ALFF 2018 Keynote Address: Jesse Wente

This event took place on Sunday, February 4, 2018 at 10:00 amOld Fire Hall

Free admission, everyone welcome. The festival is honoured to host Ojibwe broadcaster, film critic, producer and guest curator of ALFF 2018, Jesse Wente, who will deliver the festival keynote address: On the Importance of Storytelling. About Jesse Wente Jesse Wente is an Ojibwe broadcaster, curator, producer and public speaker. Jesse spent 11 years with the Toronto International Film Festival, the last 7 as Head of Film Programmes at the Lightbox, where he curated retrospectives on Stanley Kubrick, Michael Mann, Ida Lupino and First Peoples Cinema. Jesse is also a columnist for CBC Radio's Metro Morning, where he has covered film and culture for 21 years. Wente is currently co-producing his first film, a screen adaptation of Thomas King’s best-selling book,The Inconvenient Indian.. His curated short film series Keep Calm and Decolonize was released by the CBC in November.An outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights and First Nations, Metis and Inuit art, he has spoken at the International Forum of Indigenous Peoples, Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Canadian Arts Summit, CMPA’s Prime Time and numerous Universities and Colleges. Jesse currently serves on the board of directors for the Canada Council for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council, and was just named the inaugural recipient of the Reelworld Film Festival’s Reel Activist Award.