Ernest Webb Co-founder/Executive Producer/Director Born in Moose Factory and raised in the Cree community of Chisasibi, Ernest Webb has devoted his life to telling the stories of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, across all media. In 2010, Ernest directed the six-part documentary series Down the Mighty River, taking viewers down the wild and untamed Rupert River for the very last time before it and the Cree nation of James Bay are changed forever by new hydro-electric projects. Down the Mighty River premiered in March 2010 on the Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN). Ernest’s 2009 credits include a pair of projects with fellow Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond: the docudrama The Last Explorer for APTN, retracing the steps of Diamond’s great uncle, George Elson, on a ill-fated voyage into the heart of uncharted Labrador; and the NFB co-produced documentary Reel Injun, an entertaining feature-length look at the evolution of the image of Native Americans in cinema, co-produced with the NFB and premiering on CBC-TV. He is a co-executive producer on the upcoming series The River for The Movie Network and Movie Central – an innovative and uncompromising drama set inside the hidden world of Native smuggling rings. His most recent documentary credits also include serving as co-executive producer on Mommy Mommy, a documentary for CBC Newsworld following the trials and tribulations of a lesbian couple trying to adopt, as well as the NFB co-pro Club Native, winner of the Canada Award at the 2009 Geminis and named best Canadian documentary at DOXA Documentary Film Festival. In 2006-2007, he co-created and co-executive produced the award-winning comedy series Moose TV, recipient of the 2008 CFTPA Indie Award for Best Comedy Series. Ernest also co-executive produced the 2006 and 2007 seasons of the reality series Rez Rides, a look a Native custom car shops in the spirit of Pimp my Ride and American Chopper. In 2005, Ernest co-produced Heavy Metal: A Mining Disaster in Northern Quebec, about the fate of the Ouje-Bougoumou Cree who discover their land and water is contaminated with toxic mining waste. Premiering on APTN, Heavy Metal garnered several awards, including Top Prize and Audience Pick at Norway’s “Riddu Riddu” Aboriginal Film Festival. He also co-produced and co-wrote One More River (2004), a two-part documentary special for APTN about a controversial Cree vote to allow more dams on their land, which was nominated for the prestigious Donald Brittain Award for best social issue documentary at the Gemini Awards. Prior to that, Ernest produced, co-wrote and co-directed three seasons of Dab Iyiyuu/Absolutely Cree – a series featuring wilderness skills, stories and legends from Cree elders that has been airing continuously on APTN since 2003. In 2001 he co-founded Rezolution Pictures International. That same year, he also received the Banff Television Festival’s Best Aboriginal Documentary Award for Cree Spoken Here, co-written and co-directed with Neil Diamond. Ernest began his filmmaking career with Andrew's Song, a full-length Cree documentary he co-directed in 1995. In 1993, he co-founded Beesum Communications along with William Nicholls and Catherine Bainbridge. An independently Cree majority-owned and operated communications firm, Beesum publishes The Nation, an award-winning news and cultural magazine serving the Cree of James Bay. He began his career in media in the early 80s, at the fledging Cree Radio Network, started by the James Bay Cree Communications Society in Mistissini, where he worked as an editor/producer. In 1986, Ernest moved to Montreal and joined CBC North as announcer/producer, producing and hosting a weekly elders show, along with CBC North's flagship daily morning show Winschgaoug. Top of Page