Gail Maurice, Tamara Podemski, Dana Solomon, Melanie Bray Star in ‘Blood Lines’ Indigenous Drama (Exclusive)
Outer Range actor Tamara Podemski, Dana Solomon and Melanie Bray star alongside writer-director Gail Maurice in Blood Lines, an Indigenous drama that just wrapped production in northern Ontario.
Maurice, wrote, directed and produced her second feature. Her TV acting credits include Cardinal, Barkskins and Trickster. Her first feature, Rosie, which expanded on an earlier short film and of the same name, debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in 2022 and was named to TIFF’s annual year-end Canada’s Top Ten list that year, while also winning the Audience Choice Award at the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in 2022.
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In Blood Lines, Maurice plays Leonore, an estranged mother whose homecoming upends the life of Beatrice (Solomon), a headstrong Métis storyteller and grocery store clerk. Derica Lafrance plays Chani, an alluring woman who enters the lives of Beatrice and Leonore, while Podemski takes the role of Pehmee.
Set in the small Métis community of Wapamon Sipi, Blood Lines also stars Margaret Maurice, Mary Burnouf and Bertha Durocher, three women who along with Maurice speak the Indigenous language of Michif in the indie film.
“There are only a little over 1130 Michif speakers in the world and I’m one of them. Language is culture. Language is identity. I include my language in my films to make people aware that we are still here, or simply, to make people aware,” Maurice explained in a statement.
She produced Blood Lines with Paula Devonshire and Jamie Manning. Elevation Pictures, which has Teddy Schwarzman of Black Bear as a financing partner, will release the film theatrically in Canada, while Crave and CBC pre-bought broadcast rights.
Financing for the Canadian film came from Telefilm Canada, The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, Canada Media Fund, Indigenous Screen Office, Ontario Creates and Ontario and federal Canadian film tax credits.
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