Damien Eagle Bear

Niitsitapi, amateur physicist, frybread-eating machine, Damien Eagle Bear is a multifaceted filmmaker from the Kainai First Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy. His career began with the short experimental documentary Napi, which asks the question of what will happen when the Blackfoot trickster gets behind the camera. It premiered at the opening night of the 37th American Indian Film Festival in 2012 and went on to screen at multiple film festivals. Damien continued to work as a videographer, building his technical filmmaking skills before moving into producing. With the support of the National Screen Institute’s IndigiDocs program, He developed Big Momma, a short documentary about the journey of a Two Spirit comedian, Preston Stimson, from personal struggles to the stage. This was quickly followed up with the short film q’sapi times, supported through TELUS STORYHIVE’s inaugural Indigenous Edition, is a modern take on a traditional Syilx (Okanagan) coyote story. Both short films premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2019. Following that success, he took on his next challenge, The Bannocking, a six-part horror-comedy web series that explores family dynamics and relationships during an outbreak of a zombie-like sickness. The series was selected for Telefilm’s Talent to Watch Program and released online through CBC Gem in 2023. Damien’s projects have gone to multiple film festivals throughout Canada and the United States of America, including the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and LA Skins Film Festival. He is an alumnus of Capilano University, graduating from the Cinematography and Indigenous Filmmaking Programs. His work explores the themes of belonging and Indigenous resiliency.