JJ Neepin
JJ Neepin is an Indigenous writer & director based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a member of the Fox Lake Cree Nation. Born and raised in the nickel mining town of Thompson, JJ moved to Winnipeg at 16 years old to purse higher education and eventually a film career. Being a documentary filmmaker was never the plan but it gave her the most opportunities to create, learn and navigate in the Canadian film industry.
JJ has written, directed and produced several short films with her company JJNeepinFilms INC. She has also directed several documentary television shows: APTN’s Metis series, Michif
Country, APTN’s TAKEN about Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls,
APTN’s ghost series THE OTHER SIDE, and APTN’s Indigenous Music Doc Series, AMPLIFY.
She’s received the following awards and fellowships: Reelworld Level Up Director fellowship
2021, Women in View – 5 in Focus: Indigenous Cohort of 2021, selected as one of the 2021
Berlinale Film Festival Talent Lab Participants, and the CBC/WIDC Development Award for her supernatural, crime drama feature script LUMINOUS. Was 1 of 8 Directors for the Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Story & Leadership Program 2018-2019, and was 1 of 6 Directors for the Inaugural Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 2017/2018 Directors Program for Women.
In between shows JJ takes every opportunity to learn and improve her skills, ready for the next challenge put in front of her. One of her main goals is to make the move from the documentary world to the scripted TV world, to make her first feature Luminous and to eventually create her own TV series. When she finds time to relax, JJ enjoys reading and watching about true crime, binge watching Netflix documentaries, reading manga and working on her bullet journals.
JJ has written, directed and produced several short films with her company JJNeepinFilms INC. She has also directed several documentary television shows: APTN’s Metis series, Michif
Country, APTN’s TAKEN about Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls,
APTN’s ghost series THE OTHER SIDE, and APTN’s Indigenous Music Doc Series, AMPLIFY.
She’s received the following awards and fellowships: Reelworld Level Up Director fellowship
2021, Women in View – 5 in Focus: Indigenous Cohort of 2021, selected as one of the 2021
Berlinale Film Festival Talent Lab Participants, and the CBC/WIDC Development Award for her supernatural, crime drama feature script LUMINOUS. Was 1 of 8 Directors for the Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Story & Leadership Program 2018-2019, and was 1 of 6 Directors for the Inaugural Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 2017/2018 Directors Program for Women.
In between shows JJ takes every opportunity to learn and improve her skills, ready for the next challenge put in front of her. One of her main goals is to make the move from the documentary world to the scripted TV world, to make her first feature Luminous and to eventually create her own TV series. When she finds time to relax, JJ enjoys reading and watching about true crime, binge watching Netflix documentaries, reading manga and working on her bullet journals.
