Kokum and Dot: a new Indigenous-themed kids show created by member of Muskoday First Nation

A short pilot of the potential kids show has been filmed and published for the public to see, which you can watch below.

Originally moving to Vancouver as a film student, Johnson has been on the West Coast for the last decade working in the production industry, and she’s tried in the past to get some Indigenous-themed projects in the works.

This is the first time where she feels like it’s coming together, and she’s hoping with some viewing support, her new show will be able to catch on. The idea from the show came from an online class Johnson took to learn the Cree language during the pandemic and what she described as a flamboyant instructor.

“I was lucky enough to be able to take an online Cree language course and that was with Kokum Dorothy Visser. She’s from Treaty Six territory. So we were just doing Cree online and she’s very gifted with teaching language, especially to children, and she uses puppetry when she teaches children. I was so inspired by her and I thought she’s getting up there in years since she’s in her mid to late 80s, and I just would love to find a way to share her excitement and enthusiasm for language and culture, and then maybe preserve some of her lessons.”

Johnson continued on to say that the inspiration offered by her real life Cree language instructor inspired the name of the lead character in the show.

“Kokum Dorothy Visser is just one of those advocates, incredibly gifted educators, and I just can’t say enough good things about her. She is passionate about preserving her language and culture. She’s very open. She is non-judgmental. She will teach anybody her culture, doesn’t matter what your religion, what your race, what your age is, she’s very accepting of everybody. She’s lived a full and often tough life. She’s lost children, she went to residential school, but through all of that, she worked as a nurse and she’s in the community advocating for all Indigenous people and for preservation of language and culture. She’s just a great role model and I feel like I would love her messaging to go beyond just the area where she’s living now.”

The show’s name ‘Kokum and Dot’ is important to the show’s backbone, which is the relationship crafted by the word ‘Kokum’. While the simple definition of Kokum is ‘grandmother’, Johnson explains that there is more meaning behind that word, and that relationship is explored through the stories told in her show.

“Kokum could be anybody who’s maybe of grandmother age or who you have a maternal relationship with, who is a bit of a protector. So in this series, it’s not explicitly stated that Dot is Kokum Dorothy’s granddaughter. In fact, my intention was to make an adult show and disguise it as a kid’s show because Kokum Dorothy is healing her inner child by this relationship that she’s having with Dot, and Dot really reflects her inner child and her inquisitiveness and curiosity that she had before she went to residential school.”

The show uses beautiful imagery, bright colours in Kokum Dorothy’s kitchen that are reflected in the animated art that shows up later in the trailer. The first story put together talks about the story of the eagle, with imagery done in the style of the Woodland Cree by artist Stephen Gladue to depict the eagle in the show during Kokum Dorothy’s story.

Art created by Stephen Gladue used in the show depicting the eagle, which is animated to help tell a story of love from Kokum Dorothy’s past.

Incorporating that authentic imagery into her show was important for Johnson, and she’s excited to have found Gladue to produce the eagle and other Métis/Cree artists to work on the show so that all of the imagery is showcased properly. While Johnson herself didn’t grow up around Woodland Cree art, she is learning more about it as this project goes on and she hopes others can learn from it too.

“It’s hard for me to speak to it because I’m still learning, but it’s also by working with these Woodland artists that I’m learning more about Woodland art. That’s another goal that I had with this series, was to showcase Woodland art in a good way and show it accurately. So that’s why I’ve partnered up with a Woodland artist. One thing that I think that this series has that maybe other Indigenous kids series don’t have is that Woodland animation. I just absolutely love it. I think it’s stunning. I think it’s beautiful. I think it’s eye-catching and I think there’s a lot more storytelling that can be told by utilizing it. I really feel like I haven’t seen it done commercially. I think I’ve seen maybe some Woodland art in like very niche art scenes or like a national film board type production, but I haven’t seen it used commercially. So if the series gets picked up to be able to see Woodland art showcased, on a nationally broadcast series would be a dream come true.”

Dot is both voiced and puppeteered by Kellie Haines, while Kokum Dorothy is played by Renae Morriseau. (Photo submitted/April Johnson)

Staring in the lead role of the show is Renae Morriseau as Kokum Dorothy, and Johnson said it’s like a dream come true working with her. Morriseau is of Cree and Saulteaux decent from Treaty 1 territory. She’s also toured the country with the Indigenous gospel group M’Girl and has acted and directed other various projects.

Kellie Haines is the voice and puppeteer behind Dot, and is the only member of the cast that does not have Indigenous status. Having Haines as a proper ventriloquist added on the project made production much simpler because she could do a voice suitable to the character instead of having to bring in a child actor or another voice actor to record lines at a later date.

“Another good thing is 100 per cent of the crew that was part of the live action component was Indigenous. The director of photography was Indigenous, the dolly grip, the sound people, the sound team, the lighting team, everybody was Indigenous. I’m super proud about that because this project doesn’t just lift me up, it’s lifting up an entire Indigenous team, and that’s something I’m really proud about for sure.”

As for how the project moves forward, Johnson is waiting to see if there is an audience for this show before she can receive funding for it. Johnson has applied for grants for funding as early as in 2022, and once she knows if any of that funding is received, she can then look at bringing the show towards a Canadian television network or if it continues on as a web series.

Johnson originally applied for funding in 2022 to get the show off the ground, and has applied for additional funding from the Canadian Media Fund and Independent Production Fund that connected her with writer Jules Koostachin, and now is hoping to get further funding that will bring this show from just a pilot project into a full on series.

Her job now is focused on getting the word out about Kokum and Dot to convince the funding boards that the show is worth their dollar and worth showing to Canadian audiences.

“It’s hard because children don’t really have the same access to choosing their own media, you have to attract the parents or the gatekeepers, and then hope that they will show it to kids. I think the challenge right now is to basically prove to the funders that there’s an audience and there’s a need for this, so that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m really, really trying to push to get the word out so that we can get this series made because the more engagement, the more of an audience we build, the more trust the funders have to help us make the series.”

The best way to support the Kokum and Dot web series is to watch their pilot for the show above, or to follow them on their Facebook (click here) and Instagram (click here) pages.

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Nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Kokum and Dot: a new Indigenous-themed kids show created by member of Muskoday First Nation

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