Fire Song

Fire Song

Fire Song is a powerful and deeply personal coming-of-age drama set in a Northern Ontario Anishinaabe community. Written and directed by Adam Garnet Jones, the film explores the weight of grief, identity, and responsibility through the eyes of a young man caught between duty to his family and his desire to forge his own path.

Shane (Andrew Martin) is a closeted Two-Spirit teenager struggling to hold his life together after the sudden death of his sister. As his family and community grapple with loss, he dreams of leaving for university with his secret boyfriend, but financial hardship and emotional strain keep him tied to home. Caught between the expectations of his community and the pull of self-discovery, Shane must make an impossible choice about what kind of future he can claim for himself.

Jones’s direction is raw and empathetic, portraying life on a northern reserve with honesty and nuance rather than stereotype. The film’s quiet pacing and naturalistic performances capture the resilience, humour, and heart of its characters, while addressing broader themes of sexuality, cultural identity, and the intergenerational effects of trauma.

Winner of the Air Canada Audience Choice Award for Best Canadian First Feature at the 2015 Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film Festival, Fire Song stands as a landmark in Indigenous and LGBTQ+ cinema. It’s a film about survival, love, and the difficult process of finding hope in the face of loss—a moving reminder that healing often begins by daring to imagine a different life.

Producer Q&A with Michelle Derosier

Named 2012 Female News-maker of the Year by Wawatay News, Michelle is an award-winning filmmaker who brings her twelve years of experience as a front line social worker to bear on her drama and documentary film work. Co-owner of Thunderstone Pictures, she works as a producer, director, writer, and occasionally even as an actor. She is Bear Clan originally from Migisi Sahgaigan, (Eagle Lake First Nation) in Northwestern Ontario. She has been a guest on TVO and CBC’s “The Current” speaking about First Nations issues, addiction, and the Indian residential school experience. In addition to her film work she has delivered workshops on innovations in group therapy for youth, using art as a healing tool, parenting, and violence in Aboriginal communities. She has also published on the topic of Historical and Social Influences on Violence in Aboriginal Communities.

Michelle’s focus has been on using film as a vehicle for healing and empowerment.  She produced and directed “The Life You Want: A Young Woman’s Struggle Through Addiction” and the youth arts education project “Eagle vs. Sparrow” which received an Honourable Mention for Best Canadian Short Drama at the 2011 ImagineNative Film and Media Arts Festival. She wrote and starred in the multiple-award-winning “Seeking Bimaadiziiwin” and made her directorial debut with the “The Healing Lens“, a documentary about the power of art and culture in healing First Nation’s Youth which won for Best Public Service Film at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.  In addition to producing and directing, Michelle has also worked on many other productions in the capacity of Art Director, Script Supervisor, Researcher, Interviewer and on-camera host. She has also narrated several films including “To My Son In Spain“.

Michelle’s film Return To Minomin, a documentary chronicling the return of four generations of her family back to their traditional wild rice lake, is currently touring the festival circuit.

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