It all started with her late aunty Geraldine’s VHS camcorder. Candy Fox discovered it during her childhood in the 1990s on the Piapot First Nation. “I remember having so much fun with it. I think that’s where I grew a sense of wanting to make movies and to direct, especially,” she recalls. “I remember being kind of bossy and telling my cousins what to do in front of the camera.”
Growing up, Fox’s main hobby was watching movies. She was—and still is—a fan of a variety of genres and styles of storytelling. “I got a sense that I wanted to be in the film industry somehow. Initially, I thought it would be through acting,” she notes. A few years after moving to Regina as a pre-teen, she did just that. After a reluctant audition (“I was really shy”), she landed a lead in the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) series, Moccasin Flats, and got a firsthand introduction to the professional film industry. Over the course of shooting three seasons and two related movies, Fox became even more certain of the direction her life would take. “I would stay on set and watch the crew at work. I asked questions of Stacey Stewart Curtis, the director at the time, picking her brain, soaking it all in. I think that’s where my sense of wanting to be behind the camera grew,” she explains.
The natural next step was film school. Fox chose the University of Regina to stay close to family. She went through the First Nations University of Canada and gained a sense of belonging from the student body, faculty, and curriculum there. She found a lot of support from members of the UR’s Film faculty as well, catching the attention of one of her professors, Sarah Abbott, to collaborate on a project with vulnerable youth in Regina. “Engaging Media and Indigenous Youth,” supported by a grant from SK Arts, ran for eight weeks in 2013 at the Rainbow Youth Centre and focused on media literacy, Indigenous-made films, and films with Indigenous content. Abbott created a directed study Film course in order for Fox to be involved in the project’s classes, document them, and teach a class on her own. “For that class, she reviewed what media literacy means for the youth and put together a great curated program of Indigenous films for them to watch. I remember watching with her the films she had to choose from—her taste in film is excellent,” Abbott remarks.
Fox reflects on Abbott’s support with gratitude. “The opportunity to step outside of my student role and become a teacher alongside her really gave me a sense of leadership and the ability to think of myself in that role for the future” she says. While Fox doesn’t have immediate plans to teach, she’s not closing the door on that possibility.
Abbott was also Fox’s professor for Film 401, the final core production course in the Film program. Fox’s resulting short documentary, Backroads, deals with sexual violence within a family. “Candy tells that story in a very effective, elegant, and evocative way. There is a quietness, simplicity, and intimacy in her cinematic approach that sensitively holds and unfolds a heart-wrenching, complex experience. It generates insight, empathy, and awareness for the audience,” Abbott explains. Backroads was named one of Canada’s Top Ten Student Shorts by the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 and won Best Student Film at the Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards that year. “I went into film school wanting to do scripted narratives and came out really loving documentary, and that’s what I’m working mostly in now,” Fox says.
At a time when many in the film industry were leaving the province, Fox chose to stay and build her career here upon her graduation in 2015. She started as an independent contractor by doing videography and photography for a lot of different local organizations. As awareness of her work grew, due in no small part to the national attention she received for Backroads, she was soon hired in various roles on independent productions. “I was able to find work coming out of film school and slowly got other jobs. Word of mouth was really helpful for my career,” she says. “I had a discussion with a couple of filmmakers recently about working in Saskatchewan, and they all said, ‘If there’s work here, we’ll stay here.’ That really rings true. Thankfully, I was able to plant my career roots here at home.”
Someone particularly influential in Fox’s career was award-winning Indigenous filmmaker Trudy Stewart BFA’08, who passed away in 2019. “Trudy was always sending me different opportunities. She saw some potential in me and took me under her wing. She supported a lot of other Indigenous filmmakers as well. She was always generous with her time and wanted to share what she had experienced.”
Stewart screened Fox’s films at mispon, a film festival in Regina devoted to supporting Indigenous filmmakers and mentoring Indigenous youth. In 2016 she invited Fox to participate in an Indigenous, Two-Spirit film collective with filmmakers from Ottawa, ON, and New Zealand. Fox, Stewart, and several other filmmakers travelled to each other’s communities to make films together. Travelling overseas for the project was a highlight for Fox. “New Zealand is one of those places where every Indigenous person wants to go. It was just breathtaking to see the lands, the beaches, the beauty of the people, as well as how strong their language is—Māori is their national language,” she says. The team made some short films and screened them in each other’s communities. “It was an opportunity for us to collaborate with one another and see each other’s festivals, connect with people from those territories, and build a strong sense of community across nations for Indigenous filmmakers. It was really memorable.”
