it gives people hope of what can be.
03:02It is so rare to meet people who understand that on such a profound level like she does.
03:10So it is with great honor and immense pride that I present this Visionary Award to Jessica Matten.
03:31Hi, everyone. I'm so nervous.
03:33I figured I'd just say it to get it out of my system.
03:37Kathy, thank you so, so much.
03:41Kathy is a powerhouse in herself.
03:44And honestly, it's such an honor that you would do this for me.
03:48And I think this is a great example of the power of strangers in my life taking a chance on me.
03:58And being able to stand here in front of all of you.
04:03I'll tell you a little story in a second.
04:06But let me just say there's a beautiful ripple effect.
04:09So, Kathy, thank you so much.
04:12The reason why I chose her and asked her and begged her if she could present was because of where she comes from.
04:22And what she represents to me.
04:24And I'm sure to tons of other women in this business who have worked so hard and passionately to get to where they are.
04:31I know there's so many people in this room who understand that.
04:35So, thank you again. Thank you.
04:38So, first of all, I'm going to do a little prayer.
04:45My family is Red River Métis Cree from Canada.
04:49From a community up in Canada called St. Eustache.
04:52My sixth grandfather, great grandfather, was the first rebel Métis leader of our nation.
04:59So, I would like to think that I am just part of that lineage of ancestors and the people before me that are trying to serve justice to our people in this time frame.
05:17And here's the irony of that prayer.
05:19I was saying thank you, creator.
05:21Thank you for all of this.
05:23All my relations.
05:24We are all connected.
05:26The irony of that now is that I learned how to speak my language from doing a TV show about ten years ago.
05:35So, there's a great example in itself.
05:38I'm so tall. I'm just going to lean here.
05:40That is a great example of what film and TV can do for a culture.
05:46And how to help bring a culture back in terms of being empowered.
05:51So, a little background story.
05:53My mother opened one of the first native modeling agencies in Canada back in the early 90s.
06:00And I was five years old.
06:02And I saw all these aunties, as I called them, with bruises on their face and arms coming in.
06:07And I didn't know any different.
06:09You know, they're just my aunties.
06:11My aunties with these marks on their bodies.
06:14And it wasn't until I was older that I realized that what my mother was creating was not a place to be skinny and beautiful necessarily.
06:23But a place that would create a safety hub for women coming out of domestic violence situations at home.
06:29Who are coming off the native reserves for the first time.
06:32And if anyone in this room is unfamiliar with native reserves, that is where my heart and passion lies with everything I do to this day.
06:41We have third world conditions in the majority of them.
06:44Some lack access to clean drinking water to this very day.
06:48I have an indigenous film academy as a result of everything that I was raised with.
06:54Where I work on the mental health of young men in particular.
06:58Because there is a correlation and ripple effect of why we have so many missing and murdered indigenous women.
07:05And because of that as well, I use the arts to give back.
07:10To really just create a sense of purpose.
07:12And I think we can all relate to that.
07:14That we need a reason to wake up in the morning.
07:16So to this day, actually after this beautiful award, I'm going back to Canada to work in, you know, minus 30, 40 degree weather.
07:26To work on a short film that I got funded for some of my students.
07:30And honestly, I just use that as a way to constantly uplift them in a way that someone has given me a chance in this business.
07:39And again, I just want to thank everyone here.
07:42This is really surreal.
07:44Even though I'm leaning in this casual pose.
07:46I swear it's just because I'm really tall.
07:48But when I was 12 years old, I was digging out of industrial garbage cans in Vancouver, Canada.
07:57And I just like to be standing here now.
08:02It kind of proves the theory that you really can do whatever you want in this life.
08:09It's limitless if you're coming from a place of spirit.
08:13And when I say spirit, there was a saying by someone that said, if you try to be the light at least for even five seconds in a day, then you become the creator yourself.
08:25And when you do that, it just makes more room for creator to enter your life on a daily basis.
08:33I don't know.
08:34That kind of stuck with me.
08:35I'll leave you with this one prophecy.
08:37And it's kind of a guiding force of my life.
08:40And it's a prophecy that the Haudenosaunee people, the Iroquois people, and many tribes follow.
08:46And I'm not as eloquent as a guest speaker as these incredible speakers that have been up here.
08:54But I will try to recite it to the best of my knowledge.
08:57Crazy Horse said, seven generations from now, my people will rise again through the arts.
09:04And we will meet under the sacred tree.
09:06And through that, our people will heal.
09:09And we will heal each other.
09:11And if you do the calculations, that year is 2024.
09:16So we are the seventh generation.
09:19And I don't want to believe it's Native.
09:21It's all of us.
09:22So thank you for all the work that I don't see that everyone in this room equally does.
09:33And just know that you are part of that seventh generation and the healing.
09:39And that's what this life is about, isn't it?
09:41It's about how can we help each other?
09:45How can we learn?
09:46There's no losing.
09:47There's just lessons.
09:48I follow all of that.
09:50So chi-miigwech, all my relations to all of you.
09:54Thank you so, so much.