LISA MEECHES

President, Founding Partner, Executive Producer

 

Member of the Order of Canada and Order of Manitoba, Lisa Meeches is one of the most dynamic and respected producers in the film industry and is Anishinaabe from Long Plain First Nation, Sandy Bay First Nation, and Ebb and Flow First Nation. After studying broadcasting in North Dakota, Lisa began her career in 1986 with the Native Media Network. She later began news reporting for Craig Broadcasting Systems in Manitoba and Alberta, where she established a liaison team that connected the newsroom with surrounding First Nations communities. Her journalism career recently came full circle with a Beyond Borders Media Award for her work on Taken as co-creator, executive producer, and host. Lisa also directs episodes of the series and has been nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards for Taken (Best Factual Series, Best Cross-Platform Project). 

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Lisa has produced numerous projects to critical acclaim including The Sharing Circle, Canada’s longest-running Indigenous television series; Ice Road Truckers; Tipi Tales, a Parent’s Choice award-winning children’s series; and Elijah, a Gemini Award-winning MOW; and the 3-times nominated 2-time winner of CSA’s Jack. She Executive Produced the 4-time CSA nominee and 2-time winner We Were Children, is widely praised by residential school survivors for its power to heal, while general audiences have been moved by its accurate and truthful portrayal of the impacts of Canada’s colonial past. Prior to this project, Lisa travelled the country with her team interviewing residential school survivors about their experiences for the Legacy of Hope project. Lisa was also the Director, Events Planning and Artistic Programming for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Most recently Lisa served as Creative Director/Executive Producer for the National MMIWG Inquiry. Her work was honoured with two gold medals at the international Shorty Awards for excellence in social media. Lisa is Co-Executive Producer on the CBC/eOne/CW series Burden of Truth (four seasons), and was executive producer of Night Raiders written and directed by Danis Goulet and executive produced with Taika Waititi, which premiered at The Berlin Film Festival in 2021. She is executive producing a new doc series that she co-created called 7TH GEN for APTN. Lisa is currently executive producing the feature films Diaspora, and Finality of Dusk. 

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Lisa has been critical to the success of the Manito Ahbee Festival since its inception more than 15 years ago where she has acted in the capacity of board chair on a volunteer basis until stepping down to assume the role of Executive Director. True to her heritage, Lisa is a renowned champion fancy shawl dancer. Lisa is Executive Producer of Orange Daisy Project, a social action campaign in support of mental health for teen girls. Among her numerous awards and nominations are: the 2007 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Media & Communication, the 2009 YMCA-YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in the area of Creative Communications, the University of Manitoba's Excellence in Aboriginal Business Leadership Award, the Women in Film and Television 2009 Crystal Award for Mentorship, and Ms. Chatelaine. Lisa was honoured as a 2020 Trailblazer at the Reelworld Film Festival. 

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KYLE IRVING

Partner, Head of Production, Executive Producer

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A partner in Indigenous-owned Eagle Vision, Kyle Irving has produced more than 230 hours of film and television content in 20 years. He recently served as executive producer of four seasons of Eagle Vision, ICF and eOne’s drama series Burden of Truth starring Kristin Kreuk for CBC, The CW, Hulu and Universal UK. He is an executive producer on Orphan: First Kill starring Julia Stiles, the feature film prequel to the hit film Orphan with eOne and Dark Castle Entertainment. He is executive producing a new doc series that he co-created called 7TH GEN for APTN.

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Kyle executive produced Night Raiders written and directed by Danis Goulet and executive produced with Taika Waititi, which premiered at The Berlin Film Festival in 2021. He produced Diaspora written and directed by two-time TIFF winner Deco Dawson. Both films are currently in post-production and due to be released in 2021. Kyle will be producing the new Madison Thomas feature film Finality of Dusk in the spring of 2021.

 

Irving has produced numerous other award-winning feature film productions, notably: Oscar winner and nominee for Best Picture Capote with Sony, Walk All Over Me with the WC, Blue State starring Anna Paquin with MGM, the multi-award-winning We Were Children, Reasonable Doubt starring Samuel L Jackson with Lionsgate and Lovesick starring Jay Baruchel with eOne.

 

Irving also executive produced Ice Road Truckers, one of the most successful and longest-running docudrama series in television history for History Channel, AETN, and 80+ countries around the world.

 

Collectively, Irving’s productions have been nominated for thirteen Canadian Screen Awards with four wins, five Oscar’s with one win, five BAFTA’s with one win, five Independent Spirit Awards with three wins, one Golden Globe win, a Banff Rockie Award win, and five Shorty Awards with two wins and one Cinequest audience choice award.

