Meet the team

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Micheal Auger

Filmmaker

I am a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta however I grew up on the Driftpile Cree Nation where my late mother Rose Auger was from. When I was very young boy the late NFB Producer Kathleen Shannon came to our home in Driftpile and filmed my mother for a short documentary called, Like The Trees. Little did I know that would be my first inspiration for film work. Along with the other kids we were all very curious and fascinated by the film crew. Even our horses came running to them when they were doing a walk and talk interview. When I finished high school, I moved to Edmonton to start my journey. I studied Fine Arts and media production. While there I even landed an acting gig alongside the late Jimmy Herman in a CBC/NFB half-hour drama production called John Cat (released in 1984) adapted from the late WP Kinsella books. I played Frank Fencepost alongside Jimmy and Elvis Bearhead. Fast forward to the early 2000’s and I return to school to begin more training in film & TV production. All the while working on personal projects and being hired on other productions. Then in 2011 I returned to school again to obtain my Master Degree in Digital Media graduating in 2013, a Graduate program jointly offered by UBC, SFU, Emily Carr & BCIT. Today my wife, Petie Chalifoux and now our 1-year-old son Taswêkakocin proudly own and operate Tohkapi Cinema serving many First Nation organizations, governments & businesses helping to create content that caters to their audiences. We also write, produce our own original short and feature length dramas as well as unscripted documentaries.

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Petie Chalifoux

Writer & Producer

Petie Chalifoux is a Woodland Cree filmmaker born and raised on the Driftpile Cree Nation in Northern Alberta, Canada. Petie’s career in storytelling began at a young age with the hoop dance, a unique Indigenous dance using multiple hoops to tell a story while entertaining audiences. She has shared her dance all across Canada and many parts of the world. Over the years Petie found her way into the world of filmmaking and her interests with writing stories grew from there. In 2017, Petie obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Motion Picture Arts from Capilano University in North Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2017, she was the valedictorian for the University and the first First Nations’ person to deliver the speech. In 2019 Petie attended the Pacific Screenwriting Program in Vancouver to further her writing skills for television under the showrunner Sarah Dodd.

Petie’s highlighted credits for writing include River of Silence (2017 – feature drama), a film written with the hopes of raising world-wide awareness to the thousands of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People. Past Time (2017 – short drama) written and directed (directorial debut) is a story of how love can transcend time, space and even death. Past Time was short listed for Telus Storyhive’s grand prize and now lives on Telus Optik TV. In 2018 she then wrote Nisowak a short drama which speaks to reclaiming voice and power.

Through her time with the Pacific Screenwriting Program in 2019, she focused on writing the television pilot script for Disappearing Moon drama that is a pre-contact story which explores Indigenous mythologies, time travel and human connections to the cosmos. In 2021 Petie co-wrote Bella’s Story a one-hour broadcast documentary that focuses on Bella Laboucan-McLean, a young Cree woman who tragically and mysteriously fell 31 stories from a downtown Toronto high-rise on July 20, 2013. She also co-wrote Disappearing Moon as a short drama in 2021.

Petie is currently in development on her next feature script & tv pilot from a concept titled Woke, a supernatural thriller strongly inspired by Indigenous-Cree stories set in today’s modern world. Crow Wolf, a revengeful centuries old ancient warrior with supernatural powers, returns to human form and begins reclaiming all that has been taken from Indigenous people by gruesomely killing one westerner at a time until justice is served.

About Tohkapi Cinema Ltd

Tohkapi is Cree First Nation term meaning ‘opening eyes’. We chose this name to reflect the mission of helping the world to open their eyes AND their heart to the truth of the Indigenous peoples that we get the honor and privilege to work with to help tell ours and their stories. Tohkapi Cinema is a media production company dedicated to creating content from a genuine authentic Indigenous lens. Myself, Micheal Auger and my partner Petie Chalifoux, are proud filmmakers both from the ‘Sakaw Iwiynowak’ (people of the forests) - often referred to as Woodland Cree people. We are always dedicated to continuously developing our skills and passion for scripted and non-scripted filmmaking and have been since moving to Vancouver in the early 2000’s.

In addition to developing and producing scripted dramas, documentaries we proudly serve many organizations, businesses and various government departments that require our help in sharing important information to their unique audiences.