One of the most compelling and versatile filmmakers working in Canada today, Madison Thomas was named one of Playback Magazine’s “Five Filmmakers to Watch” in 2019. A storyteller of mixed ancestry (Ojibwe/Saulteaux & Russian/Ukrainian settler), Thomas is based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba in Treaty 1 territory. She has a rapidly growing number of credits as a writer, director and editor across several genres, formats and platforms. Her nuanced and unique work has played festivals and won awards worldwide.
Thomas’ recently wrote and directed on Season IV of the CBC/CW/Netflix hit Burden of Truth. She also wrote and directed an episode of the new APTN Music Doc series “Amplify.” Thomas served as a writer and voice director of the new TVO pre-school animated series “Wolf Joe.” In Spring of 2021 Thomas will go to camera with her new Telefilm supported feature, post apocalyptic drama “Finality of Dusk” with Eagle Vision Inc.
Thomas launched onto the national stage from Winnipeg’s indie film scene by appearing as a finalist on CBC’s Short Film Faceoff in 2014. Since then Thomas has made several short narratives and docs including “Seven Drinks”, “Exposed Nerves”, “Zaasaakwe (Shout with Joy)” and “Fourth Period Burnout.”
Thomas was a key director, editor, and researcher for the award-winning APTN/CBC Docu-Drama series Taken which shared the stories of Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls for four seasons. Thomas and the Taken research team were honoured with a CSA nomination for their work on the series.
Thomas was one of eight selected for the Canadian Academy program for Female Directors in 2019. She is also an alumni of prestigious Women in the Director’s Chair program as well as Prague Film School in the Czech Republic. Thomas was the first Indigenous person from Canada to ever attend the school. She was selected to shadow on the first season of the new CBC/CW/Sundance series “Trickster.”
A frequent collaborator with Darcy Waite, the team won Imaginative/APTN Web-Series Pitch Competition in 2017 and created their family drama series “Colour of Scar Tissue” now available on APTN. The team went on to produce Thomas’ feature “Ruthless Souls” with the Telefilm Talent to Watch Program. The film premiered at the 2019 ImagineNative Film Festival and went on to screen as part of the Perspective Canada program at the 2019 Berlindale film festival, and the 2020 Gimli Film Festival where Thomas won the DGC Best Manitoba Director Award.
Thomas is also a youth mentor and film advocate committed to empowering diverse and underrepresented voices. She is currently the co-chair of On-Screen Manitoba. From 2017-2019 she sat on the Telefilm Indigenous Advisory board. She’s taught filmmaking and life skills to youth both in Winnipeg and across Canada since 2013. In 2016 Thomas gave a Ted talk called “Arts in the Hood” on her journey as an artist and the importance of art for inner city and low income youth.
