TILM.COM, The Indigenous Literacy Manufacturing Company

WELCOME TO MY ISUMA TV PAGE
Greetings from Treaty 6 Territory, Edmonton, Alberta.
Whether you are joining me from Indigenous territories across Turtle Island or from Indigenous communities throughout the world, I welcome you with respect, gratitude, and friendship.
Before I say anything about my current work, I would like to honour the memory of those who walked beside me and helped shape my artistic journey.
I especially remember my dear friend and colleague, the late Deborah Charlie.
I first met Deborah in the early 1980s through the late Colin McPherson's theatre workshops in Vancouver. Those workshops became much more than acting classes. They were places where artists from many different backgrounds gathered to learn, create, challenge one another, and discover their own voices.
Like many young artists of that generation, I experienced what people often describe as the bohemian artist's life. It was exciting, creative, unpredictable, and filled with remarkable people. But there was another side to that life as well. Many of us struggled financially while dedicating ourselves to our art. Those years taught me that an artist must protect not only their work, but also their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Looking back now, I understand those years with gratitude because they taught me resilience, humility, and compassion.
At that time, I did not fully understand the depth of intergenerational trauma, the legacy of residential schools, or the lasting effects of the foster care system and the Sixties Scoop upon Indigenous families. Only years later did I come to appreciate the extraordinary courage Deborah carried throughout her life. She was a gifted actress and one of the performers in my first multimedia theatre work, KAL-007: A Shot in the Dark, written while I was beginning my university studies and developed with the Carnegie Theatre Guild.
Following its early performances, Colin McPherson arranged for KAL-007 to be presented as a midnight performance at the original Arts Club Theatre on Seymour Street in Vancouver. The audience was small, but that never mattered to us. We had the opportunity to perform our original work on one of Vancouver's historic stages, and we gave it everything we had. Later we performed at Benjamin's Café, where audiences were larger and the work found an enthusiastic following within Vancouver's alternative theatre community.
Those years introduced me to remarkable artists whose friendship continues to inspire me today. I honour the memory of the late Jimy Sidlar, whose troubadour spirit reminded me that storytelling through music reaches back through countless generations of travelling musicians, poets, and storytellers. I honour my dear friend James Nicholas, whose wisdom, humour, and friendship became one of the inspirations for my feature film AS A KODEN: Talking Story – Who Is Your Name? I also remember Peter ("Piet") van Dugteren, Colin McPherson, and the many artists whose generosity enriched those formative years.
Looking back over my life, I see that my artistic journey has always been interdisciplinary. Theatre led me to modern dance. Dance led me to music. Music led me to filmmaking. Filmmaking has now grown into digital media, where ancient stories and contemporary technology can come together in new ways while remaining faithful to Indigenous ways of knowing.
I am a filmmaker, writer, musician, performer, educator, and survivor of the Sixties Scoop. My family roots are Métis, Cree, and French, and my work has been shaped by both the loss and the reclamation of culture, language, family, and identity. Those experiences have taught me that our stories are not simply entertainment—they are living responsibilities carried from one generation to the next.
Today, my principal creative focus is my feature film:
AS A KODEN: Talking Story – Who Is Your Name?
This dramatic feature is the culmination of many years of research, ceremony, travel, and conversations with Elders, artists, historians, and community members throughout Canada and beyond. Inspired by Indigenous oral traditions, clan mothers, ancient systems of governance, and our customary ways, the film explores our shared responsibility to protect the Sacred Earth, our languages, our families, and our stories while living within an increasingly technological world.
Alongside this project, I continue developing my second feature screenplay, Métis Winter Morning, a deeply personal story inspired by the lives of my late parents, Alfred Gene Morin and Elizabeth June Morin, and by my own journey of understanding the history that shaped our family.
Throughout my career I have tried to honour those who came before us—our ancestors, our Elders, our teachers, and the artists whose courage helped preserve our stories. Every generation inherits knowledge, and every generation carries the responsibility of protecting it for those yet to come.
If there is one lesson I have learned over more than forty years as an artist, it is this: art is an act of service. Whether through theatre, dance, music, film, or digital media, our work should help people remember who they are, where they come from, and how we might walk together with greater honesty, humility, respect, and compassion.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my page on IsumaTV and for sharing this part of my journey.
May the Creator bless you, your family, your Nation, and all those working to protect the Sacred Earth for the generations yet to come.
Miigweech. Hiy Hiy. O'sien. Gilakas'la.
Donald A. Morin, BA
Filmmaker • Writer • Musician • Performer • Educator
Founder
Eagle Feathers Film & Music Manufacturing Corporation
TILMCOM – The Indigenous Literacy Manufacturing Company