Jennifer Podemski

The Light Before the Sun

A famous self-help guru returns from a book tour to a house suddenly filled with an estranged friend. The two friends then spiral into a drug-induced contemplation of the human condition.

Release Date:2024-10-26

Department:Production

Job:Consulting Producer

Character:Syd

Aberdeen

An idyllic childhood with her mooshum and kookum, or grandparents, in her community of Peguis First Nation dissipates as Aberdeen’s hard-partying and absentee parents distances her from that haven. Now an adult, sleeping on public benches, Winnipeg-based Aberdeen is in survival mode. The last remaining stable parts of her life begin slipping away — her reliable brother Boyd is ill and gives up Aberdeen’s grandkids to the foster care system. Then she loses her ID.

Release Date:2024-09-06

Character:Grace

Vote Count:2

Don't Even

Follow two best friends in late '90s Winnipeg as they face uncertain futures after high school.

Release Date:2024-08-23

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:1

Redlights

An evening outing takes a dangerous turn for two Indigenous women.

Release Date:2023-09-20

Character:Tina's Mom

Indspire Awards 2023

The Indspire Awards reach a significant milestone as 2023 marks 30 years of honouring dedicated and community-focused First Nations, Inuit and Métis.

Release Date:2023-06-18

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Little Bird

As part of a racist government policy now known as the Sixties Scoop, Bezhig Little Bird is removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan and adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at the age of five, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them.

Release Date:2023-05-26

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:3

ONE NINE

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nine filmmakers isolating in different parts of the world join to make a film. A 9-chapter anthology, this collection created by women filmmakers from South Africa, Germany, Spain, China, United States, and across Canada. ONE(NINE) is a timeless multiversal experience of what it means to find connection in a time of isolation, orchestrated by one of Canada's most fierce and prolific indie filmmakers, Ingrid Veniger.

Release Date:2021-11-14

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Unsettled

Urban, Indigenous adoptee Rayna Keetch grew up with no connection to her Indigenous roots. Recently reunited with her birth family, Rayna is about to return to her First Nation for a traditional homecoming ceremony when her husband Darryl announces that he's been a victim of a scam and has lost their fortune.

Release Date:2021-09-10

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:10

Akilla's Escape

In a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier, Akilla Brown captures a fifteen-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery. Over one gruelling night, Akilla confronts a cycle of generational violence he thought he escaped.

Release Date:2021-06-11

Character:Mrs. Rosenthal

Vote Count:6

Resident Alien

Crash-landed alien Harry takes on the identity of a small-town Colorado doctor. Arriving with a secret mission, he starts off living a simple life…but things get a bit rocky when he’s roped into solving a local murder and realizes he needs to assimilate into his new world. As he does, he begins to wrestle with the moral dilemma of his mission and asking the big life questions like: “Are human beings worth saving?” and “Why do they fold their pizza before eating it?”

Release Date:2021-01-27

Character:Rachel

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:768

Departure

Follow the mystery of Flight 716 - a passenger plane that vanishes over the Atlantic Ocean. Following the mysterious crash, recently widowed, brilliant aviation investigator Kendra Malley is called in to investigate by her former boss and mentor Howard Lawson.

Release Date:2019-07-10

Character:Gail

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:79

Mouthpiece

Based on a stage play of the same name by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, the story follows Cassandra, who is portrayed by the two women, expressing the opposing voices that exist inside the modern woman's head, during a 48-hour period as she tries to organize the affairs for her mother's funeral.

Release Date:2019-04-04

Character:Mrs. Cappo

Vote Count:9

Reel Women Seen

Tells the story of the realities faced by women in the film and TV industry yet simultaneously depicts the necessary, possible and achievable ways to transform them. The story is set in common TV backdrops – from a police procedural to a sitcom (complete with laugh track), to a medical drama, to a webisode series.

Release Date:2017-05-25

Character:Mom

Vote Count:1

Private Eyes

Ex-pro hockey player Matt Shade irrevocably changes his life when he teams up with fierce P.I. Angie Everett to form an unlikely investigative powerhouse.

Release Date:2016-05-26

Character:Colonel

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:134

Fire Song

Shane, a gay Anishnabe teenager in Northern Ontario, is struggling to support his family in the aftermath of his sister's suicide. If he fails, he will be forced to choose between his family's home and his own future.

