Red Cred: Joseph Tekaroniake (Dega) Lazare

Photo Credit: James Kinistino

“Oh my god, I did something weird. I have been sitting here talking to you and staring at my fiber optic tree, it spins,” says Joseph Tekaroniake Lazare. “So it’s been hypnotizing me and now that I look away everything looks like it’s melting.”

Perhaps the tree is a metaphor for Joseph (aka Dega) Lazare’s life as he just completed the first season of his animated show, By The Rapids, on Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN). He also just picked up an award for Best Animated Short at the 33rd Annual American Indian Film Festival that took place in San Fransisco, CA November 2008. This 24 year-old Mohawk’s life has been a whirlwind of activity since he began to work on the series with Big Soul Productions in Toronto, ON.

It all started when The Globe and Mail newspaper published a piece on him for his participation in the 2001 Toronto International Teen Movie Festival. That article caught the attention of Laura Milliken and then-partner Jennifer Podemski of Big Soul Productions who recommended him to Bird Runningwater for the Sundance Film Festival Gen Y Studio.

Once Milliken and Podemski saw his films at Sundance, they invited him to join the Big Soul ranks. From hum drum to hogtown, Lazare’s life took a turn as he decided to drop out of college at Champlain Saint-Lambert to begin to intern in Toronto.

“I remember that was a big step for me . . . because I was in school at the time and I was so bummed out by it and I was really bored. I had just started my second semester at school and I really didn’t want to do it anymore,” says Lazare. “I was always in the TV studio over there and working on stuff. It was really fun to hang out over there but other than that any other class I hated . . . and I hated going there every day. Finally I was like I am leaving, and I am going to Toronto.”

It was in Toronto that Lazare got his next big break. He was doing production assistant work at Big Soul until he was asked to pitch a movie that he would produce. Might of the Starchaser came from that opportunity, and it premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

"There were people telling me that you should have this in your film because you are an Aboriginal director. And I was like ‘What, why? Why should I be making stories that other people think I should be making, I just want to make my own stories.’"

“There was a time when I was making Might of the Starchaser, where I hated that (stereotypes in film), I was rebelling against that. There were people telling me that you should have this in your film because you are an Aboriginal director. And I was like ‘What, why? Why should I be making stories that other people think I should be making, I just want to make my own stories.’ So in Might of the Starchaser, I was like ‘I am not putting anything in there that has like a feather in it . . . or outright show that these people are totally Aboriginal, they don’t have to speak a certain way,’” says Lazare.

It was during the screening at Sundance when he realized that Aboriginal aspects had creeped their way in. The shields that the bad guys carried looked like turtle backs and there was a set piece that looked strangely like a dreamcatcher.

“And I stepped back and the whole time that I was rebelling against showing Aboriginal things,” says Lazre. “It seeped through the film anyway and I said to myself ‘That’s what I want to create.’ I just want to create stories and it’ll come out because it’s a part of me no matter what.”

Back at Big Soul, there would be lull periods between his internship stints where he would move back to his reserve, Kahnawake QC. Not one to be discouraged he used that time to teach himself animation skills and eventually created By The Rapids (inspired by his rez) out in his mom’s basement. Milliken caught wind of it and asked him to start putting together a treatment.

Soon he returned to Toronto to work at Big Soul where he began to create an animated short to use for their pitch piece. They pitched the show to APTN and it was a success. He is now working on season two which will have 13 episodes.

Lazare’s perseverance in moving toward his goals of making films and television shows is evident when he spent his time off duty still working and creating new works. He says “When I look back on it now and Laura (Milliken) had mentioned it to me before and she said ‘I just appreciate how you just do stuff, you just make movies.’”

And movies are his passion. “I think that the hardest part is figuring out what your passion is,” says Joseph Lazare. “I was lucky enough to figure that out at a very young age.” While Lazare’s life has been slightly hypnotic, he is far from melting. In fact he is just gearing up as he prepares for his second season of By The Rapids and a year full of travel.

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Dega's 3 Fav Films:

1) Eraserhead

It took David Lynch five years to make this film because he did it the way that he wanted all the way through, which made it perfect to him. I want to be able to do that one day, create a film just the way that I want it.

2) Shaun of the Dead
I like the humour, the zombies, the comedy, the direction. I suck it all up, I love it.

3) Requiem for a Dream
It grips me and doesn’t let go, I buy into it. At the end I curl up into a ball and say 'I never want to do drugs.'