Through the use of never before seen archives and the voices of those who lived through the tumultuous period of 1960s Montreal, True North explores the pivotal events of a moment that impacted the global movement for Black liberation by centering, the Congress of Black Writers and the Sir George Williams Affair.

To tell the story, we use never-before-seen archival footage telling the stories of Black students and activists who lived through these events. We interweave accounts of a little-known historical chapter in the Black Power movement that impacted the struggle for Black liberation across the globe and resonates with today's movements for change.

THE FILM

The voices of the elders who have not received widespread recognition are at the heart of True North. The film's narrative centers around their firsthand experiences and stories, providing a fresh perspective on the era and its significance. The movements of today owe a great deal to these unsung elders, and we highlight the individuals upon whose shoulders present-day activists stand. By telling their story, we aim to make the significance of their legacy visible

THE ELDERS

THE TEAM

  • Emmy Award–winning filmmaker, artist, and author, Michèle Stephenson, draws from her Haitian and Panamanian heritage to transform non-fiction storytelling. Through a Black Atlantic lens, she reimagines narratives of resistance and healing, weaving fiction, immersive, experimental, and hybrid forms that center a Black Radical tradition and the lived experiences of the Black diaspora. Her non-fiction films Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games were both Oscar-shortlisted, with Going To Mars winning the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the prestigious Emmy Award for Outstanding Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and Black Girls Play winning the Edward R. Murrow for Excellence in Video. Her other body of work includes The Changing Same, a magical realist VR installation that premiered at Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier Showcase and won Tribeca’s Grand Jury Prize for Best Immersive Narrative, along with several other projects recognized with Emmy nominations and a Canadian Screen Award nomination. Her newest work, True North: A Movement in Five Parts, is a creative non-fiction feature that explores the history of the Black liberation movement in Canada. She is a Guggenheim Artist Fellow, Creative Capital Artist, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

  • Leslie Norville is an Emmy Award-winning producer and accomplished showrunner with a passion for bringing nuanced, character-driven stories to life that amplify the voices and experiences of people of color. Her work has been showcased at prestigious festivals worldwide, including TIFF, SXSW, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Doc NYC, and IDFA, and aired on major networks such as Disney+, PBS, CBC, Sundance Channel, and VH1.

    Recent documentary projects include the Oscar-shortlisted and multi-award-winning The First Wave (Neon/National Geographic) and the eight-part series Black Life: Untold Stories for CBC. Other notable credits include the feature documentary A Ballerina’s Tale about Misty Copeland, the first African American principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre; Brooklyn Boheme; Disdain the Mundane (part of ESPN’s Emmy Award®-winning 30 for 30 shorts series); Finding the Funk (co-executive produced by GRAMMY Award®-winner Questlove); and Any Given Day, which premiered at Hot Docs 2021. She is currently producing True North, an archival documentary directed by Michèle Stephenson (Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project) about the Black Liberation movement in 1960s Montreal, Canada.

    Norville is an alumna of the Sundance Documentary Creative Producing Fellowship. In 2023, Playback Magazine named her Showrunner of the Year, and in 2024, she received the Dear Producer Award.

  • Shannon Kennedy is best known in the documentary field as an accomplished editor whose feature credits include award winning films featured on HBO, POV, CBC, BBC, Arte and others. These include films that have been shortlisted, nominated and/or won Emmys, Independent Spirit Awards, Academy Awards, DuPont Awards, and premiered and won awards at prestigious festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, Hot Docs, SXSW, the Viennale, Locarno and many more. She's also been a fellow and an advisor at the Sundance Institute.

    Shannon has had a parallel career as a visual artist with a history of collaborating with scientists. She was an artist-in-residence in a molecular biology imaging lab where she performed her own experiments and made research films for scientists.

    She's received numerous grants and fellowships for her experimental photography and film work, including from the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation and Creative Capital. Her work has been shown at museums and galleries around the world, including solo shows at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the St. Louis Art Museum, to name a few. She lives and works outside of Boston.

  • Sarah Enid Hagey is an editor and sound designer. Working as an artist and filmmaker in the field for over 20 years, her work has screened at such institutions as the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, MoMA, and The New Museum and premiered on HBO, CNN, PBS, and at festivals both nationally and internationally including SXSW, Berlin, and Locarno. She is the recipient of a Cinema Award from the National Board of Review and her work has garnered a James Beard Award for Visual and Technical Excellence, and an Emmy.

  • A fearless, versatile explorer, two-time Juno Award winning pianist/composer Andy Milne has been a distinct and respected voice at the heart of New York’s creative jazz scene for 30 years, collaborating with dancers, visual artists, poets and musicians spanning jazz, classical, pop, folk, and world music. At the piano he skillfully blends poetic gravitas with a playful sense of order.

    He has recorded and toured throughout the world with Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Alessi, Carlos Ward and Carla Cook, and has collaborated with a range of artists including Andrew Cyrille, Sekou Sundiata, Avery Brooks, Bruce Cockburn, Fred Hersch, Ben Monder, Dianne Reeves, Jen Shyu, Tyshawn Sorey and Jamie Baum. A former student of Oscar Peterson, Milne was at the center of the M-BASE Collective as a core member of saxophonist Steve Coleman’s bands, as well as performing with Cassandra Wilson and Greg Osby. Milne composed and produced the scores for seven documentary films by acclaimed director William Shatner and has released 11 recordings as a leader or co-leader.

    He is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including the prestigious Civitella Fellowship. In addition to his multiple projects, Milne is a sought-after educator, serving as an assistant professor of music at The University of Michigan. and the Assistant-Director at The School for Improvisational Music. Milne draws inspiration from politics, philosophy, homeopathy, comedy, and science fiction, with musical influences that bridge Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, Herbie Nichols, Bela Bartok, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder.

  • Stephen's career began as a stills photographer, working in the commercial, fashion and music industries in Canada and Europe for over a decade. In the 90s, his photography evolved into cinematography, and his earliest credits were music videos for artists such as Feist, Broken Social Scene, Do Make Say Think, Buck 65 and Blue Rodeo, forming relationships with the musicians that have sustained to this day.

    Stephen's approach to cinematography is project-specific, centred on close collaboration and storytelling. He achieves a distinctive cinematic style, often working with available or natural light. His wide range of experience has taken him around the globe, working in virtually every format from film, documentaries, television, commercials, music videos and VR. Some of Stephen’s notable recent credits include the VICELAND television series “Mister Tachyon” winner of Canadian Society of Cinematographers award, feature documentary “The Defector” (Winner CSA - Best Documentary Film) and the short film “Odessa” (Official selection Cannes Short Film Corner). As well as HBO, Discovery, Nat Geo, History Chanel, 20th Century Fox, and The CBC.

    His work has garnered several awards and nominations including best cinematography “COPA” Mockfest Film festival, , “The Defector” CSC nomination for Documentary Cinematography, Juno Award for (best album artwork) Tom Cochrane “Songs of a Circling Spirit”

    Stephen was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He currently resides in Toronto with his family, where he’s significantly colder, but even happier.