Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sámi) is a filmmaker and actor. She starred in, co-wrote and co-directed The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open with Kathleen Hepburn which was awarded Canadian Screen Awards for Achievement in Direction and Original Screenplay, as well as the Toronto Film Critics and the Vancouver Film Critics Award for Best Canadian Feature.
Tailfeathers’ feature-length documentary, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, premiered at the 2021 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and won the Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary at the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards.
Elle-Máijá starred in Danis Goulet’s sci-fi apocalyptic film Night Raiders, Darlene Naponse’s poetic experimental feature Stellar, and Jeff Barnaby’s zombie thriller Blood Quantum. Elle-Máijá also starred alongside Alfred Molina in Amazon Prime's Three Pines. Additionally, Elle-Máijá directed the first three episodes of the Crave/APTN series Little Bird for which she won a 2023 Directors Guild of Canada Award and a 2024 Canadian Screen Award.
Official Selection
Feature Films
Festival Year
2022
Stellar
Actor
2021
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy
Director, Producer, Writer
2021
Night Raiders
Actor
2019
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
Co-Director, Co-Writer
2019
Blood Quantum
Actor
Short Films
Festival Year
2025
Bihttoš (Rebel)
Director, Writer
Retrospective screening of the Embargo Collective II program for imagineNATIVE’s 25th anniversary Festival.
2017
Versaearcolonion
Director, Producer, Writer
2014
Bihttoš (Rebel)
Director, Writer
Closing Night Screening.
2012
A Red Girl's Reasoning
Director
2011
Bloodland
Director
Part of The Witching Hour: Late Night Shorts Program.
Video
Festival Year
2017
Under Your Always Light
Director, Producer
Music Video.
Exhibitions
Festival Year
2014
Trove: Unearthing the Embargo Collective II
Artist
Year-Round Programming
2025
Artist Spotlight Directory Retrospective Streaming | A Red Girls Reasoning
Director
A month-long free online streaming presentation, celebrating the launch of the Artist Spotlight Directory.
2025
Artist Spotlight Directory Retrospective Streaming | Blood Quantum
Actor
A month-long free online streaming presentation, celebrating the launch of the Artist Spotlight Directory.
2025
Canadian Film Day Screening | Night Raiders
Actor
Co-presented by imagineNATIVE at Breakthroughs Film Festival.
2022
Tour Program | Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy
Director, Producer, Writer
2016
Tour Program | The Embargo Collective
Co-Director
2013
A Red Girl's Reasoning
Short film featured in iN the Sky: Indigenous Canadian Shorts with Air Canada! Available on Air Canada flights from September 1 - October 31, 2013.
Events
2021
Activism Panel
Panelist
Livestream event.
imagineNative Team
2023
Programming Selection Committee
Programmer
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