Fox’s break into working in network television, was on APTN’s The Other Side, a documentary series that follows a team of Indigenous paranormal investigators on the pursuit to help unsettled spirits and their loved ones. She was brought on as assistant director with the opportunity to direct one episode. “It was the catalyst for me to work in network TV,” she notes, as it led to directing on other APTN shows like Amplify, a music documentary series featuring Indigenous songwriters, and Pow Wow Chow, a documentary series that follows Indigenous food vendors on the powwow trail. Fox has also worked as a senior story producer on Big Brother Canada (Global) and directed episodes of ZARQA (CBC Gem).
She considers her latest project to be one of the high points in her career. Fox is director and co-producer of the new APTN documentary series, Treaty Road, which follows Saxon de Cocq and Erin Goodpipe as they unveil the sites, history, and people connected to the signing of the numbered Treaties. They talk to experts, Knowledge Keepers, Elders, historians, and grassroots activists about the Treaties’ history and current climate. As de Cocq explores his Métis heritage, he and Goodpipe examine the role that his great-great-great-grandfather—who was a prominent Métis politician from the Red River region—played in these controversial agreements. Together, they confront the difficult truths of Canada’s colonization, comparing the promises made to those kept. Season one, which premiered in March 2024, explores the truth of what really happened in the first six numbered Treaties in Canada. A second season is slated to explore the remainder of the numbered Treaties, and eventually touch on some of the pre-colonial treaties and unceded territories.
de Cocq and Fox had worked together previously on The Other Side. “I saw what a strong director she is, so Candy was the first person who came to mind to direct when I was developing Treaty Road. We ended up bringing her on as a producer, as well—it seemed like a natural direction for her,” he says.
When de Cocq outlined the concept of the series to Fox, she jumped at the opportunity. “I could see the importance of the subject matter and felt a responsibility to help tell this story, because up to this point, I hadn’t seen a modern or contemporary depiction of the numbered Treaties,” she explains. “I thought back to high school and my own education of the Treaties, and I feel like that wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. So, thinking about that, it felt like there was a need for something to be made.”
Fox describes the series as “a journey that our two hosts are on, but it is also about history and contemporary issues and privileges the Indigenous voice.” As a Cree person, Fox is well aware of the effects of broken Treaties and colonization, such as intergenerational trauma. What she found most rewarding about the project was travelling to the different territories across the country and witnessing their resilience. “While they are still healing, the nations are still rooted in their culture and in their languages. They still thrive to this day after all these attempts at assimilation and genocide. I never get tired of seeing the beauty and strength within our communities.”
The rapport between Fox and de Cocq also contributed to a positive experience for everyone working on the show. “We’re on the road a lot and dealing with very serious content. Because Candy and I have such a good history together, we’re able to keep things light and grounded, and we’re able to laugh. You need that when you’re dealing with a project like this. And when we have to get back into things, we focus really well,” de Cocq says.
He also speaks highly of Fox’s interview skills. “Her ability to pull information out of people in an interview setting is unparalleled. She makes people feel very comfortable. She has a humble approach in the way she frames questions, which is important when people are reluctant to speak about serious issues,” he says. Fox is honoured that people were willing to share their stories with her. “It’s reaffirmed that the effects of colonization are a collective experience across the board. It’s a difficult thing to talk about and to reflect back on, but it also gives us strength to be able to share in that collective experience,” she says.
In the years since graduation, Fox has continued making independent films, as well. Her film, ahkâmêyimo nitânis/Keep Going, My Daughter (2019), is about a young couple living on Poundmaker Cree Nation who narrate a poetic and hopeful love letter to their daughter, reflecting the dreams of a new generation of Indigenous parents still healing from the traumas of colonialism. It premiered at Hot Docs in 2019 and was awarded Best Short and Audience Choice by the Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards. Her films have screened at festivals both nationally and internationally at imagineNATIVE, LA Skins, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Wairoa Māori Film Festival.
Looking to the future, Fox can see herself making a transition to scripted films, “I would like to do more writing and make some really fun movies. I’m really drawn to science fiction and Neo-noir movies. I like drama and horror as well.”
With her busy schedule, Fox is mindful of work/life balance. She loves to travel and has been to New Zealand, Japan, Jamaica, and Vietnam, to name a few. “I like exploring new places, eating new foods, and learning about new cultures,” she remarks. Her favourite thing is spending time with family. Over the last several months, she and her partner, Kezia, have been caring for a baby boy, named Zaiden, that they will be taking into guardianship soon. They hope to adopt Zaiden eventually. “He’s been a real joy to have around and is teaching us so much about parenthood,” Fox says. “We love him immensely.”
When asked what advice she would give film students graduating today, Fox counsels, “Just keep going. There were some points when I started out when I wasn’t sure if I was going to get work or not, but I just kept with it. I tried to do things that were meaningful for me, and I tried to tell stories from the heart. That’s what has really guided me—to lead with my heart.”
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Bernard Wilhelm in his office at the University of Regina. All photos courtesy of the Wilhelm family.