Bio

Amanda Strong's artistry is rooted in photography, illustration, and media. These elements of her practice extend into her award-winning work that uses complex, beautiful imagery and characters to weave together meaningful short-films. The Indigenous women in her films appear in nonlinear narratives, which Strong brings to life through the use of animation. 

Works

Spirit Bear: Fishing for Knowledge,Catching Dreams

  • 2022
  • Amanda Strong

Did you know that many First Nations schools get less money than provincial schools? Shannen Koostachin, a young leader from Attawapiskat First Nation, knew this was wrong, and so does Spirit Bear.

A brown bear wearing a beige hat is outside in the forest

Spirit Bear: Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams

  • 2022
  • Amanda Strong

Spirit Bear's friends teach him about residential schools and how he can help with reconciliation!

Spirit Bear stands with another bear and 3 children

Spirit Bear and Children Make History

  • 2020
  • Amanda Strong

Spirit Bear tells a tragic story of Jordan River Anderson, and unfairness towards Indigenous Kids.

Spirit Bear and Children Make History

Hipster Headdress

  • 2017
  • Amanda Strong

JUST DON’T DO IT. An unapologetic confrontation of cultural appropriation and everything that’s wrong with hipsters in headdresses.

hipster_headdress

Four Faces of the Moon

  • 2016
  • Amanda Strong

This intricate stop-motion animation interlaces Canada’s colonial past with writer-director Amanda Strong’s personal family history — and illuminates Cree, Métis, and Anishinaabe reclamation of culture, language, and Nationhood. (Danis Goulet, TIFF)

Four Faces of the Moon

How to Steal a Canoe

  • 2016
  • Amanda Strong

With lyrics by Nishnaabeg poet Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, How to Steal a Canoe tells the story of a young Nishnaabeg woman and an old Nishnaabeg man rescuing a canoe from a museum and returning it to the lake where it was meant to be.

How to Steal a Canoe

Mia'

  • 2015
  • Amanda Strong, Bracken Hanuse Corlett

Transformed into a salmon, an Indigenous street artist travels through decayed urban landscapes to the forests of long ago, in this sublime mixed animation.

Mia'

Indigo

  • 2014
  • Amanda Strong

After years of repression, an old woman's common sense goes head-to-head with the fantastic imagination of her inner child, who yearns to be free.

Indigo