Cree filmmaker, actor and producer Georgina Lightning died Saturday evening after she was struck by a horse at an Indian Relay event on Enoch Cree Nation west of Edmonton, RCMP confirmed. She was 63.
RCMP told Global News that a horse veered off the track and hit a woman standing in a designated media area, and that the woman died at the track. Lightning’s family confirmed she was the person who was struck. Alberta Occupational Health and Safety has since taken over the investigation, RCMP said.
Lightning was at the Enoch Rodeo Grounds filming an upcoming documentary about the three-day Indian Relay event when the incident happened Saturday night.
Her daughter, actor Crystle Lightning, confirmed the death in a Facebook post late Saturday. “I am shattered in every way possible,” she wrote. “I have lost my mother, my sons Kohkum, my matriarch, my role model, my confidant. That’s all I can say right now. I’m wrecked.”
“Chief and Council extend our most sincere condolences to the family,” the Enoch Cree Nation said in a statement issued through the office of Chief Cody Thomas. The nation said it is working with the appropriate authorities on the investigation and would not speculate on the circumstances. Global News reported that the relay races were scheduled to continue Sunday with a tribute to Lightning and her family.
Lightning was a citizen of Samson Cree Nation, about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton, and grew up in the city. She co-founded Tribal Alliance Productions with executive producer Audrey Martinez, a company set up to create opportunities for First Nations, Native American and other Indigenous filmmakers. Filmmaker Magazine named her one of its 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2007.
Her directorial debut, Older Than America, made her one of the first Indigenous women in North America to direct a major feature film. Released in 2008, it drew on her father’s experience in the residential school system and starred Adam Beach, Tantoo Cardinal and Wes Studi, with a role for American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks. Lightning wrote, directed and appeared in the film, which Native News Online reported won 23 festival awards. Her other screen credits include Johnny Greyeyes, DreamKeeper, Blackstone, Trickster, Three Pines, Alaska Daily and Buffalo Daze.
Tributes came quickly from across the Canadian arts community. Janine Windolph, director of Indigenous arts at the Banff Centre, wrote on Facebook that she was shocked by the news. “She was an amazing talent, a matriarch and a supportive woman,” Windolph wrote. She said the centre had hosted Lightning for its Decolonizing the Narrative conversation series and that Lightning was a graduate of its Digital Constellations residency.
Jennifer Podemski, a writer, showrunner and director who is a member of Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation, wrote on Instagram that Lightning was her first role model in the industry. “This tragic and sudden loss has rocked the entire Indigenous arts and cinema community to its core,” Podemski wrote.
Alberta NDP MLA Janis Irwin, who represents Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, also posted a tribute. “Heartbroken to hear this news,” Irwin wrote. “I wish I had the right words. Rest easy, Georgina.”
Neither the RCMP nor Alberta Occupational Health and Safety has said when the investigation into the incident will conclude, or whether it will examine the placement of the media area at the track. The Enoch Cree Nation said it would support that process fully.
via Global News: Indigenous filmmaker Georgina Lightning mourned by family, friends, and Native News Online.
