Indigenous·NewDana Solomon is working hard to establish herself at TIFF50 with a short film she directed and a feature film she stars in.Actor stars in love story Blood Lines and wrote and directed short film NiimiStefan Richard · CBC News · Posted: Sep 13, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoDana Solomon wrote, directed and stars in the short film Niimi, about an Anishinaabe ballerina, which is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Niimi/B-Rebel PR)With two films at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), actor Dana Solomon is not only walking the red carpet, she is owning it.The multi-talented woman from Selkirk, Man., is a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. She took part in two red carpets at TIFF for two different films: one that she stars in and one she wrote, acted in and directed.Solomon stars in a feature film called Blood Lines, directed by Gail Maurice. It’s the story of a Métis same sex relationship, something Solomon, who identifies as a queer person, is honoured to represent on screen.”It’s a love story between two human beings and in the film, it’s not a coming out story,” Solomon said.”It’s something that’s just very normal and I think that’s very special and I think that’s going to resonate for a lot of people.”Solomon also learned dialogue for Blood Lines in Michif, a Métis language. She said language and knowledge keepers were on set to make sure that the language was being spoken correctly and treated with respect.”When you’re speaking a language that’s not your own, you have to handle it with so much care and love,” Solomon said.”You want to do it justice and make sure you’re portraying it in the right way.”From left, director Gail Maurice, Dana Solomon, and actor Derica Lyn Lafrance of the film Blood Lines get photobombed by Ethan Hawke on the TIFF red carpet. (elevation_pics/Instagram)Kelly Boutsalis, Canadian film programmer for TIFF, who is Kanien’kehá:ka from Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, said Blood Lines is a unique story.”To have that, especially with the language that Dana would have had to have spoken and learned, that is extremely rare to be in this festival,” Boutsalis said.Short film debutsSolomon also debuts her own short film called Niimi at the festival. Solomon wrote, directed, choreographed, and acted in the film, which is about an Anishinaabe ballerina who must move beyond past trauma.It was dancing that led Solomon to acting and eventually creating her own stories. A former student of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Solomon said Niimi was born out of personal experiences and shaped into a fictional story.Adam Smoluk, executive director of Film Training Manitoba, was thrilled to hear that Solomon’s work had reached TIFF screens.”It’s really the highest, to get selected to TIFF or the Sundance Film Festival or Cannes. Those are probably the three major global film festivals,” Smoluk said.”It’s really an outstanding achievement for Dana to be selected.”Solomon said she’s going to keep working on turning Niimi into a feature length film.ABOUT THE AUTHORStefan Richard is a reporter for CBC Indigenous, based in Treaty 1 territory. His work has appeared on APTN, NPR, Corus Radio, Native Communications Inc., and Slam Wrestling. Stefan is a proud member of Sagkeeng Anicinabe Nation.
Sagkeeng First Nation’s Dana Solomon has 2 films at Toronto International Film Festival
