Jeff Barnaby, the Mi’kmaq filmmaker considered a pioneering visionary in modern Indigenous cinema, died Thursday in Montreal after a long fight with cancer, his representatives said. He was 46. “Jeff Barnaby’s films changed Canada, and played an outsize role in advancing the cultural and political imperative to reconcile with Indigenous peoples,” John Cristou, a collaborator and friend, said in a statement. “His mastery of the craft, his storytelling, his uncompromising vision, and his humanity, shine through his work.” Barnaby made his cinematic debut with 2013’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls, a fiery indictment of Canada’s residential schools that launched the career of Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs. “Beautifully stubborn ’til the very end, Jeff Barnaby was bold in his life and his work,” Jacobs, who has gone on to star in shows like Reservation Dogs and American Gods, said in a statement to social media. “... Jeff had an ineffable impact on my life. I wouldn’t be an actor today, if it weren’t for Jeff.” His sophomore feature, Blood Quantum (2019), an anti-colonial zombie-plague gorefest, was 12 years in the making. It was his most successful project, winning six Canadian Screen Awards. It was also his last.
