In the realm of independent animation, Terril Calder has been an influential force since making her first stop motion films. Most of the work mentioned above has dealt with assorted myths/folk tales. A Drawing major graduate of the Fine Arts program at the University of Manitoba, Calder came to animation through Winnipeg’s Video Pool Media Arts Centre. “Animation,” says Calder, “held and holds so many possibilities to tell my stories and bring a different perspective to screen to make change. It really is the sum of all of my parts. Activism, Storytelling, Art, Painting, Sewing, Photography, Compositing…it completely challenges me in every way.” 

Calder’s work is raw, unstable and haunting, tackling a number of personal and difficult issues like identity (Choke, 2010, co-created with Michelle Latimer; Canned Meat, 2009; Vessel, 2013), memory, isolation, and the unspeakable horrors of residential schools (Snip, 2016; Keewaydah, 2017).