Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers is a Blackfoot and Sámi filmmaker, actor, and advocate from Canada. She is known for her powerful storytelling that centers on Indigenous experiences, resilience, and social justice. Tailfeathers studied acting at the Vancouver Film School, and graduated in 2006 and then moved on to the University of British Columbia where she would graduate with a degree in First Nations studies and a minor in women and gender studies in 2011. After acting for a period of time, Tailfeathers shifted her focus to filmmaking. Her feature film The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019), co-directed with Kathleen Hepburn, received critical acclaim for its intimate and realistic portrayal of Indigenous women’s lives. Her documentary Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (2021) explores the impact of the opioid crisis in Blackfoot communities through a lens of compassion and harm reduction. Tailfeathers has earned numerous awards for her work in cinema and activism, using film as a tool for representation and systemic change.