Sienna Films, a Toronto based award-winning independent film and television production company part of the Sphere Media group, is proud to announce that following its world premiere presentation, One of Ours has received the Special Jury prize at the Hot Docs’ annual Awards. The awards ceremony took place on May 7 and constitutes one of the highlights of the Hot Docs Festival that ended on May 9.
One of Ours was written and directed by first-time filmmaker Yasmine Mathurin, well-known for award-winning podcasts The Shadows and Tai Asks Why. In 2011, Yasmine was selected to take part in the United Nations Human Rights Fellowship program for People of African-decent which became the starting point for her to pursue her career in journalism and filmmaking. The film was produced by Laura Perlmutter (Cursed Films, The Dark, Looking for Mike) and Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith. Executive Producer is Jennifer Kawaja (Cardinal, Trickster).
One of Ours tells the story of a Haitian-born youth who is racially profiled at an Indigenous basketball tournament and wrestles with his shaken sense of belonging in his Indigenous adoptive family while attempting to heal from his past.
"It is a great honnor for us to receive the Special Jury prize at Hot Docs, Canada’s most important Documentary rendez-vous," said Laura Perlmutter, Producer.
"Healing is not linear, and this story exemplifies that. Josiah’s bravery, and the love and support of his family and the Heiltsuk nation showed us how in spite of it all, love, kinship and community can help us move through our pain. This is something that is universal," added Yasmine Mathurin, writer and director of One of Ours. “While the making of this film was met with several challenges, I felt more equipped to handle them because of the support of the amazing team at Sienna Films and Jordana Ross at documentary Channel.”
One of Ours is a documentary Channel Original feature film, made possible with the support of documentary Channel, Ontario Creates, CMF POV Fund and Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund. It is distributed by Abacus Media Rights.
