Laura Rietveld is an emerging documentary writer, director and laureate of the Prix du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec – Work by an Emerging Artist in Montréal (2015). Bound by themes of identity, family, and the human-nature connection, Laura’s work has appeared in English, Inuktitut, and French. Her first documentary, Okpik’s Dream (2015) won Grand Prix Rigoberta Menchú Award at the Montreal First Peoples’ Festival, Honourary Mention for the Grand Prize at the Innsbruck International Nature Festival in Austria, and was nominated for Best Documentary Program at the Canadian Screen Awards. Her first music video, Broke Down Ski’Tuuq was nominated for Best Music Video, Performance, Native American Music Awards (2018). Laura’s latest feature documentary, The Family of the Forest (2022), selected for First Pitch, Forum RIDM (2018), workshopped with Sundance Collab (2021) has been nearly seven years in the making. Laura was not always a filmmaker. In 2010, frustrated by a lack of diverse and meaningful stories told by mainstream media, Laura resigned from a corporate media career. Laura holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business and a BA in History from Queen’s University, both Ontarian institutions.She lives in rural Quebec with her young family and chickens, surrounded by the nature that nourishes her.
Filmography
BROKE DOWN SKI’TUUQ, 3min, music video, 2017
LE RÊVE D’OKPIK, 72 min, documentary, 2014