Henry Poundmaker Beaudry. (Submitted photo/Grant Beaudry Facebook)

By Angela Brown

Historical figure

Movie being made on life of Henry Poundmaker Beaudry

Feb 20, 2024 | 3:00 PM

A movie is now being made about the life of Henry Poundmaker Beaudry, a First Nation veteran and self-taught artist from the Battlefords area.

One of the producers on the Poundmaker project, Glen Kirby, with Thomega Entertainment, noted it hasn’t been determined yet where the film will air when it’s complete but there are lots of options.

“The design elements of the Poundmaker story are really established to make sure it would be in a format that an Amazon Prime, Acorn, or Netflix could assimilate into their streaming technologies,” he said. “That’s been the key consideration from the beginning creatively.”

Poundmaker, a direct descendant of the legendary Chief Poundmaker, lived on Poundmaker Cree Nation, Sweetgrass and Mosquito First Nations, and attended Delmas residential school. He later served in the Second World War, and escaped after being a prisoner of war in 1944, and eventually returned home. He went on to pursue a career as a talented artist.

The idea for the movie came about after Thomega Entertainment founder Anthony Towstego advised Kirby the company was profiling Poundmaker in its Canada Remembers project.

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“I really gravitated towards Henry’s story because it’s a victorious story that has an important Saskatchewan root to it, but it’s accessible to an international audience,” Kirby said. “It’s a story that really needs to be told.”

Kirby noted what excited him so much was that the story approaches the struggle between the stereotypical views of two nations in a unique light.

“Henry was a very special person,” he said. “I don’t think he ever saw himself as a victim. He was incredibly brave and courageous. In the current climate, stories that we can tell about the courage of people regardless of their background is really a unifying force.”

A rough-cut concept trailer has already been created for the project.

The filming will be done mainly in Saskatchewan and around The Ridge site. The project will be in the pre-production development phase in 2024, with principal photography work and editing expected for 2025.

The docudrama, which has a working title of Poundmaker, is expected to be released in five episodes.

“What’s interesting about that as a name is that it’s the name that was taken away from him in residential school,” Kirby said. “The heart of this story is giving the name back to him, in a broader context. I think that’s really important and valuable. It’s an amazing name.”

Grant Beaudry, with Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation (MGBHLM), is honoured his father’s life will be documented in the film. Henry died in 2016 at the age of 95.

“Before my father died, this is what he shared with me,” Grant noted. “He [Henry] said: I’ve been through a lot of hardship and I’ve seen a lot of things in war that, in all, mankind can be cruel to one another. Throughout my life from residential school to joining the army and being in the war, being a prisoner of war, and then escaping and surviving, I never thought I would be at the age where I am today. I’ve lived a full life.”

Grant said he feels he is fulfilling an obligation of his father’s last dying wish, with the Henry Beaudry Interpretive Cultural Art Gallery [coming to The Ridge, south of Battleford], and now the concept trailer that is being pitched to different film companies.

“I think it’s very important,” he said. “There’s so many people affected by residential schools and the intergenerational effects on our Indigenous communities. If we could showcase one person like my father and the effects residential school had on him and upon us, the intergenerational [impact] that have affected me and my siblings, [it would be a step towards reconciliation].”

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @battlefordsNOW