Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Trevor Cameron is a Toronto-based writer who has always wanted to make a film about his ancestors… and one in particular. Gabriel Dumont the famed Métis leader who fought in the Battle of Batoche in the Northwest Rebellion (also a famed translator, buffalo hunter, war hero and storyteller). But Trevor didn’t know much about him. Where did he come from, where did he go after the rebellion, what did he do with his life and what became of him?

To answers these question, he got in a camper van and headed out west, to follow in Dumont’s footsteps more than a century later. And he documented his journey on film. The result? A light-hearted road movie about one man discovering his past called Shadow of Dumont.

Shadow of Dumont was written and directed by Trevor Cameron, the award-winning screenwriter, director, and roller-derby champ, known for his work on TV shows like Wapos Bay and Guardians: Evolution. Trevor Cameron’s new documentary Shadow of Dumont premiered at the ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto.

I spoke with Trevor via Zoom.