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“They can see far, and they can hear far, and they’re strong and they’re fast… they also have the power of compassion and the power of courage.”
They are the Fierce Girls of Loretta Todd’s imagination. Superheroes who are Indigenous.
Todd’s new web series is in production preparing for a launch date of June 21, National Aboriginal Day.
“I wanted to make our young Indigenous youth, particularly girls, feel good about themselves,” she told Jeremy Harpe of CFWE-FM. But she also wanted superheroes that reflected who Indigenous youth are, and are reflective of Indigenous values.
Todd, an award winning filmmaker, said she wanted to make superheroes who are something not impossible for Indigenous youth to imagine themselves being.
“They could go ‘hey, I can relate to these girls. I think they’re like me… I can be super as well.”
Fierce Girls is the story of a couple of young women (14 and 15 year olds) who are best friends. One an Indigenous girl who lives in Vancouver.
“She’s a Cree, Métis… totally coming out of the urban experience, third generation urban Indigenous girl,” said Todd. She has a Maori best friend and both are aspiring comic book writers.
One night, one of the girls dreams of being a superhero and they decide to turn that dream into one of their comic books.
The series revolves around their lives in real life, mixed with their comic book lives as superheroes.
They are helpful to their community, and their powers come from their ancestors.
Part of the series is live action and the other part is animated. Fierce Girls is a co-production with Aotearoa/New Zealand, created by Loretta Todd, who works with an Indigenous production crew, and writers, animators, actors, crew and a creative team.
Todd is most recently known for her creation of Coyote’s Crazy Smart Science Show, which has been approved for season two on APTN.
Todd is also working on a project with CBC Breaking Barriers, a feature film called Monkey Beach, an iconic Haisla coming of age tale of grief and redemption, which is set to begin production this year.
A fourth project that Todd has conceived and developed is the IM4 Lab, the first Indigenous Virtual/Augmented Reality Lab in Canada.
“Designed by Ms. Todd to combine the forces and talents of a collective of media matriarchs (Cease Wyss, Amethyst First Rider, Tracey Kim Bonneau, and Doreen Manuel) the IM4 Lab will explore ways of using VR/AR technology in an Indigenous context,” reads a press statement.