PRESS RELEASE                                                                               
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                   
August 10, 2022                                                                                                    

WORLD PREMIERE
47th TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

A Documentary Feature Film directed by Madison Thomas with exclusive access to the Academy Award-Winning songwriter, musician and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie

Featuring Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson, Taj Mahal, John Kay, Alanis Obomsawin, Jackson Browne,
Jeremy Dutcher, George Stroumboulopoulos  and more

"Some will tell you what you really want ain’t on the menu. Don’t believe them. Cook it up yourself, and then prepare to serve them."

-Buffy Sainte-Marie

Wednesday, August 10, 2022, Toronto, ON - Eagle Vision, White Pine Pictures and Paquin Entertainment are proud to announce their new feature documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On will have its World Premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival. The 90 minute documentary is an intimate look at Sainte-Marie’s personal journey as a groundbreaking singer, songwriter, artist, activist and teacher.

“To turn one’s life story over to a documentary production is a leap of faith, but with Eagle Vision and White Pine Pictures, the process is feeling natural to me. I look forward to experiencing the story of my life as told through their lens and sharing that story with the world.” – Buffy Sainte-Marie

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On is directed by Madison Thomas, one of the most compelling and versatile filmmakers working in Canada today.  A storyteller of mixed ancestry (Ojibwe/Saulteaux & Russian/Ukrainian settler), based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba in Treaty 1 territory, she has credits as a writer, director and editor across genres, formats and platforms (Taken, Ruthless Souls, Burden of Truth, Wolf Joe, Pretty Hard Cases, Finality of Dusk). Writing credit for the documentary is shared with Thomas and Andrea Warner (Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography).

"Buffy’s truth and message is what the world needs more than ever right now. The biggest lesson I've learned collaborating with Buffy on this telling of her life and career, is that in the face of negativity and despair, compassion and understanding are our greatest tools," says Thomas. “Buffy's unique perspective on music, art, culture, history and the state of the world is both a humbling thing to witness and a never ending trail of surprises."

Buffy’s life journey has taken her on a long and twisty, often rocky road with many detours from her birthplace at Piapot Reserve, near Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan to the lofty Academy Awards stage and international concert halls. Defying the odds she flourished despite a childhood of dislocation and abuse with a natural musical ability that protected her spirit and an innate curiosity that propelled her to the wider world.  Adopted by a couple in Massachusetts, Buffy received harsh messages that in her words “could have ruined me” – she was told that “there are no more Indians, and that I’d never be a musician”.  Surrounded by bullies and a “horror of a brother”, Buffy’s adoptive mom told her she could learn about her Indigenous roots when she grew up. 

With her full participation and firsthand accounts, Buffy guides the film’s narrative from her start in the 60’s Greenwich Village folk scene, while friends, colleagues, community members, and industry professionals including Joni Mitchell, Taj Mahal, Alanis Obomsawin, Jeremy Dutcher, Robbie Robertson, John Kay and George Stroumboulopoulos among others provide context and perspective. With exclusive access to her life on the road and at home, the documentary was filmed in Hawai’i, LA, Brooklyn, London, Toronto, Winnipeg and Saskatoon and behind-the-scenes at Buffy’s 2021 North American tour (in the midst of a global pandemic as the world was coming together, briefly, for the first time in almost two years to hear live music). 

At once ahead of the curve, yet timeless, Buffy’s musical career includes countless milestones: she became famous by writing the anti-war anthem “Universal Soldier”; made one of the first electronic albums in 1969; was the first, and to date, only Indigenous person to win an Academy Award (in 1983 for “Up Where We Belong”); made the first album over the internet in 1991; and became the oldest person ever to win the Polaris Music Prize in 2015.  Buffy was also the first person to breastfeed on TV (on Sesame Street) and was named “Best New Artist” the year the Beatles came to America. She also wrote the love song that Elvis made famous, “Until It’s Time For You to Go”. A prolific and unique songwriter, Buffy has been covered and sampled by everyone from Elvis and Barbra Streisand to Courtney Love and Kanye West.

But as the film shows, Buffy also experienced suppression and censorship of her music when blacklisted by two Presidential administrations (Johnson and Nixon) after using her fame and platform to publicly speak out about issues affecting Indigenous Peoples.

