Stories We Have Earned

Cody Lefthand is an emerging Stoney Nakoda Filmmaker from the Eden Valley Bearspaw First Nation. His interests centre around the historical indigenous experience of Treaty 7 members. He has a background in the Prop’s Department with John Scott Productions and has been creating and developing both fiction and documentary projects. Cody wrote, directed, and produced the drama The Lost Lemon Mine, in 2020, with a grant from Telus Storyhive. The film premiered in the ImagineNative Film festival in 2020. Cody recently received an Original Peoples Investment Grant from Calgary Arts Development for the WW1 drama, The Trench which is currently in post-production. The script was created with a Virtual Studio Development Grant from a Wapikoni Mobile. Cody’s feature length documentary Stories We have Earned: The Stoney Nakoda Film Project had its world premiere at the Calgary international film festival with two sold out theatres and was well received by audiences. The film looks at the history of the Stoney Nakoda and Hollywood film industry alongside the history of exclusionary practices put upon the Stoney community since the signing of Treaty 7. The project has received funding from the Indigenous Screen Office, Canada Council for the Arts, as well as Telefilm’s theatrical documentary fund.  Cody has a short documentary Lost Lemon Tapes (2024) which received funding from Telus StoryHive and can be found on Telus TV.

Cody is currently an active member and board member of the CSIF (Calgary Society of Independent Film) and is currently working in a mentorship capacity for the CSIF. In July, he was also elected to the board of directors of Making Treaty 7, a non-for-profit indigenous theatre and art organization.