Introduce Yourself : Introduce Yourself Weekend Joe E. Ironstand by Joe E. Ironstand

Hello my name is Joe E. Ironstand. I posted in the Introduce Yourself in the lounge when I signed up last month, so this is my second post in here since it's "Introduce Yourself Weekend". I am an Ojibway filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I also have worked in Manitoulin Island Ontario Canada, and might possibly be relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada next month depending on a job out there I'm applying for. My work in this industry began in 2005 at high school where I had the idea of adapting John Steinbeck's novel "Of Mice And Men" into a modernized story with teenagers in the foster care system. The school continued with the story after my time there, with the characters in the welfare system and it was completed in 2008 with my name in the writer credits. That lead me to a training program in 2010 at the National Screen Institute of Canada called New Voices. New Voices was designed to help Aboriginal people in Canada get a start in the film/tv industry. That lead to internships at local broadcasting production companies, as well as future production assistant gigs, background performer gigs, and volunteering my time on independent low budget/no budget productions. Following that I traveled to Manitoulin Island Ontario where I continued my education with a course at Weengushk Film Institute, where I wrote & directed my first short film "Inheritance". "Inheritance" was a story looking at the intergenerational effects of the child abuse in the Canadian Residential School system on Aboriginal children. "Inheritance" got accepted into a few Native film festivals and won the award for Best Student Film at the 14th Annual Native American Film & Video Festival of the Southeast. Following my education at WFI I returned to Winnipeg MB, Canada. I continued working on local shoots, gained casual employment at RS Talent Search, The Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, Canadian Urban Television, and most recently Colossal Entertainment. Last year local hip hop artist from Colossal Entertainment Drezden approached me to direct a music video for his song "Nightstand". The music video was completed and released July 2013 and we have also screened it at some film festivals as well. Most recently we are working on post production for another music video for Drezden's hip hop group Pandem!k called "They Know", also I are developing a short experimental film based on a poem I wrote in 2010 called "My Only Friend". "Inheritance can be viewed here http://vimeo.com/47280929 "Nightstand" can be viewed here http://vimeo.com/69285513 More recently, I've also began leading workshops at training programs or conferences. My main focus using Stage 32 so far is to expand the audience of people who view my work, and of course to seek new opportunities that come my way on here, and explore other independent artists' work. Feel free to add as a connection for more information including other profile sites I can be found on, more info on of the film schools or businesses I work with, and of course- videos I've created.