Saskatchewan NFB producer sees big things in new position

There is no denying that Cory Generoux is ecstatic over what his most recent appointment will mean for him.
“This is a huge step for my career,” said Generoux, a 32-year-old Cree/Lakota who has been hired for a newly created position — the Saskatchewan producer for the National Film Board of Canada.

Though it is expected he will travel extensively throughout the province in his new role, Generoux, a band member of the Sturgeon Lake First Nation, will be able to continue to live in Regina.

Generoux sounds equally as excited for what his new job will mean for others.

“Being an Aboriginal person in this position, I hope this inspires the Aboriginal storytellers to come forward,” he said, adding he is hoping to work with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal storytellers in the coming months.
Since the NFB announced Generoux’s hiring in late May, he has been inundated with phone calls, emails and Facebook messages from Aboriginal well-wishers, many of whom have expressed an interest in doing collaborative work in the near future.

Generoux is hoping his post will keep him — and many others — active for a long while.

“I definitely want to increase the production in the province,” he said, adding the film industry has recently battled through some lean years both in Saskatchewan and nationally. “My goal is to get people back to work and go get them to resume working.”

Having worked as an independent filmmaker for almost a decade now, Generoux, whose responsibilities have included writing, producing and directing films, believes he is fortunate to have landed this plum job with the NFB.

“Documentary is and always will be my first passion,” he said.

Though he has solid credentials, Generoux was surprised to get the nod from the NFB.

“I’m not a producing veteran, not like some of the other producers in the province,” he said.

But by no means is he a stranger in the business either.
In 2009 he directed the award-winning documentary Dogz Lyfe: Burdens of a Gangsta Rapper. This film was selected as the Best Aboriginal Production at the Yorkton Film Festival and was also chosen as the Outstanding Canadian Feature Documentary at the ReelWorld Film Festival in Toronto.

Generoux worked on another documentary which came out last year, titled Jim Brady: In the Footsteps of the Metis Leader. He served as the film’s co-director, as an editor as well as the director of photography.

For Generoux, this won’t be the first time working with the NFB. In 2007 he wrote and directed the short film The Power of a Horse, as part of the First Stories program for emerging Aboriginal filmmakers in Saskatchewan.

Generoux graduated from the media arts production program at Prince Albert’s Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology in 2003.

Since then he has worked on a number of film projects with people from all over the province. He considers those he has worked with as his “extended family.”

“I’ve tried to work with people from all corners of the province,” he said. “I want to continue to do that.”

Because of his new NFB job, however, Generoux will not have the time to devote to one of his other passions. For the past couple of years he’s been a member of the popular Bionic Bannock Boys, a sketch comedy group. His NFB responsibilities will prevent him from continuing to work with this group.

The NFB, which was founded in 1939, has created over 13,000 productions since its inception.