Produced in 2010 for the non-profit Oweesta, Corp. in South Dakota. Narrated by Michael Horse. This is the short version. There is also a more detailed and story-driven 30- minute version. “Journey through the last decade and discover how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are addressing critical barriers to economic development, enriching the lives […]
Intuit Human Resources Group All Hands Long Form Video. Edited in Final Cut Pro 7.0 using Apple Motion graphics template modifications. I shot this with a Panasonic HPX 370 Camera. The longer 5-minute format allowed a more “news magazine” storytelling approach.
“Gathering Together” was produced, directed, shot and edited by James Fortier in 2006 for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe near Tacoma, WA. Gathering Together goes behind the scenes to chronicle the story of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s first traditional potlatch in over a century as host of the 2006 Tribal Canoe Journey. As a sort of […]
Shot and edited for Intuit’s Partner Platform Development Group. Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro with Adobe After Effects motion graphics template modifications. I shot this with a Panasonic HPX-370 P2 Camera.
Three camera shoot, with mixed Canon DSRLs and Panasonic HPX-370, one slider, no gimbal devices on the market yet, relied on handheld instead. Partnered with my dear friend of 30 years at the time, highly regarded Sonoma-based wedding and wildlife photographer Diane Askew, whom I met in suburban Chicago when she was still in high […]
Edited and shot for Intuit’s Human Resources Group. Edited on Final Cut Pro 7.0 with Apple Motion graphics effects using some client supplied video clips and photos. Key testimonials were shot by me on a Panasonic HPX 370 camera some against white background and composited in FCP using the luma key tool. The longer 9 […]
Intuit Human Resources Group All Hands Long Form Video. Edited in FCP 7.0 with basic motion graphics. I shot this with Panasonic HPX 300 Camera. The longer 11 minute format allowed a more documentary storytelling approach.
Documentary short, 30 minutes from 2005. This was a work-in-progress sample that screened at a few film festivals but never received completion funding for the proposed 90-minute verité documentary LeAnne Howe and I envisioned. The story is still out there waiting though. When most people think of baseball, the last thing that comes to mind […]
Edited and shot for Intuit’s Human Resources Group. Edited on Final Cut Pro 7.0 with basic motion graphics effects using some client supplied video clips and photos. Event interviews were shot by me on a Panasonic HPX 370 camera. I also was a live event Camera Op and Lighting Director for the clips from previous […]
This was shot in 2013on a Canon 5D III in Wadi Rum, Jordan for Choctaw author and playwright LeAnne Howe’s forthcoming eBook “Memoirs of a Choctaw in Jordan” (Working title). Shot and edited by James Fortier.
Official trailer for Searching for Sequoyah. National PBS premiere November, 2021. Searching for Sequoyah chronicles the life and accomplishments of the legendary 19th century Cherokee visionary, Sequoyah (George Guess), through the oral stories of five modern day Sequoyah descendants. While much is known about Sequoyah’s Cherokee writing system or syllabary, very little is known about […]
Edited and shot for Intuit’s Human Resources Group. Edited on Final Cut Pro 7.0 with Apple Motion graphics effects using some client supplied video clips and photos. Key testimonials were shot by me on a Panasonic HPX 370 camera some against white background and composited in FCP using the luma key tool. The longer nearly […]
This was shot in 2013 on a Canon 5D III in Wadi Rum, Jordan for Choctaw author and playwright LeAnne Howe’s forthcoming eBook “Memoirs of a Choctaw in Jordan” (Working title). Shot and edited by James Fortier.
I was the DP and Editor for a series of these PSAs as Creative Director for Naqmayam Communications (Joely Proudfit). With special appearances by Joely Proudfit and her assistant Geneva Sanchez, and interns Laura Hernandez and Tommy Devers. So much fun!
“Wawatay: Maker of Light” is a sequel to my 2013 documentary “Gifts from the Elders” to mark the original film’s 10th anniversary, using hours of mostly unused footage filmed at Heron Bay/Pic River (Biigtigong Nishanaabeg First Nation Reserve) in 2012. It is more of a long form music video set to verité cinema footage to […]
A work-in-progress sample for an aborted documentary project from 2011 that never received funding from ITVS, National Georgraphic’s All Roads Fund, nor Vision Maker Media. “Hakela: The Last One” chronicles the story of Lakota tribal member Calvin Spotted Elk, the great-great-grandson of the famed Lakota, Chief Spotted Elk. Chief Spotted Elk, who came to be […]
The Hudson’s Bay Co., Nicol Finlayson and the Scottish-Oji-Cree legacy he left behind in Northern Ontario A work-in-progress documentary film and companion book proposal. The history of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Nicol Finlayson and the cultural and family legacy he left behind; from northern Ontario’s Long Lake to historic Fort William (Thunder Bay), on to […]
The trailer for the documentary Gifts from the Elders, 2013, written, produced, directed, and edited by James Fortier. “Gifts from the Elders” follows five Anishinaabe youth on a summer research project with their Elders, whose stories guide them on a journey back to proceeding generations that lived a healthy lifestyle off of the land. Their […]
I produced and edited this opening video for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians at the National Congress of American Indians Conference in 2010 as Creative Director for Naqmayam Communications (Dr. Joely Proudift).
2003 verité documentary for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe near Tacoma, WA. Reflecting the traditions of their ancestors, the Muckleshoot canoe “family” learns to put the group before the individual in order to survive the often treacherous waters of Washington’s Puget Sound. Chronicling their 14-day odyssey during Tribal Canoe Journey – 2003, filmmaker James M. Fortier […]
Intuit Human Resources Group All Hands Long Form Video. Edited in FCP 7.0 with Apple Motion graphics template modifications. I shot this with Panasonic HPX 300 Camera. The longer 22-minute format allowed a more documentary storytelling approach.