How did Buffy stay motivated and not succumb to frustration and anger?  A born teacher, paying it forward to future generations gives Buffy hope for the future.  Amidst the numerous awards, chart topping hits and honours Buffy has amassed, her most treasured accomplishments are seeing young people whose lives she’s touched thrive.

Her fame and financial stability enabled her to found three transformative educational programs: the Nihewan Foundation Scholarship for Native American Education, with two recipients becoming tribal college founders and presidents; Creative Native, brings creative education to reserves while Cradleboard Teaching Project reimagines Indigenous curriculum across North America.

Offering a retrospective on Buffy’s unique life and career, utilizing archival material (some never seen before), cinematic recreations and tracks of musical performances, the film also looks ahead at what’s next for this trailblazing icon, sharing Buffy's unique message and approach to life: "Sometimes you have to carry the medicine a while before people are ready for it."

Following its World Premiere at TIFF, BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE: CARRY IT ON will be released theatrically in the fall of 2022, followed by broadcasts via Bell Media and APTN in Canada and in November 2022 on PBS/American Masters in the U.S.A., in collaboration with Vision Maker Media, a fund to support Indigenous-made films.

An Ontario-Manitoba co-production, BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE: CARRY IT ON is executive produced by Eagle Vision’s Lisa Meeches, Kyle Irving and Rebecca Gibson; White Pine Pictures’ Peter Raymont, Steve Ord and Andrew Munger; Buffy’s long-time manager, Gilles Paquin; Ray Halbritter; Randy Lennox; PBS/American Masters Michael Kantor; and Vision Maker Media’s Francine Blythe-Lewis. Producers are Eagle Vision’s Lisa Meeches and White Pine Pictures’ Stephen Paniccia. Funding for the film has been secured through The CMF POV Fund, Rogers’ Documentary Fund, Ontario Creates and Telefilm’s Theatrical Documentary Fund.

About Eagle Vision

Celebrating over two decades since its founding by Lisa Meeches, Anishinaabe from Long Plain First Nation, Eagle Vision creates content that creates change. Eagle Vision has produced over 280 hours of content, from the Oscar-winning feature CAPOTE, to the international hit factual series ICE ROAD TRUCKERS, to the drama series BURDEN OF TRUTH, to the socially impactful true-crime series TAKEN, to Canada's longest-running Indigenous series THE SHARING CIRCLE, to the international award-winning children's series TIPI TALES. Recent releases include Danis Goulet's feature NIGHT RAIDERS, the new factual series 7TH GEN (renewed for an upcoming second season), the hit comedy series DJ BURNT BANNOCK, SKYMED for Paramount+, CBC, and CBS Studios, and Canada's first original series for Snapchat, RECLAIM(ED). Eagle Vision is poised to release several new features before the end of 2022. Partners Lisa Meeches and Kyle Irving, together with former partner and longtime colleague Rebecca Gibson, were honoured with the 2022 Banff World Media Festival's Innovative Producer Award. www.eaglevision.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EagleVisionCanada
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eaglevisioncanada/ 

About White Pine Pictures

Founded 42 years ago by Peter Raymont, White Pine Pictures is a Toronto based film and television production company. Its productions have engaged audiences worldwide with compelling stories in documentary and dramatic form. White Pine’s work has been honoured with dozens of international awards, including two Emmys (plus two Emmy nominations), two Oscar shortlists, the Sundance Audience Award, multiple Canadian Screen Awards, Director’s Guild of Canada Awards, several Gold and Silver Hugos, and the Sesterce d’Argent. White Pine Pictures is a trusted supplier of quality programs to Canadian and international broadcasters and streaming services including CBC, Bell Media, TVO, Hulu, BBC, Channel4, PBS, Smithsonian, Love Nature, France 2, ZDF, ARTE, SVT, NHK, ABC, SBS and more. The film follows the success of White Pine Pictures’ award-winning documentary, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (Bell Media), the first Canadian documentary to open TIFF (2019), also opening DOCNYC (2019) and screening theatrically in Canada, U.S.A, Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands. www.whitepinepictures.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitepinepictures
Twitter: www.twitter.com/WhitePine_TO
Instagram: www.instagram.com/whitepinepictures

Media Contacts:

Virginia Kelly
V Kelly & Associates
virginia@vkpr.ca, 416-839-9239

For Eagle Vision:
Nicola Pender
Pender PR
m: 604.617.4807
penderpr.com / @penderpr 
Nicola@PenderPR.com