Introduce Yourself : Introduce Yourself Weekend: Joe E. Ironstand 03/21/2015 by Joe E. Ironstand

Hello my name is Joe E. Ironstand. I have been on Stage 32 since March 2014 so a bit less an a year or a bit more than a year. I am reintroducing myself here on this Introduce Yourself weekend. I am an Ojibway filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I also have worked in Manitoulin Island Ontario Canada. 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. In 2013 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 also completed for another music video for Drezden's hip hop group Pandem!k called "They Know". At the time I am developing a short experimental film based on a poem I wrote in 2010 called "My Only Friend", more information on this project can be found in the loglines on my profile. Also the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival is applying for funding to get a documentary for me to direct at our 2015 festival. "They Know" can be viewed here http://vimeo.com/100553631 "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. I've met a lot of interesting people on here, and found a diverse range of work. I rather enjoy the Introduce Yourself weekend to meet other people. 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.