Monday July 26, 2021
Creatives Empowered and BIPOC TV & Film presents, in partnership with AMPIA
Making It In… is a regional panel series presented by BIPOC TV & Film featuring creatives from different cities and provinces in Canada. Panelists share their professional journeys, their experiences working and creating in different parts of Canada, and how they navigate the system.
This edition features Cheryl Foggo, Cody Lightning and Roseanne Supernault, and is moderated by BIPOC TV & Film’s Executive Director Kadon Douglas!
Cheryl Foggo | Playwright & Filmmaker
Cheryl Foggo is a playwright, author and filmmaker, whose work over the last 30 years has focused on the lives of Western Canadians of African descent. In 2020 her NFB feature documentary “John Ware Reclaimed” had its World Premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival where it received the Alberta Feature Audience Choice Award. The film was also awarded the 2021 Grand Prize in the Regards D’ici section of the Vues d’Afrique Festival and is now screening on nfb.ca. Additionally in 2020, the 30th anniversary edition of her book “Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West” was released by Brush Education Press. She is the 2021 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Outstanding Artist Award, the Calgary Black Chambers Black Achievement Award in Arts, Media and Entertainment and the 2021 Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award from Calgary Arts Development.
Cody Lightning | Actor, Writer & Director
Cody Lightning, is an established actor originally from Alberta, Canada and is a member of Samson Cree First Nation in Maskwacis. Lightning grew up in Los Angeles with his mother, celebrated actress Georgina Lightning, who moved there in the 1980s to pursue a career in Hollywood. He displayed artistic talent early on landing his first role at just 5 years of age. From there he went on to become one of Hollywood’s top Native American child actors of the 90s decade. Lightning has worked with some of Hollywood’s top actors like Johnny Depp, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Marlin Brando, Don Cheadle, Bradley Cooper, Zoey Deschanel, Luis Guzman and Chuck Norris. Throughout his teenage years Lightning continued to work in the film and TV industry travelling extensively across the USA and Canada. His experiences have enabled him to develop a unique ability to relate to people from all backgrounds and have shaped him into a remarkably diverse talent. Additionally, Lightning has experience working in improv, theatre, stand-up comedy, executive producing, public speaking and mentoring. Having spent almost a quarter decade of his life in the entertainment industry, now at the age of 34 Lightning possesses a broad range of impressive talent. Lightning has also just finished his directorial debut “Hey Viktor” of which he also co-wrote and acted in.
Roseanne Supernault | Actor, Writer & Director
Roseanne is an award-winning actress from East Prairie Metis Settlement in northern Alberta. She was discovered by a Los Angeles casting director at age 13, and has gone on to have a prolific career as a performer. Select screen credits include the Netflix hit series “Blackstone”, in which her haunting performance garnered several accolades; the lead character in the historical pre-contact epic “Maina”, for which she received the Best Actress Award at the American Indian Film Festival, and the groundbreaking feature, “Rhymes For Young Ghouls” by Jeff Barnaby, that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was named TIFF Top 10.
Kadon Douglas | Executive Director, BIPOC TV & FILM
Kadon Douglas is the Executive Director of BIPOC TV & FILM, a grassroots nonprofit organization advocating for equitable representation, access and opportunity for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour creatives working at all levels, above and below-the-line, in Canada’s screen media sector.