 

Some of Irving’s other television productions include Jack, a made-for-TV movie for CBC; the award-winning long-running doc series The Sharing Circle; the multiple Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winning children’s series Tipi Tales; and numerous one-off documentaries.

 

Having worked in the Indigenous community with his business partner Lisa Meeches for nearly twenty years Irving has a strong focus on championing under-represented talent development and has mentored and supported numerous emerging writers, directors, producers and crew. He is also a strong supporter financially and in-kind to independent films.

 

Irving has a strong focus on talent development and has mentored and supported numerous emerging writers, directors, producers, and crew. He is also a strong supporter financially and in-kind to independent films. Irving is a sponsor and facilitator of the Whistler Film Festival Indigenous Filmmakers Fellowship. Irving is a member of the Board of Directors of the CMPA and is on the executive as the Vice-Chair, Industrial Relations. He is a member of the Board of Directors of On Screen Manitoba and has been an industry leader in the province's and nation's COVID protocols for production getting this important $14 billion industry back to work.

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DARCY WAITE

Producer

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Darcy Waite, founder of Turtle Mountain Media, is one of Canada’s fastest rising producers and content creators. Darcy recently joined the Board of Directors of the CMPA.

 

He recently produced his first feature film through Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program, Ruthless Souls, which premiered at ImagineNATIVE, and was featured at Berlinale in 2019. Soon Darcy will produce his second Telefilm-supported feature through Eagle Vision, Madison Thomas’ Finality of Dusk. 

 

Darcy produced the award-winning CBC Short Docs film Zaasaakwe which played at the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival. He produced the short Lost Moccasin for APTN, which also played at ImagineNATIVE. Darcy was also Associate Producer on the CBC Short Docs film Fourth Period Burnout. Darcy won the 2017 ImagineNATIVE Web Series Pitch Competition as the Producer of Madison Thomas’ web series Color of Scar Tissue, starring Star Slade, Mary Galloway, and Kaniehtiio Horn. The series premiered at ImagineNATIVE 2018 before airing on APTN Digital. Recently, Darcy won the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival’s Rising Producer Award. 

 

As a writer and director, Darcy focuses on comedy. He was a director shadow on APTN’s sketch comedy series Caution May Contain Nuts season 4. Darcy’s film Case Number ####, supported by the Winnipeg First Film Fund Grant, was an Official Selection of the California American Indian & Indigenous Film Festival and the Los Angeles Skins Festival where it was nominated for Best Narrative Short. In 2018 Darcy’s script Zombie’s Don’t Eat Stupid People was selected for the Whistler Film Festivals Indigenous Filmmaker Fellowship Program. He recently teamed up with FUBAR writer Paul Spence to co-write the feature film. 

 

Darcy is a graduate of the National Screen Institute Indigenous Documentary Program and New Voices Program. Recently Darcy completed a CMPA Digital Skills Mentorship with Eagle Vision, and recently completed the CMPA Emerging Producer Mission to Berlinale (reporting to Global Affairs Canada), with fellow producer Hannah Johnson. 

 

Darcy’s web series DJ Burnt Bannock, that he created, wrote, and will star in, was recently greenlit for production by APTN, to be produced by Eagle Vision. Additionally, Darcy will soon host Eagle Vision’s upcoming factual series 7TH GEN. Darcy is already the host of ATPNs hit youth series THAT’S AWSM.

 

Currently, Darcy is on the writing team of Eagle Vision’s sitcom Family First, with the development support of APTN and the CMF. Family First will star Lorne Cardinal (Corner Gas) and is anticipated to go to camera in summer of 2021. And, Darcy is playing a role in the drama series Burden of Truth.

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CYNTHIA MURDOCK

Producer

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Cynthia Murdock is an Indigenous filmmaker who is a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation. Cynthia was selected to pitch the digital comedy series DJ Burnt Bannock with creator/

writer/star Darcy Waite at ImagineNATIVE 2019. The series has been picked up by APTN and will go to camera in 2021.

 

She is a graduate of the National Screen Institute – CBC New Indigenous Voices program. Her internship with Lisa Meeches as Executive Assistant at Manito Ahbee Festival led her to be part of Taken season four. 

 

On Taken, Cynthia served as Production Coordinator, Producer Assistant, and was a Director Mentee. Cynthia wrote and directed an episode of the third season of Taken’s CSA-nominated web series, sharing Tia Pinace-Littlechief’s story of survival.

 

Cynthia’s passion for filmmaking and storytelling began at an early age when she enrolled in drama classes at a local church and weekly visits to the movie theatre with her family. She was encouraged by her father to read, explore her creativity and write every day.

