Madison Thomas is a filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Growing up she emerged as a natural storyteller and artist at a young age. Her work reflects her mixed cultural roots, Ojibwe, Saulteax, Russian and Ukrainian. Thomas also draws inspiration from experiences growing up in the inner city and has committed herself to diverse representation in her films.
Thomas received her Bachelor of Arts majoring in Filmmaking from the University of Winnipeg in 2012. In 2011 she was accepted into Prague Film School’s summer intensive program. Thomas was the first Canadian to be accepted in five years and the first Canadian Indigenous person to ever be accepted to the school.
In 2014 one of Thomas’s first short films Out of Reach launched her onto the national stage when it was selected as a finalist on CBC’s Short Film Faceoff. Thomas was one of the youngest participants to appear on the show and the jury applauded the film’s artistic bravery.
Thomas is the co-owner of Prairie Kid Productions. The collective have produced a dozen shorts which have enjoyed festival success worldwide. Thomas also works as a Writer, Director and Editor for several web series including APTN’s Digital Drum, Rezolution Picture’s Working It Out Together and Manito Ahbee/Moving Future Production Inc’s Orange Daisy Project.
Thomas also works as an Editor and Director for the CBC & APTN series Taken produced by Eagle Vision Productions which shares the true stories of Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous woman.
In 2016 Thomas was accepted into ImagineNative film festival’s inaugural Director’s Master Class. At the festival that year Thomas also received The Ellen Monague Award for Best Youth Talent Special Mention for her short film Exposed Nerves.
Thomas is alumni of the prestigious Women In the Director’s Chair Story and Leadership Program where she began development on her sci-fi feature film Last Call. The film’s script was a runner up in the Canadian wide writing contest from WIFTV Tales From the Dark Side in 2015.
Thomas believes that giving back to the community is a fundamental part of her responsibility as an artist. She often teaches film to inner city and low income youth. In 2016 she was selected as a Tedx Winnipeg speaker and her talk “Arts in the Hood” focused on her journey as an artist and her work as a mentor.
Awards and Nominations:
2016, Ellen Monague Award for Best Youth Talent Special Mention, ImagineNative
2015, From the Dark Side genre screenwriting contest Runner-up, WIFTV, Canada