Crave and APTN premiere their much-anticipated original limited series, LITTLE BIRD, Friday, May 26, which follows an inspirational journey of self-discovery and truth. From Crave, APTN, Rezolution Pictures,OP Little Bird, and in partnership with global producer and distributor Fremantle, the six-part, one-hour limited series explores universal themes of resilience in the face of trauma and loss. It follows Bezhig Little Bird (Darla Contois) as she embarks on a path to find her birth family and uncover the hidden truth of her family history. The series streams on Friday, May 26 on Crave and APTN lumi, in English and French, with subsequent episodes dropping Fridays.
Removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan, Bezhig Little Bird is adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at age five, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them. Her search lands her in the Canadian Prairies, worlds apart from everything she knows. As she begins to track down her siblings, she unravels the mystery behind her adoption and discovers that her apprehension was connected to a racist government policy, now known as the Sixties Scoop. Bezhig’s sense of identity shatters, and she is forced to reckon with who she is and who she wants to become.
Led by Contois, the character-driven drama features a talented cast of Indigenous actors, including: Ellyn Jade; Osawa Muskwa; Joshua Odjick; Imajyn Cardinal; Braeden Clarke; Eric Schweig; and Michelle Thrush. Rounding out the cast is Lisa Edelstein (HOUSE) who plays Esther’s adoptive mother, Golda Rosenblum.
The recent winner of the Audience Award Prize at the 2023 SERIES MANIA Festival in Lille, France, LITTLE BIRD was filmed in and around Winnipeg and Brokenhead Ojibway Nation on Treaty 1 territory, in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Treaty 2 territory, and in Muscowpetung First Nation on Treaty 4 territory. LITTLE BIRD showrunner Jennifer Podemski was also recently presented with an Academy Board Of Directors’ Tribute Award at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.
Alongside the final episode on June 30, Crave and APTN lumi are making available COMING HOME, a 90-minute companion documentary providing historical context, about the Sixties Scoop. Directed by Erica Daniels (Run as One), COMING HOME explores the connections between the ground-breaking movement for Indigenous narrative sovereignty and the impact of the child welfare system as experienced through the LITTLE BIRD series’ Indigenous creatives, crew, and Sixties Scoop advisors. COMING HOME provides a structuring through-line, interwoven with interviews with cast, crew, and community members revealing personal connections to the Sixties Scoop.
LITTLE BIRD is a co-production from Crave and APTN, produced by Rezolution Pictures and OP Little Bird with the participation of the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Manitoba Film and Music, the Rogers Cable Network Fund, the Bell Fund, and the COGECO Independent Production Fund. Additional training funding is provided by Bell Media, the Indigenous Screen Office, REEL Canada and the Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC). Fremantle is distributing the series globally.
Led by an Indigenous creative team, LITTLE BIRD is developed by showrunner Jennifer Podemski and Rezolution Pictures, and created by Podemski and head writer Hannah Moscovitch. The creative team includes directors Zoe Hopkins and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and was written by Hopkins and Moscovitch. The series is executive produced by Christina Fon, Ernest Webb, Catherine Bainbridge, Linda Ludwick (Rezolution Pictures), Kim Todd, Nicholas Hirst (Original Pictures), Jennifer Podemski, Hannah Moscovitch, Zoe Hopkins, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Jeremy Podeswa, along with Christian Vesper and Dante Di Loreto (Fremantle). Producers are Tanya Brunel and Jessica Dunn (OP Little Bird), Claire MacKinnon and Philippe Chabot (Rezolution Pictures) and Lori Lozinski and Ellen Rutter.
For Bell Media, Alison Korogyi is Development Executive; Rachel Goldstein-Couto is Head of Development, Original Programming; Mitch Geddes is Production Executive; Sarah Fowlie is Head of Production, Original Programming; Carlyn Klebuc is General Manager, Original Programming; Pat DiVittorio is Vice-President, CTV and Specialty Programming; Justin Stockman is Vice-President, Content Development & Programming; and Karine Moses is Senior Vice-President, Content Development & News, Bell Media and Vice Chair, Québec, Bell.
For APTN, Adam Garnet Jones is Director of TV Content and Special Events, Danelle Granger is Executive in charge of Development and Scripted Content, and Lisa Ducharme is Director of Online Content and Deliverables.
As previously announced, the production of LITTLE BIRD featured a training program that included opportunities for emerging and mid-career level Indigenous creators and crew, as well as for entry-level individuals, to gain practical on-set experience leading to subsequent employment in the industry. Built with the understanding that training, skill building, and professional development are integral to building capacity and sustainability in the Indigenous screen sector, the program was made possible via partnerships with the Indigenous Screen Office, Bell Media, REEL Canada, DGC, and DGC Manitoba.
