An award-winning short film by artist, filmmaker and Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) faculty member Lindsay McIntyre continues to earn extraordinary praise from juries worldwide.

NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ (The South Wind), a drama based on a true story told to Lindsay by her grandmother, has collected more than a half dozen awards and screened at more than 20 festivals internationally.

“It feels like a real honour, especially when you look individually at the communities where the awards come from,” Lindsay says. “It also feels like care that people are paying attention to the film and to the story, seeking it out and programming it thoughtfully. That’s hugely important because it means the story I’m trying to tell does matter and people are interested in it. And because NIGIQTUQ is a concept piece for a longer feature, I know people are listening and paying attention, which means a lot to me.”

NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ connects to Lindsay’s upcoming feature, The Words We Can’t Speak, which Lindsay is currently focusing on during her time as a Sundance Institute fellow. In October, the film took home Best Live Action Short Award at imagineNATIVE. The Live Action Short Award is imagineNATIVE’s Oscar–qualifying category, meaning NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ will be put forward to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 2025 award consideration.

It has since earned the EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Short at the Whistler Film Festival presented by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists; awards for Outstanding Short Drama, Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Production Design and Outstanding Performance (Ensemble Cast) from the Film And Video Arts Society of Alberta; and the Best Indigenous Short award at the Arizona International Film Festival. The film was also nominated for Best Narrative Short and Best Actress (Brenda Amaklak Putulik) at the Madrid Film Awards and for the Social Impact Award at the Vancouver Short Film Festival.

It has screened at festivals and international venues that include Skoden, Available Light, Ācimowin, Dreamspeakers, Dawson City International, Skábmagovat, Berkeley Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Aulajut in Nunavut, Halifax Independent Film Festival, City Cinema Charlottetown, Spokane International Film Festival, Māoriland, Shortie Film Festival, Buenos Aires International Film Festival, Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival, Anchorage International Film Festival and VIFF.

NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ is also slated for upcoming screenings, including at the Native Cinema Showcase at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and Weengushk International Film Festival. The film is also currently on Air Canada Inflight Entertainment.

“It’s been an incredible honour,” Lindsay says, reflecting on the recognition this deeply personal work has received. “To me, it shows you just have to keep working towards the things that matter. It’s a really powerful thing to tell a story. You always have to remember that.”

Read our feature on NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ now via the ECU website.

Visit Lindsay’s website and follow her on Instagram to learn more about her work.

Visit ECU online to find out more about studying Film + Screen Arts at Emily Carr.