Guest Industry Expert / Experte de l'industrie invitée — All Access 2020:
JANELLE WOOKEY
Co-founder and producer at Wookey Films
Janelle Wookey is the co-founder and Producer at Wookey Films. She oversees production and development, with one foot in creative and the other in executive affairs.
Following the success of her first indie-documentary, Mémére Métisse which opened Toronto's 2008 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival and was broadcast on CBC, Radio-Canada and APTN, she started her career in Winnipeg working in news and special series at Radio-Canada. Working both behind and in front of the camera, Janelle had the opportunity to hone her skills alongside her brother / co-worker Jérémie. In 2013, they started Wookey Films.
They've since produced over 35 hours of content in French, English and Indigenous languages for Radio-Canada, CBC, APTN, TV5, Unis, AMI-tv and BRAVO, picking up 4 Prix Gémeaux nominations along the way. In 2018 they broke into scripted, entering development on a feature and in 2019 on a series, both still in the works.
In 2017, Janelle was selected to sit on the 9 person committee tasked with selecting candidates for the new board and CEO of CBC / Radio-Canada. As an on-air personality, she covered the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics for APTN and co-hosted its nationally-broadcast Indigenous Day Live celebrations in 2017 and 2018.
Janelle credits her creative talents to a bloodline laced thick with the richness and resilience of the Métis, whose joyous nature and passion for storytelling, she believes, have secured their continued survival as a people. She is beyond proud to see Wookey Films as a part of that story.