Release Date:2015-09-13

Character:Jackie

Vote Count:10

Empire of Dirt

Like many Native families, Lena Mahikan grew up in the cycle of abuse. Her father, a residential school survivor, was an alcoholic until he killed himself when Lena was 10. Her mother, only 14 years her senior, turned to the slots. By the time Lena was 15, she was pregnant and, before giving birth, was kicked to the curb by her mom. The cycle continues and Lena is now watching helplessly as her own daughter, Peeka, spirals out of control, landing herself in the hospital following a drug overdose. As a final attempt at survival, Lena decides to return home and face her own mother and a past she’s desperate to escape.

Release Date:2013-11-22

Department:Production

Job:Producer

Character:Minnie Mahikan

Vote Count:7

Jimmy P.

At the end of WWII, Jimmy Picard, a Native American Blackfoot who fought in France, suffers from unexplainable symptoms and is admitted to a military hospital. When doctors suspect schizophrenia, an eccentric psychoanalyst takes up the case and starts a conversation with the veteran.

Release Date:2013-09-11

Character:Doll

Vote Count:118

Take This Waltz

Twenty-eight-year-old Margot is happily married to Lou, a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel, a handsome artist who lives across the street, their mutual attraction is undeniable.

Release Date:2011-11-25

Character:Karen

Vote Count:358

Republic of Doyle

Jake Doyle and his ex-cop father, Malachy, run a Newfoundland detective agency. Their rugged seaside town never lacks for intriguing cases, and the Doyles don't always land on the right side of the law.

Release Date:2010-01-06

Character:Maria House

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:36

Pavane

Phil and Jay share more than a family bond - failed careers, failed relationships, bottomless drinks, and a debilitating memory of a shocking encounter in a ravine one childhood day. The pretext of being strangers, the darkly comic ritual that the broken, non-functioning brothers perform in an attempt to get at their pain, can't cover the palpable connection between them, nor their deeply felt desire to find redemption. An accomplished pianist, Jay is working as a piano player in a lounge. Mike, one of the bar's patrons, makes a request for Jay to play Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infant defunte", which Jay refuses. This act masks an underlying secret both men share about their childhood.

Release Date:2008-09-28

Character:Kim

Fugitive Pieces

A child escapes from Poland during World War II and first heads to Greece before coming of age in Canada.

Release Date:2007-09-06

Character:Grace

Vote Count:31

Moose TV

Moose TV is a Canadian television sitcom, airing on Showcase in the 2007-08 television season. The show stars Adam Beach as George Keeshig, a Cree from the fictional community of Moose in northern Quebec, who returns home after a decade living in Toronto to become manager of the local community television station. The cast also includes Gary Farmer, Jennifer Podemski, Nathaniel Arcand, Michelle Latimer, Diane Flacks and Billy Merasty. The show's head writer is Paul Quarrington. The series was directed by Tim Southam. Produced by Rezolution Pictures for the Showcase network in Canada, the series received the Indie Award for Best Comedy Series from the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association in 2008.

Release Date:2007-07-05

Episode Count:8

The Robber Bride

Journalist Zenia Arden has disappeared. When her finger turns up on the shores of Lake Ontario next to her blood-soaked car, the police believe they've uncovered a homicide.

Release Date:2007-03-03

Character:Juanita

Vote Count:8

Future Nation

Against the terrifying backdrop of a biological apocalypse, a Native teenager, Brian, comes out to his older sister, Faith, and homophobic brother, Charles. Conflict erupts among them as desperate survivors from the city seek refuge on the rez from the horrors of a 'megapox' epidemic that is quickly devastating urban populations across North America. Through a perilous journey to the city for food, where they rescue Brian's 'friend' in the process (an outrageous drag queen named Tonya), the hungry and frightened youth reach acceptance by facing down their fears.

Release Date:2005-01-01

Department:Production

Job:Producer

Heritage Minutes: Tommy Prince

A eulogy is given for Tommy Prince, Canada’s most-decorated Indigenous war veteran.