 

Cynthia graduated with a diploma in TV & Radio Broadcasting from the Academy of Broadcasting in 2013. She also participated in Acting Foundations and Script Writing at Prairie Theatre Exchange. Cynthia was recently chosen for the CMPA’s Diversity Mentorship program as a producer. She completed her mentorship with Eagle Vision immediately before giving birth to her first child, her son Warner.

 

Cynthia was a key member of Eagle Vision's #SacredMMIWG campaign for the Government of Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, travelling around Canada to help create digital media and social media content that reached over a third of all Canadians, and was recently honoured with five Shorty Award nominations, and two awards of distinction. Cynthia served as Production Coordinator on Eagle Vision’s upcoming feature film Diaspora. 

 

Cynthia recently produced the short film First Session, the RBC Pitch Competition winner at the 2019 Gimli Film Festival. It had its world premiere at the festival in 2020. She is currently developing the short At the End of Laurel Lane, written by award-winning horror writer Jessica Landry, and to be directed by Sera-Lys McArthur.

 

Currently, Cynthia is Head Researcher for Eagle Vision's upcoming new series 7TH GEN for APTN. Cynthia is also producing the digital media for the show and will serve as an Associate Producer.

 

Her career goals are to continue producing, writing, directing, and learning as much as she can about the industry.

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PAUL COURCHAINE

Production Accountant / Controller

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Paul Courchaine is a proud member of the Métis Nation. He is also a Production Accountant member of the Director's Guild of Canada. Over the course of his career, Paul has worked on 64 shows in a variety of genres and formats, with several different production companies.

 

One of the most highly sought-after production accountants in the country, Paul is glad to make Manitoba his home. Paul works on all Eagle Vision content. He was also Production Accountant for the feature film Heaven is for Real (starring Greg Kinnear); the feature film The Parts You Lose (starring Aaron Paul); the feature film Break my Heart 1,000 Times (starring Bella Thorne and Dermot Mulroney); the pilot Zero Hour (for ABC); the feature film Incident in a Ghostland; the MOW Journey Back to Christmas (for Hallmark, starring Candace Cameron Bure and Oliver Hudson ); the feature film Room for Rent; the television series The Council (for CBC); the feature film The Midnight Man; the documentary pilot Anything but Average; the television series Cashing In (APTN); the television series Less Than Kind (HBO Canada); the feature film Considering Love & Other Magic; the television series Sunnyside (for CityTV); the television series The Pinkertons (syndicated, and on Netflix); the direct-to-video feature film for 20th Century Fox The Exorcism of Molly Hartley; the MOW One Christmas Eve (for Hallmark); Eagle Vision’s feature film Reasonable Doubt (starring Samuel L. Jackson); and Eagle Vision’s MOW Jack (for CBC).

 

His experience as a 1st Asst Accountant, Paul worked on the feature film New In Town (starring Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr.); the television series Less Than Kind (HBO Canada); the feature film Mother’s Day (starring Rebecca De Mornay); the feature film The Lazarus Project (starring the late Paul Walker); and the feature film The Haunting in Connecticut (starring Virginia Madsen); the television mini-series Shadow Island Mysteries; the feature film Amreeka; and the television series Todd & The Book of Pure Evil (Space), for which Paul became the Production Accountant and Post Accountant. Paul was Payroll Accountant for the Netflix feature film Fractured (starring Sam Worthington); the feature film Horseman (starring Dennis Quaid); the MOW Something Beneath (Movie Central, Sci Fi Channel); the MOW Eye of the Beast (Syfy); the MOW Hybrid (Syfy); the MOW Maneater (Syfy); the MOW Grizzly Rage (Movie Central, Sci Fi Channel); the feature film The Lookout (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels); the feature film Full of It (starring Kate Mara and Carmen Electra); the television mini-series Category 6: Day of Destruction (for CBS); the feature film Mr. Soul; the feature film The Plague (starring James Van Der Beek); the feature film Seven Times Lucky (starring Kevin Pollak); the feature film The Big White (starring the late Robin Williams); the MOW The Winning Season (for TNT; starring Matthew Modine and Kristin Davis); the MOW Killer Instinct (for Lifetime); and the MOW Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story (for Lifetime). As 2nd Asst Accountant, Paul worked on the MOW Naughty or Nice – The George Lopez Christmas Movie (ABC Family); the MOW While I Was Gone (starring Kirstie Alley, for CBS); and the MOW More Than Meets the Eye (for Lifetime). Paul was Accounting Clerk on the MOW The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (CBS); and the MOW Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (CBS). He got his training as an Accounting Trainee/Clerk on the MOW Everybody's Doing It (MTV) and as an Accounting Trainee on the MOW The Many Trails of One Jane Doe (CBC).

