Zoe Leigh Hopkins is a Canadian Heiltsuk/Mohawk writer and film director who began her career in acting in 2009 and later pursued film making.
Biography
The daughter of journalist Brian Maracle, Hopkins was born in British Columbia, in the Heiltsukfishing village. She is a fluent speaker of the Mohawk language. She started working in film at the age of 15 as an actor in the film Black Robe . She attended Ryerson University and received a BAA in Film in 1997. She then went on to work as an independent filmmaker directing her first short filmPrayer for a Good Day starring; Christina Bomberry, Taysha Fuller and Delmor Jacobs, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Hopkins is also a part of the Embargo Collective, which is a group of seven Indigenous film makers from around the world who collaborate and challenge each other to create new, unusual films. She was selected by the ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival to join this group. The majority of her films are short films, however she is transitioning to feature-length. Her feature filmRunning Home is currently in production after being selected by Telefilm Canada as one of the four projects to receive financial support in partnership with the ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival.
The Embargo Collective has happened twice. In both instances of the program Zoe Leigh Hopkins has been an active member and participant. The second Embargo Collective, named Embargo Collective II, was started due to the major success of the first Embargo Collective. The goal of this program is to provide more opportunities for Indigenous film making and collaboration within the industry of film. The program pairs both established and up and coming Aboriginal film makers together to create new and interesting short films.
Filmography
Awards
Hopkin's short Tsi tkahétayen received the NSI Online Festival’s A&e Short Filmmaker’s Award. Additionally, Hopkins was the winner of the #TIFFStarWars contest for her submission "Star Wars - Trash Compactor Scene", a short which recreated the scene from the original film in the Mohawk language. Her short Mohawk Midnight Runners received accolades at the NSI Online Film Festival, imagineNATIVE, SWAIA Class X, Dawson City International Short Film Festival, Yellowknife International Film Festival and the Niagara Integrated Film Festival including Best Canadian Short Drama at imagineNATIVE 2013. In 2017 Hopkins won the Audience Choice award at imagineNATIVE for Kayak to Klemtu.
