Amanda Strong

{{Infobox artist

| name =

| notable_works = Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes) (2018), Indigo (2014), Mia' (Salmon) (2015)

| education = Sheridan College

| known_for = filmmaker, stop-motion animation

| website = {{URL|http://www.amandastrong.com/}}

}}

Amanda Strong is a Canadian stop-motion animation filmmaker who resides in Vancouver, Canada.{{Cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/xcompany/dispatches/amanda-strong |title=X Company: Artists - Amanda Strong |publisher=CBC |date=7 March 2016 |access-date=2017-04-04 |language=en}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/xcompany/dispatches/amanda-strong |title=Amanda Strong - Dispatches - X Company |access-date=2018-11-20 |publisher=CBC |language=en}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.mississauga.com/whatson-story/8961849-mississauga-director-amanda-strong-screening-short-film-biidaaban-at-indigenous-film-festival-imaginenative/ |title=Mississauga director Amanda Strong screening short film 'Biidaaban' at Indigenous film festival ImagineNative |last= |first= |date=|website=Mississauga.com |archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} She has exhibited work and her films have been screened at festivals worldwide, including Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and the Ottawa International Animation Festival.{{Cite web|url=http://grunt.ca/spark-fireside-artist-talk-series/|title=grunt gallery {{!}} Spark: Fireside Artist Talks|website=grunt.ca|language=en-US|access-date=2017-04-04}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.strongnations.com/gs/show.php?gs=6&gsd=5420|title=Amanda Strong (Artists) - Strong Nations|website=www.strongnations.com|language=en|access-date=2020-01-22}} Strong is Red River Métis and a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

Personal life and education

Strong currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in Mississauga, Ontario and has lived in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.{{Cite web|url=https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/qpirgs-anti-colonial-week-a-preview|title=QPIRG's Anti-Colonial Week: a Preview {{!}} News|website=thelinknewspaper.ca|language=en|access-date=2020-01-22}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.yukon-news.com/life/available-light-film-festival-develops/|title=Available Light Film Festival develops|date=2018-01-16|website=Yukon News|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-22}}

Strong studied illustration, media, and photography at Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Oakville, Ontario.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxygenartcentre.org/portfolio/artist-amanda-strong/|title=Oxygen Art Centre {{!}} Artist: Amanda Strong|website=www.oxygenartcentre.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-04-04}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sheridancollege.ca/news-and-events/news/arts-alumni-win-prizes-for-films-celebrating-indigenous-heritage|title=Arts alumni win prizes for films celebrating Indigenous heritage|last=|first=|date=|website=Sheridancollege.ca|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}

Film career

Strong's films tell Indigenous stories through a style she calls "hybrid documentary" as she combines stop-motion animation with new media technology.{{Cite web|url=https://evergreenculturalcentre.ca/amanda-strong/|title=AMANDA STRONG: ANAAMAKAMIG (UNDER THE GROUND)|last=Andrea Jabour|date=2019-07-02|website=Evergreen|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-22}} Strong's style merges genres such as documentary, animation and more traditional narrative driven storytelling. Her background is in photography, illustration, and media. The themes of reclamation of Indigenous histories, lineages, languages and cultures often appear in her works.

Strong is the founder of Spotted Fawn Productions, a production studio that provides mentorship and training opportunities for emerging and diverse artists.{{Cite web|url=https://www.spottedfawnproductions.com/|title=Stop Motion Animation, Vancouver BC, Spotted Fawn Productions|website=Stop Motion Animation, Vancouver BC, Spotted Fawn Productions|language=en|access-date=2018-11-20}}

Awards and grants

Strong has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and the National Film Board of Canada. In 2009, Strong was the recipient of the ImagineNATIVE/LIFT mentorship.{{Cite web|url=https://e-artexte.ca/id/eprint/27918/|title=Amanda Strong : Indigo|last=Louise|first=Bigeagle|date=2015|website=e-artexte.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-03-24}} In 2013, Strong was awarded the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Film and Video. In 2015, she was awarded the Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award for Emerging Media Artist.{{Cite web|url=http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/2015-mayors-arts-awards-recipients-announced.aspx|title=2015 Mayor's Arts Awards recipients announced|last=Vancouver|first=City of|date=2015-11-04|website=vancouver.ca|language=en-US|access-date=2017-04-04}} In 2016, she was selected by Alanis Obomsawin to receive $50,000 in services from Technicolor as part of Obomsawin's Clyde Gilmour Technicolor Award at the 2016 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cfweradio.ca/on-air/blogs/dustin-mcgladrey-351668/entry/787/|title=Amanda Strong Selected To Receive The Clyde Gilmour Technicolor Award|work=CFWE|access-date=2017-04-04|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407054917/http://www.cfweradio.ca/on-air/blogs/dustin-mcgladrey-351668/entry/787/|archive-date=2017-04-07|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award - Toronto Film Critics Association|url=http://torontofilmcritics.com/awards/signature-award-2/|website=Toronto Film Critics Association|accessdate=24 August 2017}}

The film Mia that Strong co-directed with Bracken Hanuse Corlett won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Aboriginal at the 2016 Yorkton Film Festival.{{Cite news|date=3 June 2016|title=Yorkton Film Festival: The fun|work=Yorkton This Week|url=https://www.yorktonthisweek.com/entertainment/local-a-e/yorkton-film-festival-the-fun-1.2269167|access-date=27 November 2020|ref=YorktonThisWeek-2016}} In 2018, she was awarded best script as well as Special Mention for her short film Biidaaban at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://www.animationfestival.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=968&Itemid=1076|title=2018 Award Winners|last=|first=|date=|website=Ottawa International Animation Festival|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} Biidaaban is also a nominee for best animated short in the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards{{Cite web|url=http://www.animationmagazine.net/events/2019-canadian-screen-awards-five-animated-shorts-nominated/|title=2019 Canadian Screen Awards: Five Animated Shorts Nominated|last=|first=|date=|website=Animationmagazine.net|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}