Willow Bunch Giant’s Métis lineage a focus of new documentary – CBC
Aug 09, 2023
Regina filmmaker hopes to tell a new story about her great-uncle
Jessie Short wants to tell a more intimate story about her great-uncle, who was famous in his time as the “Willow Bunch Giant.”
Short, an independent filmmaker, artist and grad student in Regina, is working on a documentary about Édouard Beaupré based on memories passed down from her grandparents, to her parents, to her.
“I was at his funeral when I was a kid, but it was just like a kid memory,” Short said, referring to a service that was held by the family after they managed to bring home Beaupré’s remains in 1990. “I didn’t really think much about it until I grew up and I started to hear other people’s stories.”
She reached out to the National Film Board of Canada, and her vision is becoming a reality this week with filming set to start in the area around Willow Bunch, Sask., where her great-uncle was born in 1881.
