Tank Standing Buffalo
Tank Standing Buffalo is a Canadian artist from Calgary, Alberta.[1] He is most noted for his 2023 animated short film MONSTR, which was included in HBO Max's animation anthology Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection.[2]
Background
Of mixed Potawatomi and Black Canadian descent, his mother is a member of the Caldwell First Nation in Southwestern Ontario.[3] He had a troubled childhood, and spent some time in detention as a young offender following a robbery.[4]
Career
His 2020 short film RKLSS centred on his time as a young offender, shedding light in particular on the inhumanity of solitary confinement practices, and premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.[4]
He followed up in 2022 with SAVJ, a prequel film about the childhood experience of being taken into foster care that first set him on the path to his troubled teenage years.[5] The film, which featured Corey Feldman voicing Standing Buffalo's character, premiered at the 2022 Calgary International Film Festival.[6]
MONSTR centred on his experience following his wife's death of a brain aneurysm, when he confronted his inner demons walking in the forest along the British Columbia Coast before taking a year-long apprenticeship with a wood carver.[2] The film premiered as part of HBO Max's Only You in March 2023.[1]
In addition to animation, Standing Buffalo has also worked in sculpture, illustration, tattoo art and tiki mug design.[4]
Awards
In May 2023, he was named one of the recipients of the inaugural Jeff Barnaby Grant for emerging indigenous filmmakers from Netflix and the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.[7]
At the 2023 Calgary International Film Festival, MONSTR won the Devon Bolton Memorial Award for best Alberta short film,[8] and the Audience Choice award for best Alberta short film.[9]
In 2021 he was awarded the RBC Emerging Artist Award, a Cultural Leaders Legacy Award from Calgary Arts Development,[10]
References
- ^ a b Taylor Simmons, "Calgary-based animator ready to walk red carpet as his MONSTR premieres on HBO Max". CBC News Calgary, March 22, 2023.
- ^ a b Stephen Hunt, "New film by Calgary's Tank Standing Buffalo streams on HBO". CTV News Calgary, March 25, 2023.
- ^ Monica Whitepigeon, "‘RKLSS’ Offers Message of Redemption and Sheds Light on Canada’s Prison System". Native News Online, October 1, 2020.
- ^ a b c Travis Klemp, "Tank Standing Buffalo’s RKLSS selected for TIFF". Windspeaker, September 1, 2020.
- ^ Stephen Hunt, "Calgary filmmaker Tank Standing Buffalo explores family trauma in SAVJ". CTV News Calgary, September 24, 2022.
- ^ Ingrid Canuel, "CIFF announces lineup of Alberta made films". LiveWire Calgary, August 4, 2022.
- ^ Oscar Baker III, "5 winners of Jeff Barnaby grants for Indigenous filmmakers announced". CBC News, May 10, 2023.
- ^ Aryn Toombs, "Winners of 2023 CIFF competitions unveiled". LiveWire Calgary, September 25, 2023.
- ^ "Summer Qamp, Drawing a Life audience favourites at CIFF". LiveWire Calgary, October 3, 2023.
- ^ CADA, "Tank Standing Buffalo: Animation and Autobiography". Calgary Arts Development, July 30, 2021..