Experience
1996-03
Award winning Writer, Producer, Director for independent and PBS documentaries.
1995-03
Owner, Turtle Island Productions. Providing video production services including
location scouting, budgeting, crewing, custom production packages and equipment
rentals, crew supervision, production management and logistics, and payroll.
1989-03
San Francisco based Director of Photography, Lighting Director and Cameraman.
Working for a variety of broadcast, cable, corporate, documentary, and commercial
clients. Productions include multi-camera live teleconferences, broadcasts,
and webcasts; corporate marketing and product videos, internal communications
and training videos; blue screen for the web, video games, DVD and CD ROM
based interac tive programs for education, entertainment and corporate communications;
as well as sports specials, documentaries and commercials. Productions for:
NBC, CBS, ABC, TBS, CBC, Knowledge TV, Sci-Fi Channel, E-Channel, SkyTV,
Discovery Channel, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Adobe, Netscape, SGI,
Yahoo, Sun, Autodesk, National Geographic, Visa and more.
1988-89
Production Manager/Director of Photography, Breene Kerr Productions, Mountain
View, CA. Responsible for coordinating production personnel, broadcast and
EFP packages and 40' x 60' soundstage. House Cameraman and Lighting Director
for live teleconferences, soundstage and location productions. Clients included
Apple Computer, Intel, 3Com, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard.
Education
1984-86
San Francisco State University. Broadcast Communication Arts
1980-83
College of DuPage A.A. Glen Ellyn, IL
Contact
James M. Fortier
Cel: 415.219.9105
Pgr: 800.388.4319
jfortier@turtle-island.com
www.turtle-island.com
Credits
Director/DP
"Native Americans in the 21st Century" A 90-minute documentary feature for Native American Public Telecommunications and PBS. National PBS premiere in November 2004.
Writer/Associate Producer/DP
"Waasa-Inaabidaa: We Look In All Directions" WDSE-TV, PBS Six-part documentary series, and companion website at www.ojibwe.org, covering 500+ years of history and culture of 19 Ojibwe tribes in three states. National PBS Premiere 2002.
Writer/Director
"Alcatraz Is Not An Island" Documentary feature about the 1969-71 American Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island. Sundance Film Fest. Premiered on PBS nationally in November, 2002
Writer/Producer/Director
"Voices for the Land" Environmental documentary for WDSE-TV, PBS, Minnesota. Broadcast premiere Nov. 2000.
Director/D.P
"Waswagoning Ojibwe Dance Theater" Marketing and promotional video.
Event Producer/Director
"30th Anniversary of Alcatraz Occupation" A musical and cultural celebration held on Alcatraz Island. Major press, radio, and TV coverage.
Director of Photography
"Alcatraz Is Not An Island" Documentary feature
for PBS. Premeired November, 2002.
"We Hold the Rock" Exhibit video for the National Park Service,
Alcatraz Island.
"GreatMuseums" National PBS series, shot in HDTV, airs Fall, 2003.
"Looks Into the Night" Award winning Native American dramatic
short starring Tantoo Cardinal. Premiered on the Aboriginal Peoples Television
Network, (Nationwide) Canada.
"Stay Tuned" Pilot for VH1 music documentary series.
"Don't Be a Target" Nationally broadcast special with Dennis Franz.
"In America" Documentary series on immigration, Produced by Echo
Pictures, for The International Channel.
DP for hundreds of corporate, broadcast, and cable productions. Drama, live broadcasts, corporate identity, blue screen. Betacam, DV, Hi Def. Sony D600, D700 WS, and HD 790A.
D.P. 2nd Unit
"Today Is A Good Day: Remembering Chief Dan George"
CBC documentary feature. Premiered on CBC.
"Waasa-Inaabidaa: We Look In All Directions" WDSE-TV, PBS Duluth,
Native American documentary.
"America Drinks" The History Channel.
"50x2000" German Television documentary shot in 16x9 digital widescreen.
"History of the Presidio" Documentary video shot in 16x 9 digital
widescreen.
L.D./Cameraman
NBC's Super Bowl XXVII Special with Dick Enberg.
CBS's College Bowl Preview and College Basketball Preview shows with Pat
O'Brien for three consecutive seasons.
Over 300 live teleconferences/broadcasts for Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Intel,
Sun Microsystems, AT&T, Cisco Systems, Oracle and Cadence among others.
In Production
Co-Producer/DP: "American Lynching: Strange and Bitter
Fruit." Documentary feature for PBS.
Awards & Accomplishments
Regional Emmy Awards "Waasa-Inaabidaa: We Look In All Directions" WDSE-TV, (Writer/Associate Producer) 11 nominations, 5 awards, including 2 in best documentary categories.
American Indian Film Festival "Waasa-Inaabidaa: We Look In All Directions" WDSE-TV, (Writer/Associate Producer) Best Documentary Feature, 2002.
American Indian Film Festival (Dir) "Alcatraz Is Not An Island" Best Documentary Feature, 1999.
American Indian Film Festival (DP) "Today Is A Good Day: Remembering Chief Dan George" Best Documentary Feature, 1998
National Education Media Net (DP) "We Hold The Rock" Bronze Apple Award, Documentary Short, 1997
National Park Service Award (DP) "We Hold The Rock" Best Exhibit Video, 1997
American Indian Film Festival (DP) "Looks Into the Night" Best Live Short Subject Video, 1996
New York Festival (Lighting) Intel Corp./Breene Kerr Prods. "In Review," Intel Quarterly News Magazine.
Telly Awards (Lighting) Intel Corp./Breene Kerr Productions. Marketing Video
Joey Award (L.D./Cameraman) San Jose Film and Video Commission, ten time winner/finalist.
In addition, Jim produced the companion website (www.ojibwe.org) for "Waasa Inaabidaa: We Look In All Directions," a 6 hour PBS documentary series. Jim also taught video production workshops for Native American high school students at the 1997 Native Americas International Film Expo in Santa Fe, NM. He has also been active working behind the scenes for the American Indian Film Institute in San Francisco, CA. He has appeared as a guest speaker at SFSU, USF, ASU, Brown University, Syracuse University, University of Minnesota, KQED Television, and the Banff Television Conference discussing aboriginal filmmaking, and his articles and interviews have appeared in several Bay Area and national publications. Jim is a two-time recipient of PBS's Emerging Filmmaker Fellowships, including the prestigious PBS Producers Academy Workshop at WGBH in Boston.
Demo reel and references available upon request.