Release Date:2005-01-01

Character:Beryl Prince

Distant Drumming: A North of 60 Mystery

Teevee Tenia has a plan - he intends to persuade Lynx River to dump the RCMP and establish an all Dene Police Force. But Corporal Michelle Kenidi is concerned: will a Dene Police Force in Lynx River be answerable to Canadian law, or to Teevee? When an elderly tourist is found beaten to death, Michelle’s concerns deepen as her suspicions fall upon Teevee’s friend, Matthew Fowler. As Michelle pursues the investigation, painful events from the past come alive. For the community of Lynx River, the investigation holds the town’s very future at stake.

Release Date:2005-01-01

Character:Marjorie Sebastian

This Is Wonderland

Alice De Raey is a newly minted attorney who joins the chaotic world of criminal justice in Toronto. She's exposed to the seamier side of life, the backroom deals that make the system work accompanied by the usual eccentric characters.

Release Date:2004-01-12

Character:Beth Taylor

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:1

Moccasin Flats

This series has been aired on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and Showcase Television since 2004. It takes place in Moccasin Flats, Regina, Saskatchewan, an urban reserve where the inhabitants struggle to maintain their cultural identity while overcoming poverty, gangs, violence, and racism.

Release Date:2003-11-03

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Character:Deb Johnson

Episode Count:15

Bliss - Erotische Versuchungen

Release Date:2002-10-16

Character:Kate

Vote Count:3

Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye

Based on a true story, this family-friendly series follows the adventures of a young, hearing impaired woman who has a special gift and goes to work for the FBI in Washington, D.C. She's one hard-headed, soft-hearted woman whose talent for reading lips helps crack crimes and bag the bad guys in places listening devices can't penetrate. With her hearing-ear dog, Levi, Sue's a glutton for jeopardy – and there's (almost) nothing she won't do to bring notorious criminals to justice. This remarkable, edge-of-your-seat drama is an inspiring tribute to the ability of the human spirit to overcome adversity and achieve great things.

Release Date:2002-10-13

Character:Rosie

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:21

Degrassi

The life of a group of adolescents going through the trials and tribulations of teendom at Degrassi Community School.

Release Date:2001-10-14

Character:Ms. Chantel Sauvé

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:98

Don't Think Twice

A black comedy, Don't Think Twice is a disturbing and profound examination of the morals of a man forced to choose between lover and family.

Release Date:1999-09-17

Vote Count:1

Riverdale

CBC’s first prime time soap opera follows the intertwined lives of four families in Toronto’s Riverdale community.

Release Date:1997-09-22

Character:Michelle Martin

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:4

Bogus

Recently orphaned, a young boy is taken in by his godmother who is shocked to realize that she can see the boy's imaginary friend: a flamboyant, French magician named Bogus.

Release Date:1996-09-06

Character:Circus Character

Vote Count:234

The Rez

The Rez was a first nations, Canadian television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1996 to 1998. Most of the characters were based on W.P. Kinsella's short story collection Dance Me Outside, which had been made into a film by director Bruce McDonald. McDonald and Norman Jewison were executive producers of the series, which chronicled life in a First Nations community. The series was filmed in the Parry Sound region at Harrison's Landing in Carling Township. All episodes run around 23 Minutes.

Release Date:1996-02-02

Character:Sadie Maracle

Episode Count:19

Dance Me Outside

Explores the sensitive, and tense, relationship between life on an First Nations reservation and life in the outside world. When Native Canadian Silas Crow is forced to write a personal essay in order to get a much-desired job, he tells the story of the rape and murder of an Indian girl by a drunken thug. When the killer received a lenient two-year sentence for manslaughter, the First Nations community felt shock and anger—and tried desperately to deal with the after-effects of this lack of justice.

Release Date:1995-03-10

Character:Sadie Maracle

Vote Count:20

The Diviners

Morag Gunn, a writer who is having trouble with her teenage daughter, examines her own relationship history, which includes a period of turbulence with Jules. While she and Jules have known each other since childhood, he is no rock of stability. In addition, he is white, while she is part Native American, so the teenage Morag experienced racism he can only imagine. Even after they have a daughter, she struggles against the emptiness within her.

Release Date:1993-01-03

Rehab

A First Nations man takes a famous actor back to the reserve to help him cope with his drug addiction.

Character:Janet