Producer | Mentor | Editor | DOP
Kelly Saxberg is a film producer, director, editor, and cinematographer who has worked on well over 100 films. She works in English, French, Spanish and Finnish. In 2019, she was the cinematographer and co-producer with the late Tommy Yellowhead for the 30 minute documentary completed in 2022, “Journey to Our Homeland.” It was nominated for 3 Golden Sheaf awards, best emerging director for Adrien Harpelle, The Kathleen Shannon award and it won the Research award. She was mentor and supervisor to editor Derek Okeese for the KKETS program for Matawa First Nations. She also supervised the packaging and translation of 20 interviews in Ojibway with Elders for Nibinamik First Nation. Most recently, she is producer, co-director, cinematographer, and editor of the French and English language documentary “Sniper / Tireur d’élite.” It is her first film with a significant amount of animation. In 2019 she was the Producer, Director of Photography and Editor for the 30-minute docudrama in French and English docu-drama “Where the Poppies Grow – The Lakehead at War.” It was nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award for Best Historical Documentary at Yorkton. In 2017, she completed “Long Walk Home: The Incredible Journey of Sheila Burnford,” a 34-minute documentary she produced, edited, filmed and co-directed. She is currently in post- production with producer and co-director Navalik Tologanak on a second film about Sheila Burnford and Susan Ross, “A Tale of Two Qallunaat.” She is co-directing the animated series “Mr. Noah and the Second Flood” with Dianne Brothers.
Kelly was the writer/ director/ editor of “Under The Red Star,” a feature-length historical docudrama shot on a super 16 mm film in Finnish and English about the Finnish Labour Temple in Thunder Bay. “Citoyens du Monde” is a 6-hour French and English documentary series she wrote and directed for broadcaster TFO and Les Productions Rivard shot in 15 countries. The series tackles Canada and international development from the viewpoint of researchers and scientists in the developing world. “Seeking Bimaadiziiwin” was her debut as a fiction director on a 30-minute drama that looks at depression and suicide among First Nations youth. It won Best Short film at the American Indian Film festival and several other awards. Her other films include “Dorothea Mitchell: A Reel Pioneer,” “Voyageurs Legacy: Our Story / Le Printemps des voyageurs: La Genèse,” The award-winning “Banana Split,” and the NFB production “Rosies of the North.” She also edited “The Fatal flower,” a silent film shot originally in 1930 and finished by members of the film and video co-op “Flash Frame Film and Video Network,” of which she is the past chair and founding member.
Kelly has mentored dozens of emerging filmmakers in Thunder Bay through Flash Frame workshops and collaborative film projects since 2001. She is past chair and currently secretary for the organization. Inspired by the Nunavut Film workshop series “Stories from Our Land,” she has organized six Docs North Doc Nord, 5-day intensive filmmaking workshops aimed at filmmakers from remote northern communities across the far north of Ontario. In 2016, Kelly gained significant expertise in 360 VR video and projection mapping. She has now been a mentor for seven 360 workshops and more than a dozen collaborative film productions.
In 2005, Kelly Saxberg and Ron Harpelle founded The Bay Street Film Festival (Now Vox Popular Media Arts Festival) with a mandate to celebrate and promote regional films. She is a past chair of the Board. She is the president of Friends of The Finnish Labour Temple, a registered charity. FFLT recently launched the interactive website www.Rosiesofthenorth.ca It is also responsible for the educational streaming channel: www.ResearchTV.ca She is also a contract lecturer in the History Department at Lakehead University since 2012 where she teaches History in Frame Since 1900 and History in Frame to 1900.