New grant for filmmakers launched in honour of Jeff Barnaby

TWO ROW TIMES

TORONTO — Sarah Del

Seronde is a big believer in interrogating the word ``legacy,'' particularly as it relates to her late husband, the filmmaker Jeff Barnaby.

Seronde, who is also a filmmaker, said it feels strange to switch from being Barnaby's partner to talking about the impact of his work now that he's gone.

``His work is still continuing, so I guess the word legacy feels finite,'' she said.

Before his death in October, the 46-year-old had an outsized influence on Indigenous storytelling — and Seronde said that part of his work is ongoing.

Barnaby wrote, directed and edited the drama ``Rhymes for Young Ghouls'' and the zombie film ``Blood Quantum.''

Netflix and imagineNATIVE on Thursday announced the Jeff Barnaby Grant in honour of his contributions to Indigenous narrative sovereignty, genre film, and Canadian cinema.

Five Indigenous film and television creatives across Canada with productions at any stage in the horror, thriller and futurism genre will each receive $25,000 to support their projects.

The money comes from Netflix, while imagineNATIVE will co-ordinate the application, jury and selection process.

Seronde is among the jury that will select the recipients, alongside actress and writer Devery Jacobs and director and screenwriter Danis Goulet.

Before his death, Barnaby was one of the inaugural participants in the Advancing Voices: Netflix Canada Creator Program, an initiative for fostering the growth of under-represented storytellers.

Seronde said Barnaby, who had cancer for a year before his death, never got to finish his project once ``he went into the hospital and never left.''

She said Netflix approached her with the idea for the grant after she sought them to discuss if they would take a look at the final version of his unfinished script, which Netflix says they haven't yet received but they're still open to discussing.

``I was floored by it — that the idea would honour his work,'' Seronde said. ``I think it's probably the most flattering way a filmmaker can push forward their memory, by helping other filmmakers.''

Seronde adds this sort of grant represents the kind of opportunity that her husband rarely received, despite his drive.

``Other filmmakers would have taken a softer approach to storytelling, but that wasn't him. He did it with both the joys and the sorrows,'' said Seronde.

She said those two halves were part of why she cherished Barnaby. While he grappled with heavy topics in his work, his playful side would come out as they watched ``Jeopardy'' together or had the occasional Samurai film night.

``It was such a pleasure to spend time with him just in the way that we would interact, and it's the exact opposite of what he put up on the screen; we were at peace, and he was funny and emotionally complex.''