 

Currently, Paul is working on Eagle Vision’s new factual series 7TH GEN for APTN, their new comedy web series DJ Burnt Bannock, and their upcoming feature film Finality of Dusk. He is the production accountant on Eagle Vision’s feature film Diaspora, currently in post, and was the production accountant for four seasons of Eagle Vision/ICF’s courtroom drama series Burden of Truth for CBC, The CW, and now a hit on Netflix.

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GINGER DILK

Digital Media and Marketing Producer

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Ginger Dilk is Eagle Vision’s Digital Media and Marketing Producer. Her background includes a degree in Filmmaking from the University of Winnipeg, as well as specialized training in Digital Advertising and Social Media Management. She is a dedicated human rights advocate, and her work centers around building and promoting an equitable future for all. 

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In 2018, Ginger helped lead the award-winning “#SacredMMIWG” digital awareness and education campaign as an Impact Producer for the National Inquiry into MMIWG. The campaign reached 1/3 of all Canadians, was nominated for 5 Shorty Social Good Awards, and received Gold Honours in Human Rights and Social Justice.

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Ginger is committed to supporting marginalized groups, particularly in areas of reconciliation and accessibility. Through partnerships with organizations such as Women and Gender Equality Canada, she has marketed Indigenous-led podcasts The Truth Sharing Podcasts and Taken the Podcast to hundreds of thousands. Additionally, she has generated meaningful digital marketing content for multiple seasons of the international hit television series Burden of Truth (ICF Films, Eagle Vision, eOne, CBC). Her content consistently serves to highlight important issues of inter-generational resiliency, community engagement and diverse representation in media. 

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Ginger sits on the board of On Screen Manitoba and is Co-Chair of the Workforce Development Committee. She is eager to lend her drive and passion to work that will elevate new and existing voices in the industry. She also looks forward to connecting audiences with upcoming Eagle Vision projects, such as Deco Dawson’s highly anticipated feature film Diaspora, set to release 2021.

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DINAE ROBINSON

Writer, Co-Showrunner, 7TH GEN

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Dinae Robinson is a proud Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) writer, director, and advocate from Swan Lake First Nations, Manitoba on Treaty 1 Territory. True to her ancestral roots, storytelling has always interested Dinae, initially starting out in front of the camera as an actress. Dinae has appeared as an actor in several films, including The Oldest Profession in Winnipeg from Farpoint Films and Child First, which premiered at the Understanding the Disability Trajectory of First Nations Families of Children with Disabilities National Summit. Child First was written, directed, and produced by Rebecca Gibson. Dinae was selected to be apart of the National Screen Institute’s CBC New Indigenous Voices program, Dinae credits this experience for influencing her to move into the creative development side of film behind the camera.

 

In 2014, Dinae was awarded the First Film Fund from the Winnipeg Film Group and wrote, directed, and produced her first short film How the Savage came to be. As an intergenerational survivor of the Indian Residential School system, Dinae felt it was imperative for her first film to be a piece that shed a light on Canada’s dark history and the ripple effect that it has impacted on Indigenous people living in North America. How the Savage came to be premiered at the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival in January 2016 and has screened at the Gimli Film Festival, Red Nation Film Festival in Los Angeles, NSI Online Short Film Festival and was a finalist in the Canadian Diversity Film Festival in Toronto. All Dinae’s work is influenced by the spiritual traditional way of life and the social and political issues that Indigenous people have endured historically and presently. Dinae also has worked as a program facilitator at the Indigenous-led non-profit organization; Ka Ni Kanichihk (pronounced Ga Ni Ganichick) meaning “those who lead” in the Ininew (Cree) in the Heart Medicine Lodge. A program that delivers unique culturally-based support and advocacy services for self-identifying Indigenous women who have experienced sexualized violence and trauma. Dinae is determined to be a voice for political and social change that advocates for Indigenous rights.

 

Dinae is proud to be a writer for the APTN and CBC television series Taken, a true-crime documentary series that focuses on solving the mysteries behind Canada’s epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

 

A graduate of the Computer Applications for Business program at Red River College, Dinae balances her time as a mother and as a student working towards a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg. Dinae has a few projects in development and is currently working on writing two feature-length films titled Telling Stories with Cuzzins a feature-length dark comedy- horror film and a fantasy-horror film titled My Sister Nova.

 

Dinae is thrilled to be co-showrunner and an episode writer and director for Eagle Vision’s new series 7TH GEN for APTN, sharing stories of incredible young Indigenous leaders across the country with a focus on culture and language reclamation.

 

She will soon direct the feature film Bringer, a feminist horror story, and is currently writing on Eagle Vision’s new preschool series Stevie and the Sacred Animals.

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